The SBD Dauntless was the Navy’s most effective dive bomber of World War II. It was responsible for more enemy ships sunk in the first half of the war than any other aircraft or ship in the fleet. Although nicknamed “Slow But Deadly” by its pilots, the SBD was a precise dive bomber which used special perforated dive brakes to make slower, controlled dives. The Dauntless is most famous as the aircraft that destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942.