Friday, February 12, 2010

World War II Plane Joins Museum Display in Hawaii

A Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless Dive Bomber will be unveiled at the Pacific Aviation Museum--Pearl Harbor Museum today.

It is on loan from the National Museum of naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida (a great place to visit if you ever get by there) while another SBD gets restored.

The museum took part in the June 15, 2009 recovery of an SBD-2 Dauntless from the waters of Lake Michigan which I reported on.

Fred L. Turner, former CEO of McDonald's funded the recovery and restoration with a $1 million gift to the project.

The SBD Dauntlesses were a key to the American victory at the June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway, considered to be the turning point of the War in the Pacific.

A dauntless carried a crew of two and was powered by a 1,000 horsepower Cyclone 9 cylinder engine with a top speed of 250 mph.

Always great to Have Relics from the Past. --Cooter

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