The Douglas A-24 was the Army's version of the Navy SBD carrier-based dive-bomber. The Army tentatively named the A-24, "Banshee", but this name never seems to have really caught on. It was almost identical to its Navy counterpart, but the Army's A-24 never achieved the degree of success and immortality as did the SBD. Its relative lack of success in combat led to its early withdrawal from operational service and its relegation to training and other support roles.
The US Navy had been a pioneer in the development of dive-bombing techniques as a means of attack enemy shipping. In contrast, the US Army Air Corps had long been committed to strategic bombing, and had almost completely neglected dive-bombing. However, the spectacular results obtained by German Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers during the offensives against Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and France at the beginning of the Second World War sparked a renewed interest in dive bombing on the part of the USAAC. To explore the possibility of acquiring dive bombers for its own use, in July 1940, the Army borrowed a number of newly-issued Marine Corps SBD-1 Dauntless dive bombers, and had them evaluated by the 24th Bombardment Squadron.
The results of the evaluation were quite favorable, and on September 27, 1940 the War Department ordered 78 examples of the Dauntless under the designation A-24-DE. Although intended for the Army, the aircraft had to be ordered under Navy contracts since the Navy had jurisdiction over the Douglas El Segundo plant. Serials were 41-15746 through -15823.
The A-24 was essentially identical to the Navy SBD-3 but featured Army instrumentation and radio equipment and was fitted with a pneumatic tailwheel rather than the solid rubber tire of the naval version. Like the SBD-3, the A-24 was powered by a 1000 hp Wright R-1820-52 radial and was armed with two fixed forward-firing 0.50-inch machine guns in the engine cowling and a pair of 0.30-inch flexible machine guns on an installation operated by the rear gunner. A swinging bomb cradle with a maximum capacity of 1000 pounds was located underneath the fuselage, and a fixed rack for one 100-pound bomb was mounted underneath each outer wing section.
Serials of A-24-DE:
41-15746/15823 Douglas A-24-DE Dauntless - C/N 802/956 (even numbers)
A short while after the Army acquired its first A-24s, 90 similar aircraft were diverted to the Army from Navy contracts. They were delivered to the Army between July and October of 1942. Since they were originally ordered under the terms of a Navy contract, these aircraft were temporarily assigned the Navy designation of SBD-3A for record-keeping purposes. For some reason, the Army never referred to these planes as A-24s, but instead kept the original contract SBD-3A designation throughout their service life. However, they received Army serials 42-6682 to 42-6671.
After a few rather unsuccessful combat missions in the East Indies, the A-24 was withdrawn from operational use and allocated to secondary training and support roles.
The first A-24 was delivered to the Army on June 17, 1941. The first operational A-24 unit was the new 27th Bombardment Group (L) based at Savannah, Georgia. Three of the four squadrons of the 27th BG were equipped with the A-24, plus one squadron of the 3rd Bombardment Group. The remaining squadrons of these groups were equipped with A-20A Havocs, whic were twin-engined level bombers.
The 27th BG was in the process of been shipped to the Philippines when the war broke out. The airmen were in the Philippines, but their aircraft were on their way via ship from Honolulu. The shipment was diverted to Australia, where they arrived on December 22. Some of the 27th BG pilots were evacuated from the Philippines to join their aircraft in Australia. Eleven A-24s flew up to Java in February of 1942, but this battle was already lost. The remainder began operations from Port Moresby with the 8th Bombardment Squadron on April 1, 1942. These units suffered heavy losses in the face of the Japanese advance. After five of seven A-24s were lost on their last mission (July 29), the A-24s were withdrawn from action as being too slow, too short-ranged, and too poorly armed. However, in all fairness to the A-24, their pilots had not been trained in dive-bombing operations and they often had to operate without adequate fighter escort.
