Hey all! I’ll be starting Accurate Miniatures SBD-3 form the Battle of the Coral Sea soon. The instructions have an after action report stating that S-12 carried the single machine gun so I’m ok with going with that but I have a question on the seat harness. AM gives a decals that shows the shoulder harness but from most of the research I’ve done shows a Dautless from this time frame (May 1942) would only have lap belts for gunner and pilot, correct? I know this question has been asked before but I also know that people research and find new answers all the time as well.
Hi Rooster513,
I’m currently building the AM SBD-5. In my research for the kit I found that pre-war SBDs 1-3 didn’t have the shoulder harness for the pilot. Shoulder harnesses were only installed after the start of the war. It’s in one of my Squadron SBD books, either the Walk-Around or the In-Action book, can’t remember which. Unfortunately, the Eduard PE sets only include a lap belt for the pilot. The gunner can’t wear a shoulder harness because of the configuration of his pivoting, swivel, turret style seat assembly. If you go back a couple pages in the aircraft forum you’ll find a couple of my posts with some photos of my SBD-5
Andy-hope you find an answer(s),getting ready to start a Coral Sea SBD-3 and would like to get it right,
I did find this:
http://atrecovery.com/Images/2106/DAUNTLESSreport2106.pdf
Did a quick read and the only thing I found is that armored seats were installed when the war started.
Good luck
Bob
Thanks kielers! I take a look at your SDB-5 project!
Hi Rooster513,
I just checked my Squadron SBD Dauntless Walk-Around book - a caption on page 23 states “Shoulder restraints did not become standard equipment on SBDs until the start of World War II.” So probably pretty safe to say that your Coral Sea SBD-3 did have pilot shoulder restraints.