There are few aircraft still extant that are truly historically significant. Most of those are quite well known, such as the Wright Flyer, the X-1, and so on. Yet there are aircraft that have seen battle that have survived in some form or another. Such is the case with the subject of this sheet.

The SBD-2 in and of itself is a rather rare aircraft with previously only wrecks surviving. This particular plane was pulled from Lake Michigan where it had crashed during a training accident and is a particularly interesting aircraft.

It was first assigned to VB-2 aboard the USS Lexington during the yellow wings period. It later changed to war paint and was left behind at Ford Island in December 1941 for engine repairs while the Lexington was at sea. The aircraft survived the Pearl Harbor attack and returned to the Lex a few days later. It then participated in operations during early 1942 earning its pilot the Navy Cross. Left behind once again in April 1942, the aircraft was reassigned to VMSB-241 and shipped to Midway island to help in its defense. It was there that the aircraft was badly shot up in raids against the Japanese carrier Hiryu, earning its crew the Navy Cross and DFC for heroism. The aircraft was then repaired and sent to NAS Glenview to use for carrier quals where she was lost in a landing accident during June 1943. Pulled from Lake Michigan in 1994 the aircraft was restored by the US Naval Aviation Museum.

This set of decals allows you to build this historic aircraft in all the schemes that she wore during her operational career. This is all thanks to the superb research that went into this set. The decals themselves are superbly printed by Microscale. Note that I have darkened the sheet image to show the white bits. The sheet includes all the unique markings and stripes needed to complete this aircraft and that includes five sets of wing walk markings. Yellow Wings has to have among the finest instructions and markings placement guides offered with this one being in full color so there are no worries about what goes where. 

August 2016

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