The First Marine Corps Dauntless Dive-bomber.
This color scheme represents THE first SBD (Scout-Bomber, Dauntless) ever delivered to The United States Marine Corps, the undisputed pioneers of Dive Bombing.
Aircraft Number One, of Marine Bombing Squadron Number 1, First Marine Air Group.
Number one, all the way, all the TIME, baby!
The Commander of the First Marine Air Group personally flew this red-trimmed beauty from (cough!) “Naval” (cough-cough!) Air Station, Quantico Virginia, in 1940.
Their sister squadron, VMB-2, wore blue trim.
Marine Aviators were the first to develop effective methods of Dive-bombing , as a means of Close Air Support for Infantry, during the Banana Wars of the 1920’s.
The Marines were long established as “The Experts” in putting aerial bombs within 30 feet of their targets, when the US Navy (among others) suddenly realized THEY might be able to hit the Broad-Side-of-a-Battleship with a BOMB, too…and from a more survivable high-angle of attack no less (verses that slow, vulnerable, low-level Torpedo approach?)…if they just mimicked what The Marine Corps had pioneered more than decade earlier….on their shoe-string budget, with out-dated biplanes, in poorly equipped third-world hell-holes, no less…
Thus, with the Limitless Resources of a Perpetually Bloated U.S. Navy, came the dawn of the Purpose-Built Dive Bomber in the late 1930’s
Because Marines (not Rangers!) Lead The Way….which explains why their was NO CLOSE AIR SUPPORT AT NORMANDY ON D-DAY!
This color scheme represents THE first SBD (Scout-Bomber, Dauntless) ever delivered to The United States Marine Corps, the undisputed pioneers of Dive Bombing.
Aircraft Number One, of Marine Bombing Squadron Number 1, First Marine Air Group.
Number one, all the way, all the TIME, baby!
The Commander of the First Marine Air Group personally flew this red-trimmed beauty from (cough!) “Naval” (cough-cough!) Air Station, Quantico Virginia, in 1940.
Their sister squadron, VMB-2, wore blue trim.
Marine Aviators were the first to develop effective methods of Dive-bombing , as a means of Close Air Support for Infantry, during the Banana Wars of the 1920’s.
The Marines were long established as “The Experts” in putting aerial bombs within 30 feet of their targets, when the US Navy (among others) suddenly realized THEY might be able to hit the Broad-Side-of-a-Battleship with a BOMB, too…and from a more survivable high-angle of attack no less (verses that slow, vulnerable, low-level Torpedo approach?)…if they just mimicked what The Marine Corps had pioneered more than decade earlier….on their shoe-string budget, with out-dated biplanes, in poorly equipped third-world hell-holes, no less…
Thus, with the Limitless Resources of a Perpetually Bloated U.S. Navy, came the dawn of the Purpose-Built Dive Bomber in the late 1930’s
Because Marines (not Rangers!) Lead The Way….which explains why their was NO CLOSE AIR SUPPORT AT NORMANDY ON D-DAY!
