Greatest Carrier-Born Dive Bomber of WW II...

Greatest Carrier-Based Dive Bomber of WW II...

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Probably, after all that was the major cause of loss for British submarines.
 
I voted for the Aichi B7a, but only for technical reasons.
I am aware that the plane did not fly carrier operations just because her carrier was sunk few days before beeing fitted out. However, with the japanese experience with the B4 Kate, the B5 Tenzan I believe that the B7a at least would not have been a carrier disaster.
The B7a flew combat missions from landbases and prooved to be difficult to intercept due to her agility, speed and untypically high ruggedness.

If I had to vote for carrier operated planes only, my vote would belong to the SB2C, the SBD in my eyes -like the D3a- had the best combat record but were technically obsolete by 1941.
 
The Slow But Deadly Dauntless for the reasons already mentioned by you gentlemen.
About the Curtiss Helldiver or Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class as it was also lovingly known as wasn't popular with the Captain of USS Yorktown CV-10....
He said something about using the Helldiver as anchors instead. He quickly changed his SB2C to SBD-5 before heading for the Pacific.

The Helldiver Song

"Oh Mother, dear mother, take down that blue star.
Replace it with one that is Gold.
"Your son is a Helldiver driver; he'll never be 30 years old.
"The people who work for Curtiss are frequently seen good and drunk.
"One day with an awful hangover, they mustered and designed that old
clunk.
"Now the wings are built with precision, the fuselage so strong it won't
fail.
"But who were the half-witted people who designed the cockpit and tail?
"The skipper hates Helldiver drivers and he doesn't think much of that
clunk.
"Each time we fly aboard his carrier, he prays his ship won't be sunk.
"My body lies under the ocean; my body lies under the sea.
"My body lies under the ocean wrapped up in an a SB2C!"
 
I would go Douglas SBD Helldiver for the reason that these aircraft were flying through hell in the Pacific Midway etc. and yet still delivered their bombs to take out the majority of the Japanese carriers that were at Pearl Habour.
 
I personally went for the B7, it was a superb plane that didn;t get the chance to prove itself. That said for what they achieved the Dauntlass would have to be the choice.
 
I believe by the end of the war, the best dive bomber the navy had was the F4U1D. It could bomb as accurately as the Dauntless and it could carry as big an ordnance load as the Helldiver and double as a fighter or strafer and it only needed one man as a crew.
 

I dont believe the F4U could dive bomb like the Dauntless or helldiver could.

No dive brakes!
 
On the contrary, the Corsair did have dive brakes. The landing gear was designed to be lowered and used as a dive brake. If you see combat films of the battle for Okinawa you can see Corsairs divebombing with the gear extended.
 
If you push the landing gear handle to the left and then up the gear will extend for landing on the Corsair. If pushed to the right and up the gear will extend in the dive brake mode. If the pilot tries the dive brakes above approx 255 knots the gear will dangle until a safe speed is reached. The dive brakes consist of the flat aluminum doors attached to the main gear struts. When the dive brake is used the tail wheel stays retracted. The aft main gear doors also remain retracted. The recorded percentage of hits on a 250 ft circle was only 7 % fewer than that of the SBD.
 
Blackburn Skua - just to be controversial. Mind you it did work, after a fashion.

Blackburn Skua

.. but I must say that I think the Brits failed to take the Blackburns and the Boulton Pauls, get rid of their silly turrets (where appropriate), and make them into half decent carrier borne fighters.

Its not that far-fetched, and they were no good for the RAF after all.

Imagine if all the Defiants had been given even 2 or 4 fwd firing guns, dump the turret, and other Navalisation features like a landing hook ?

It would have really helped early on in the Atlantic when Sea Hurricanes were mostly knackered ex-RAF lash ups, or shot off Catapaults on a one way trip !
 
It was mainly used in Europe, 39-42ish I think so didn't see any action in the Pacific.
They were good planes, just very vulnerable to the 109s around back then.
3 of them sunk the Konigsberg of the coast of Norway- first time a carrier-borne dive bomber had sunk a ship
 
SBD for winning the Battle of Midway. SB2C for having the best capability

Swede Vejtasa for best Val/Zero killing dive bomber pilot of all time.. when Zero pilots were really good... in a SBD.
 
Would be cool to have one gun hidden in the tail or something. First time Mr Me-109 comes in that way, and it's what the heck, this thing can fire backwards?
 
I think the Helldiver sunk more ships, but I have to say SBD. I'm surprised more people didn't pick the Val. It did a lot of damage.
 
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