LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Scout Bomber: Navy Aviation
built 614 days ago
Into 1945, El Toro continued the training of fighter, scout-bomber, and torpedo-bomber pilots. At the end of March, 266 aircraft were on hand including 21 Convair OY Sentinel artillery spotters in a temporary storage pool. In May, VMF-217 arrived from the South Pacific for reorganization and training for escort carrier duty. By June, the training of Grumman F6F Hellcat replacement pilots had begun. The Navy needed the Corsairs for anti-Kamikaze duty on board Essex Class carriers and gave the Marines the Hellcat for the escort carrier program. In July, VMTB-453 was formed for escort carrier duty.
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A prototype, the XSB2U-1, was ordered making it the first monoplane scout-bomber ordered by the U.S. Navy. Even though the Navy ordered the XSB2U-1 monoplane, Navy personnel were still not convinced of the superiority of the monoplane over the biplane. Many feared that the higher landing speed of the monoplane and longer takeoff run on a pitching deck of a carrier would make the monoplane unsuitable for carrier operations. In February 1935, the Navy signed a contract with Chance Vought to build a biplane scout-bomber to test against the XSB2U-1. This new biplane, designated XSB3U-1, was essentially a Vought SBU-2 biplane scout-bomber with a retractable landing gear.
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Improvements in engines and aircraft design led the Navy to abandon its old system of using different aircraft such as SB for Scout Bomber and TB for Torpedo Bomber and to combine these missions in one aircraft. The Douglas Company’s BT2D was an example of an aircraft that was to combine the bombing and torpedo launching functions in one airframe. The Martin Company’s BTM was designed in the same spirit. Eventually the old system of designation reflected the changes when the letter A for Attack replaced S(Scout), B (Bomber) and T (Torpedo). The BT2D served virtually all its life as the AD and later A-1. The BTM is remembered as the AM Mauler.
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The U.S. Navy's Dauntless carrier based scout bomber went into production in June of 1940 and remained in production until July, 1944, by which time some 5,936 had been built. By the end of 1944 the Dauntless was being replaced as a front line scout/dive bomber by the newer SBF Helldiver, but it remained in service until the end of the war. Some versions of the SBD were equipped for long range photo reconnaissance.
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The SBD Dauntless was a two-place, low-wing Navy scout bomber, powered by a single Wright R1820, 1200-horsepower engine. The Dauntless became a mainstay of the Navy's air fleet in the Pacific, with the lowest loss ration of any U.S. carrier aircraft. A total of 5,936 SBDs was delivered between first delivery in 1940 and the end of production in July 1944.
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In 1934, the U.S. Navy completed a detailed Type Specification for a new carrier-based scout-bomber and invited the aviation industry to bid on the design and construction of experimental aircraft. Six companies responded with new designs. Since three of the designs were for biplanes and three for monoplanes, the competition for contracts was divided into two parts; the first part was for aircraft of monoplane configuration and the second was for aircraft of biplane configuration. The entrants in the competition were:
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