Originally posted by Widewing
Poop, you would have loved the brawl we had tonight. Our CV haunted the Bish for 4 hours and was still going strong when I logged. About 10 Rooks and an equal number of Bish were having a ball. Well, the Rooks were anyway. 
A quick follow up to the original post.
One of the SBDs that I lost was to a Spitfire. This was a very interesting fight, in that under normal circumstances the Spit would have been splashed without undue trauma.
I was headed back to the CV for landing with 6 kills in the bank (3 Ju 88s, P-51D, P-38L and a Ki-67) I had taken off with just 25% fuel (plenty for this situation). However, I extended the sortie to chase down a damaged Ki-67, which took me nearly a half sector from the ship. Arriving in the immediate area of the TG, I discovered CPR having a tough time with a Spitfire. A quick check of my vitals indicated about 5% fuel and 38 rounds of .50 cal remaining. Well, I figured I would see if I could drive the Spit off of CPR’s Corsair. So, I headed straight for them. As the range dropped to about 800 yards, I see that the F4U is smoking and the Spit is right behind. I took a long-range snapshot from about 700 yards out and see a few hit strikes on the Spitfire. He ignores the hits and shoots off CPR’s wing. With that, he breaks up to the right and I follow. My guns are empty now, but the safest place to be is behind the Spitfire. Around and around we go. I watch the Spit’s nose drop and he dives to gain some separation. I follow, forcing him to maneuver vertically as the SBD easily turns inside the Supermarine. I had numerous opportunities for shots, but no ammo to shoot. A glance at my fuel indicator shows the needle hovering a hair above zero. I need to disengage immediately or find myself flying a 7,000 lb glider. With that the Spit executes a hard climbing break to the left. This is probably my only chance, so I break right, drop the nose and run for the TG, about 5 miles away. My hope is to get under the ack umbrella, cut the engine and fly a deadstick approach until short final, where I’ll restart for the landing. But, there’s not enough gas and the engine quits. Things are desperate now. I push the nose down a bit and engage auto-angle to keep my speed loss to a minimum. With that set, I jump into the rear cockpit and man the twin .30s. The Spit is closing quickly now, and I open fire at 700 yards, scoring solid hits, causing the Spitfire to smoke. However, my SBD is taking hits too. Finally, the wing lets go and I bail out.
I believe that the Spitfire likely had to ditch when his engine quit from lack of coolant. The pilot of the Spitfire, well known in the MA as a very good stick, was damn lucky I had no ammo or he would have not survived the first break turn. As it was, I exacted revenge twice (once with 5” gun) before I logged for the night.
What the reader should understand is that in terms of dogfighting ability, the SBD shines as a first-rate brawler. Indeed, it can make an average pilot like myself look good. However, it is essential that anyone flying the SBD as fighter have solid gunnery skills. There’s not much firepower available, and not a whole lot of ammo to begin with. Therefore, it is not the aircraft for those who tend to “pray and spray” out of habit. It will reward you with empty magazines and little to show for your trouble. With care and good marksmanship, you can even vulch successfully with the Dauntless (killed a pair of P-47s a few days ago, but they suck up a lot of ammo).
Typical of any aircraft, the three magic factors leading to success are Speed, Altitude and Stealth. However, when flying the SBD an additional factor applies; Vision. Always fly the SBD in the F3 mode. Don’t jump into the cockpit until you are ready to go to guns. Take advantage of the presumed second set of Mk.I eyeballs belonging to the gunner. I sometimes shoot from F3 mode, and do all of my dive-bombing runs from this observation point.
Finally, if you want to fly Jabo missions, there are better aircraft than the SBD. If you want to fly bomber missions, there are much better aircraft. Likewise, there are many very capable fighters available. So why fly the SBD? It’s the challenge of it. So, if you enjoy a challenge, give the SBD a go. If nothing else, you will have a lot of fun. And gentlemen, fun is the ultimate goal.
My regards,
Widewing
