1/72 SBD-3 "Dauntless" – Lt. Richard Best at Midway
This build is of the new Flyhawk kit, and represents the aircraft flown by Lt. Richard H. Best, commander of Bombing 6, and & ACRM(PA) J.F. Murray on the U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6) at the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942.
The Subject
On June 4, Best flew an almost-new SBD-3. Bombing 6 had received new planes to replace their SBD-2s when Enterprise returned to Pearl Harbor at the end of April 1942 following the Doolittle Raid. Best later characterized the plane as the cleanest aircraft he'd ever had in the Navy. He and his rear-seat man planted their 1,000 lb. bomb on the Japanese flagship Akagi that morning. It was the only hit scored on the carrier, but was well-placed enough to result in her complete loss. Later that afternoon Best flew a second strike on the remaining undamaged Japanese carrier Hiryu, and scored a hit on that ship as well. The recent movie Midway featured Best, and while the movie has its detractors, I appreciate how accurately they portrayed what Best did on June 4. Well, there is one minor point. Back in 1992 Best told us that the Akagi never fired on him during his whole dive. But recall that at the time almost 30 dive bombers were attacking the nearby Kaga - Scouting 6 and all but three of Bombing 6 - Best and his two wingmen. So three dive bombers attacking from high overhead may have just been missed given what was happening elsewhere.
The Kit
I've built two each of the Airfix and Hasegawa SBDs, and this was my first build of the new Flyhawk. I was very, very impressed with it. It provides a detailed cockpit and engine, a detailed rear seat twin mount gun, separate flaps and dive brakes - eliminating the need for a photoetch set, and two sets of canopies allowing an open cockpit configuration. About the only complaint I had about the kit was the decals, which are the wrong font, and the armament, which is limited to one 500 lb centerline and two 100 lbs bombs carried under the wings. At Midway, Scouting 6 carried the 100/500/100 payload while Best's Bombing 6 carried a single 1,000 pound bomb.
The Build
I built the model basically out of the box using Vallejo paints. The only real change I made was to the armament. I borrowed a 1,000 pound bomb from the Hasegawa kit, and did not mount the brackets for the wing-mounted bombs. I've always painted bombs olive drab, but I read that at Midway they were still gray, so I went with a light gray dirtied up a bit with a wash.
I had trouble getting the actuating rod into place under the flaps/dive brakes, but it was fairly easy to flatten out the the upper arms to allow for the dive brakes to be closed, and the flaps to be open. I initially painted the centerline flap red, but realized it should be light gray and made that change.
I also replaced the kit decals with a set by Starfighter, and skipped most of the provided stenciling since photos of aircraft on the carriers at Midway didn't show stenciling.
I also learned that the rectangular boxes on the right side of the cockpit were oxygen apparatus, which was green at the time, so I departed from the kit instructions for paint here as well.
In recent years it has become more common knowledge that the Enterprise's dive bombers had their landing gear struts color-coded. Best's were both red, so I added this detail.
The Model
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway in June 2017 I I modeled one of each of the three types of carrier planes that operated from the U.S. carriers during the battle, choosing one from each of the three carriers. The aircraft I chose were ones piloted by aviators that I met and got an autograph from at the Admiral Nimitz Museum "1942 - Issue in Doubt" symposium in 1992 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the battle while they were speaking on aerial combat in 1942.
Dick Best was kind enough to autograph my R.G. Smith print of him bombing the Japanese flagship Akagi as "C.O. Bombing Six, U.S.S. Enterprise Midway, 4 June 42."
I have been updating the three as better kits and research become available and my modeling skills develop - 2017 was the first time I had completed "any" models in almost 25 years. I had already upgraded by F4F-4 and TBD-1. Best's SBD-3 was my last to get into the correct colors and quality builds.
A wonderful build, Michael @mcsmith1964
What a great story as well and having Best's signature next to your build is awesome.
Well done.
Tj=his kit looks very good! I don't know this brand
Great build, great display! Regarding the Japanese anti-aircraft fire, Shattered Sword only credits them with downing two aircraft during the entire battle. The rest were claimed by Zeros or fuel starvation.
Excellent build and display, Michael!
Nice model and really nice collection of signatures, Michael (@mcsmith1964). Dick Best is one of he key characters in the newest Midway movie (2109). I have this kit sitting on a shelf. Every time I look at very detailed (and very tiny) parts, I decide to build something else.
It’s really not bad. I was surprised at how not difficult the assembly was.
It was sitting on my shelf for at least two years for the exact same reason.
Well done, Michael. Fits in great with the group
Looks fantastic! I built a Hasegawa version, and had to scratch build all the dive brakes, flaps and actuators - looks like this kit would save me that problem!
I did two Hasegawa's with aftermarket PE dive flaps and this is WAY easier! I have one Hasegawa left in my stash and I'm strongly considering just building it as-is rather than hacking the flaps out again. But it's the canopy that's the star - you can actually nestle the parts together like the real thing. And the rear-seat gun? Wow. And it wasn't as hard to assemble as it looks. Just a great kit. And saves a "lot" of time we had to put into accurizing the Hasegawa.
Nice work! I never knew about the red struts. What was the purpose?
Each aircraft had a different set of colored struts, so the aircraft could be identified as they came in to land, when the numbers on the fuselage sides were not yet visible. Not sure why they needed to know who it was at that point, and I don't think it lasted long.