The A-24B-DT was basically similar to the Navy's SBD-5. The SBD-5 was powered by a 1200 hp Wright R-1820-60, which was housed in a redesigned cowling without an air intake on its upper lip. The increased power made it possible to increase the offensive load to 2250 pounds -- one 1600-lb bomb underneath the fuselage and two 325-lb bombs underneath the wings. Unlike the previous A-24s, the A-24B-DTs were all ordered directly by the USAAF. They were the only Dauntlesses to be built in Douglas' Tulsa, Oklahoma plant. A total of 1200 were ordered in November of 1942, but 585 were canceled. The 615 A-24Bs built bore the USAAF serials 42-54285 to 42-54899.
In 1948, the few remaining A-24Bs were redesignated F-24B-DT. One of these aircraft was used as a drone director aircraft in connection with the tests of the QF-24A-DE, and was redesignated DF-24B-DT and was re-serialed as 48-045.
The A-24B-DE was the designation applied to sixty aircraft (42-60882 to -60941) that were ordered for the USAAF under Navy contracts but were actually delivered to the Marine Corps as SBD-5As, where they were assigned BuAer Nos. 09693/09752). They differed from standard SBD-5s in having a pneumatic tailwheel and being fitted with Army equipment and instruments. No arrester hook was ever fitted to these land-based aircraft.
The A-24 was never very popular with its crews, and most of them were retained in the USA for training duties. Following the New Guinea debacle, only one other squadron was to take the A-24 into combat. This was the 58th Bombardment Squadron (Dive), based at Wheeler Field in Hawaii. After carrying out an attack on Kiska Island in the Aleutians on August 4, 1943, the 58th BG was transferred to the Gilbert Islands and redesignated the 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron. In December of 1943, The 531st fighter Bomber Squadron operated their A-24Bs briefly but successfully from bases in the Makin Islands.
A number of A-24Bs were handed over to units of the French Armee de l'Air in 1943. They were initially assigned in small numbers to existing fighter units to serve as advanced trainers or as squadron hacks. The Ecole de Chasse at Meknes in Morocco also operated A-24Bs in the training role. Groupe de Bombardement I/17 Picardie used other A-24Bs, where they served in the desert police role from a base at Riyak in Syria. After the invasion of Europe, GB I/18 Vendee used A-24Bs in support of French and American ground forces operating against German strongholds along the Atlantic coast of France and in the French Alps. After VE-Day, GBI/18 was disbanded and its aircraft were turned over to the Ecole de Chasse in Morocco, the Gunnery School in Cazaux, and a desert police squadron in Morocco. The last of these was finally grounded in 1953.
The Fuerza Airea Mexicana operated a number of A-24Bs on anti-submarine patrols in the Caribbean beginning in 1944. Later, these aircraft were used as trainers and for border patrol use. The last of these Mexican A-24s was retired in 1959.
No attempt was made by the USAAF to deploy A-24s to the CBI, ETO, or MTO theatres. After the war, several A-24s still remained in service with the USAAF. When the A-for-attack designation was eliminated in 1948, the few surviving A-24s were redesignated F-24, in the fighter sequence.
Only four A-24s are known to survive today.
The city of Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon operated a pair of A-24s for many years as spray aircraft to combat mosquitoes. These two A-24s were based at the Troutdale airport, where E.A. Fletcher of Aero Flite, Inc maintained them. One of Portland's A-24s (an A, civilian registry N9142H and ex-military serial number of 42-60817) was acquired by the Navy and was sent to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida, where it received a 1941-42 color scheme and markings. Portland's other A-24 (a B, civilian registry N4488N, ex-military serial of 42-54582) was released in 1971 and passed through a number of owners until it was obtained by Douglas Champlin of Oklahoma in the spring of 1974. Since March of 1975, it has been a part of the collection of the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, Virginia. It was restored as an SBD-5 and is airworthy as N17421.
A-24B 42-54532 is still airworthy with the Confederate Air Force, flying under the civilian registry of N45432 and marked as an SBD.
An ex-Mexican A-24B (42-54682, N74133) was originally part of the Tallmantz Aviation collection, but was purchased by a private party when the Tallmantz collection was auctioned off in 1968. In 1972, it was acquired by the Admiral Nimitz center of Fredericksburg, Texas, where it is now on display configured as an SBD-3.
There is only one genuine SBD still in existence. It is SBD-6 BuAer No. 54605, and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
