Dougls_SBD.htm

Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a two-seat naval dive bomber manufactured in the United States from 1940 to 1944, aslso know as the "Dauntless". The SBD designation identified this aircraft as the 1st Scout Bomber ("SB") developed for the US Navy by the Douglas Aircraft Company (which was given the company Designator of "D" by the Navy). A land based variant designated the A-24 Banshee was also operated by the USAAC. Per Reference [8] it was fitted with a two person cockpit housing the pilot (forward) and a rear gunner, with perferated dive flaps, and an external bomb rack/crutch under the fuselage which would allow any bomb dropped from the centerline position on the plane to swing past the arc of the propeller, when performing a dive bombing maneuver.

The "-6" variant of the SBD was the final variant of the aircraft produced. The SBD was originally ordered by the US Navy in the late 1930s with the first flight of the type occurring on 1 May 1940. In addition to serving with the US Navy this type also served with the US Marine Corps, the Chilean Air Force, the French Air Force and French Navy, the Mexican Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force,and per Ref [8] the Moroccan Desert Police. Additionally [per Ref 8] a small number of aircraft were also provided to the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for evaluation purposes.

A total of 5,936 SBD/A-24 aircraft were built, in several different variants. While in service with the US Navy they were the primary Scout and Dive Bomber aircraft operating off US carriers for the early part of the war in the Pacific, eventually being replaced in that role by the larger Curtiss SB2C dive bomber during the later half of the war.

As shown in the image below distinguishing features of this aircraft including;

radial engine
an enclosed two-person cockpit with a rear-facing gunner position
retractable landing gear
perforated dive flaps
externally mounted centerline bomb rack with bomb crutch to allow bombs to swing beyond the arc of the propeller

[Original Image source is US Government - Public Domain - as annotated by this site]

[Source: Ref [14b] - US Government/Public Domain]

[Source: Ref [8] - Public Domain]

In order to try and better develop weight estimating relationships an effort has been made to estimate the length of the fuselage aft of the firewall, and the length of the engine section forward of the firewall based off scaled drawings. Together these two distances add to a term called the "structural length" and do not consider any portion of the engine or propeller shaft the extend foward of the fuselage/cowling, or any empennage that extends aft of the fuselage structure. The drawing below shows the current best estimate of these dimensions obtained from available drawings of the airplane and will be updated with any real world data that becomes available. For any aircraft with an inclined firewall, an attempt has been made to locate an approximate center of this location.

SBD6-Dims

The table below summarizes the current data collected on this type aircraft, identifying sources for the data

		SBD-6	Secondary Sources	Notes
Primary Source		2
No of Crew		2
Engine:
Qty		1
Model		R-1820-66	8
Displacement	(cu in)	1820	8
Power
Military	(HP)
War Emergency	(HP)
Normal	(HP)	1200	8
Take Off	(HP)	1300	8
Eng Dims
Length	(ft)	3.96	8
Width/Dia	(ft)	4.59	8
Height	(ft)
Base Engine Wt	(lb)	1333	8
Propeller
# Blades		3
Dia	(ft)	10.83
Manufacturer
Type
Wing
Span	(ft)	41.51
Root Thickness	(%)	15.0%
	(in)	18.6
Total Area	(sq ft)	323.8
Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps)	(sq ft)
Ailerons	(sq ft)
Flaps	(sq ft)
Tail Area	(sq ft)	93.21	3
V Tail Area	(sq ft)	22.45	3
Fin	(sq ft)
Rudder	(sq ft)
H Tail Area	(sq ft)	70.76	3
Stabilizer	(sq ft)
Elevator	(sq ft)
Total Control Surf Area	(sq ft)
Length
Overall	(ft)	31.01
Fuselage	(ft)	29.8
Body	(ft)	30.91666667
Body Depth	(ft)
Body Width	(ft)
Fuel Tank Volume	(gal)	260
Wing Tanks	(gal)	260
FuselageTanks	(gal)
Oil Tank Volume	(gal)
Water Injection Fluid Tank Volume	(gal)
Wetted Area (sqf)	(sq ft)	447
Pwr Ldng	(lb/HP)	7.43
Wing Ldng	(lb/sq ft)	29.84
Struct. Des. GW	(lb)	7338
Ultimate Load Factor	(G's)	14
Design Speed	(mph)	425
Not to Exceed Speed	(mph)

Total Struct Weight		2832
Total Wing		1302
Wing
Ailerons
Flaps
Fuselage Carry-Through
Tail		214
H Tail		163
Stabilizer
Elevator
V Tail		51
Fin
Rudder
Body + Eng Section + LG
Body + LG		1288
Body		836
Fuselage
Engine Section
Landing Gear		452
Mn Landing Gr		414
Tail/Nose Aux LG		38
Tail Hook		28
Booms
Nacelles
Total Propulsion Weight		2288
Engine w/ Accessories		1396
Engine(s) as Installed		1320
Accessories		76
Turbocharger(s)
Controls		31
Propeller(s)		324
2-Blade
3-Blade		324
4-Blade
Starting System		49
Water Injection System
Tanks
Piping Etc
Cooling System
Lube System		127
Tanks
Piping Etc
Fuel System		361
Tanks
Piping Etc
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.		1333
Instruments		58
Surface Controls		198
Hydraulics		95
Electrical Equip		159
Electronics (Purple means incl in Furn/Gray in Useful Ld)		205
Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor		246
Furnishings		372
Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)
Other /Misc
Hoisting Gear
Floatation Gear
Armor Plate

Empty Wt		6453
Basic Mission Useful Load		3209
Crew		400
Equipment
Oil		120
Fuel		1704
Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems
Water Solution for Engine Injection
Bombs/Torp Etc		500
Radio (if Not Included in Empty Wt)
Nav Equipment
Oxygen System
Armament		400
Guns & Ammo		400
Guns		162
Ammo		238
Pyrotechnics
Camera
Other
Other Useful Load		85
Basic Mission GW		9662

Notes: This website has been developed with a number of low cost or free programs including Hot Metal Pro, KompoZer, MicroSoft Designer and Da Button Factory.com

Rev 3-22-26

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