Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless Restoration Project

by David Hanson, Curatorial Collections Manager, SDACM USS Midway

The Midway’s Dauntless is an SBD-1 variant, meaning it was the first version type of the SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas).  Only 57 examples of the “dash one” were built, as the improved “-2” variant was already waiting in the wings.  The range of the “-1” was considered to be inadequate for the Navy’s needs, so the entire series of SBD-1s were given to the Marine Corps, with the Navy beginning to take possession of the SBD-2s and later variants.  This particular SBD is the 17^th “-1” to come off of the assembly line, and it is the only surviving example of a –1 in the world.

The Marine Corps used the SBD-1s in operational squadrons for a period of time, and a fair number were stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Several of these SBD-1s were damaged or destroyed during the attack.  About six months after the war began many surviving SBD-1s were reassigned to training groups as more capable variants were being supplied to the operational squadrons.

This particular SBD-1 was delivered from the factory in September 1940, arriving at the U.S. Marine Corps scout bombing squadron VMSB-132 stationed at Quantico, Virginia. In March of 1942 it was transferred to VMSB-142 stationed at San Diego, California. Still attached to VMSB-142 it became part of Marine Air Group Fourteen (MAG-14) in May of 1942.  It was transferred to the Training Group Pacific command on July 1^st, 1942, and remaining in San Diego until August 27^th, 1942.  It was then transferred to NRAB Glenview, Illinois.  While there it participated in training new pilots in carrier landings, using the ex-sidewheel excursion steamer Wolverine, which had been converted into a training carrier deployed on the Great Lakes.  It suffered a bent propeller in a training accident on September 16^th, but was soon repaired and continued its training duties.

During a training flight on November 23, 1942 this Dauntless crashed in Lake Michigan and sank.  It was not uncommon for training aircraft to suffer this fate, either due to engine failures or landing accidents around the makeshift carriers.  It remained on the bottom of the lake until the early 1990’s, when it was salvaged and sent to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola for restoration.  It was assigned to the battleship USS Alabama museum for a time, but was later returned to Pensacola. In 2005 it was re-assigned to the Midway Museum, where it will be put on display after restoration.

This airframe is being restored at the Midway’s aircraft restoration hangar at Naval Station North Island in Coronado, California.  Progress is slow due to the extensive corrosion that occurred to the airframe (both during and after its time in the lake), but it is hoped to have this aircraft fully restored to display status sometime in 2007.  It is planned to restore the aircraft to its original pre-war 1940 USMC markings. Progress of the restoration can be checked online at http://www.midwaysaircraft.org.