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Douglas A-24 Banshee

1941 W.A.S.P. WORLD WAR 2

History of the Douglas A-24 Banshee

Prior to World War II (1939-1945), US military aviation doctrine focused primarily on gaining complete air superiority over the enemy by "pursuing" fighter jets head-on against the enemy's solid base. A secondary focus was on light bomb delivery platforms, those that emerged before the war were often delivered overseas to foreign customers such as France, Britain and the Netherlands.

That all changed, however, when the Germans passed their blitzkrieg in Western Europe, showing off the dive bomber in a terrifying fashion with its piercing Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka". The aircraft artillery bombarded key targets and troop formations ahead of major invading forces, softening areas before ground forces engaged.

As a result, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) quickly shifted its focus to acquiring attack platforms for its bombing role.

Army officials have preferred to stay away from more complex twin-engine designs in favour of developing single-engine monoplane wing forms with a crew of two to three. Defensive weapons are necessary to help protect aircraft that are most likely to be slow moving. Several initiatives advanced, including Douglas A-17s, Curtiss A-18s, and Vultee A-19s, although there was no winner in the Army's search beyond July 1940 until the Army acquired a small number of American Douglas SBD Dreadnought dive bombers . After some modificationsnamely, removal of carrier deck locking equipment and replacement of Navy radio equipmentSBD returned to the Army in the form of the new A-24 Banshee. While not a complete solution for the Army, the Banshee will suffice until a suitable aircraft is introduced.

The original Army brand was the Navy's SBD-3 (SBD-3A) model, or "A-24," and the Army order merged with the existing July 1940 Navy order. The Army version also replaced the fixed tailwheel with a pneumatic version for land-based takeoff and landing.

Like other American dive bombers of the period, the aircraft had perforated dive brakes on the trailing edges of the wings to slow the fall during attack. Self-sealing fuel tanks are a must, as is armor for crew and aircraft self-protection.

As with previous SBDs, Banshee uses modest machine gun armament as standard: 2 x .50 caliber machine guns mounted on the front cowl for pilot operation and 1 x .30 caliber machine gun mounted on a flexible mount at the rear for cockpit protection The vulnerable "six" of the aircraft. Like the SBD, the Banshee carried two crew members - a pilot and a gunner. The aircraft's bomb load was set using the three available hardpoints - one under the centerline of the fuselage and one under each wing.

Typical loads are 1 x 500lb/1,000lb bomb below centerline or 1 x 100lb bomb per wing station.

The first Banshees fell into the hands of the US Army in June 1941, and they were equipped with Wright R-1820-52 1,000 hp radial engines. Banshee's initial assignment was with the 27th Bomb Group (Light) from Hunterfield, Georgia, and training officially began.

Three squadrons were eventually formed at the start of the war.

As the Philippines was threatened by a Japanese invasion, A-24s were sent to the islands to help strengthen American defenses there. However, Japan's rapid advance forced the A-24 to be moved to Australia for final assembly. Upon opening the package, it was quickly apparent that the A-24 was in very good condition in early training.

Australian personnel quickly rebuilt the aircraft, made temporary repairs to weak points and even lost parts entirely. Such is the condition of these planes that some have replaced worn plane tires with standard truck tires!

16th, 17th and 91st Bomber Squadrons formed in Australia in preparation for the defense of Java. Fifteen A-24s completed the journey, although only seven were in combat condition upon arrival (these also lacked the necessary self-sealing fuel tanks and armor). Judging by this batch of aircraft, the aircraft overcame all odds and performed poorly early on - limited combat range, lack of adequate firepower, and unless escorted, they became fodder for enemy fighter jets. In the campaign leading up to the Allied withdrawal from Java, the aircraft repeatedly hit enemy ships directly. Australia's remaining A-24s are now organized into 3rd Bomb Group and 8th Bomb Squadron and assigned to New Guinea fortifications.

Losses continued to mount, as shown by a sortie in July 1942 when seven A-24s were fired and only one returned home.

Despite the immature combat record, the Army ordered the A-24 again in July 1942 - mainly because their order was for the A-25 Shrike (the Army's version of the Navy Curtiss SB2C "Helldiver") ".)It is delayed. In March 1943, additional A-24s were added to Army inventory as some were drawn from US Navy inventory - these forms were designated A-24A, equivalent to SBD-4A, with a higher bomb load capability and additional rear cockpit machine guns (2 x .30 caliber machine guns on flexible mounts). A total of 170 of these newer-build PFs were procured, joining the original 168 A-24 variants.

The final Banshee form was the A-24B, which was the SBD-5A and its 1,200-horsepower Wright R-1820-60 radial engine. The Army optimistically ordered 1,200 of these planes, but received only 615 by mid-1943, as the Army began to no longer need dedicated dive bomber platformsfighter and medium bombers seemed to outpace the U.S. Air Force's mission.

The Banshee was last delivered in December 1943.

A-24Bs fought the Japanese in the Gilbert Islands, and these fighters worked much better than before. At the end of its useful life, the A-24 served a pilot-gunner training role and continued to be used as an air target tow aircraft. The U.S. Air Force handed over a portion of its A-24 inventory to the U.S. Marine Corps, which can reasonably use the direct bombing platform in a close air support (CAS) role.

Banshee's foreign operators later became Chile (A-24B model, 12), France (Free French Forces, no less than 50) and Mexico (28).

As an interesting aspect about the A-24, the U.S. Army tested a "Scream" system (from Chrysler) to mimic the horrific diving noise that would be made during an attack on the German Stuka over Europe. Needless to say, this feature was not implemented in the production A-24.