To finish out the trio of new sheets for the SBD, this one covers seven early war aircraft. With one exception, the Navy aircraft are painted in blue-grey uppers with light grey undersides and the USMC planes are overall light grey.

First up is an SBD-3 from VS-3 at Coral Sea. This aircraft was used as a low level anti-torpedo bomber fighter due to the lack of Wildcats aboard the Yorktown by Swede Vejtasa and managed to shoot down one aircraft in the mêlée.

Next is the Enterprise CAG bird as flown during 1941 war games. This SBD-3 has a rudder in light grey.

From VS-2 aboard the Lexington during Coral Sea, this SBD-3 has a red spinner.

Moving to the other side of the world, this SBD-3 was aboard the USS Ranger during Operation Torch. You can see where the previous codes were painted out. Yellowhammer includes a Black Magic mask (not shown) for you to spray on the yellow surround  for the insignia.

In an unusual scheme of dark green over light grey, this VS-3 plane was photographed at NAS Oakland by Peter Bowers when undergoing camouflage tests.

Finally, there are two USMC aircraft from VMSB-232 at Ewa Field in late 1941. The SBD-1/2 aircraft were in the overall light grey scheme and both were caught on the ground during the Pearl Harbor attack.

The sheet is superbly researched with lots of notes and there is a separate data sheet . Markings are enough to do one aircraft.

April 2007

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