"The Last of the Dive-bombers
By Walter J. Boyne
The Army Air Forces turned to dive-bombers for accuracy, but the A-24 Banshee found itself in the wrong places at the wrong times.
In warfare, as in business, timing and location are everything.
The classic Douglas dive-bomber of World War II served the Navy brilliantly as the SBD Dauntless, while the virtually identical A-24 Banshee had only a mediocre career with the US Army Air Forces. There were many reasons for this, but the main one was the combination of the Navy's long-standing training in dive-bombing and the nature of its targets, which allowed the SBD to perform.
In contrast, dive-bombing was thrust upon the heavy-bomber-centric AAF following the spectacular successes of the German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka in the initial phases of World War II. The undeniably menacing look of the Ju 87 certainly made the pitch easier as well.
An A-24 on the ramp on Makin, in the Gilbert Island chain.
When at last the AAF sought to obtain a dive-bombing capability, it took delivery of Douglas A-24s (erstwhile Navy SBD-3s) in mid-1941. Unfortunately, the Banshee had too little performance and was too late in the game. The AAF service of the A-24 might be characterized as brave but undistinguished. Yet during the same time period, the naval SBD Dauntless versions of the aircraft were writing history in a series of decisive battles from the Coral Sea through Midway and well into 1944.
The Dauntless was ultimately replaced by the larger, faster, but less forgiving, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, but it remained a favorite among Navy and Marine fliers."
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. LOL Robert