The Second Battle of Midway: Veterans Fight to Bring Dauntless Home to Chicago
Inflight USA, July 2001

"Some planes you wear and others you operate," says retired navy Capt. Chuck Downey.
"The Dauntless felt like you wore it."

At age 18, Downey was the youngest naval aviator in the Second World War, exactly 12 days younger than former President George Bush. Downey trained in a Douglas SDB Dauntless in 1943, and later flew a Helldiver in the Philippines. He won two Distinguished Flying Crosses for helping to sink a Japanese light cruiser, and for destroying a hangar in Tokyo.

Forty-six years after the war, Downey never dreamed he'd be involved in a battle to bring one of the few surviving SDBs back to Chicago, where it sank during training maneuvers in Lake Michigan in 1943.

Often referred to as "the point of the spear" in the war in the Pacific, the Dauntless was the standard dive-bomber from 1940-43 when it was replaced by the more powerful and modern Helldiver. A sturdy and well constructed aircraft, it had poor firepower but was fairly maneuverable. As the navy workhorse, the Dauntless was used in reconnaissance and in a pinch, Combat Air Patrol. Fighter pilots perfected a near vertical dive in the Dauntless, allowing for deadly accuracy and inflicting great damage on the enemy. Because it could not extend the dive brakes at maximum speed, pilots had to throttle back to begin an attack dive.

Although the Dauntless was replaced in 1943, many pilots preferred it because it to the larger Helldiver because it withstood battle damage and was steady in a dive. "It was more graceful, had better control and was more responsive than the Hellcat," Downey recalls. "It balanced perfectly, and was easier to land aboard a carrier."

The main difficulty with the Dauntless, says Downey, was that pilots risked target fixation because of the steep dive and the somewhat primitive bombsight. "You're fixed on your target and you don't realize how fast you're coming in on your target. You have one eye on the telescope and one eye on the altimeter and you watch it unwind, and it unwinds pretty fast. You'd plan your release and you're at a fixed velocity, aiming straight down. If you don't release and pull out, the explosion hits you. You could be in your target and not know it, and be unable to get out."

When Downey caught wind of a proposed plan to place a restored Dauntless in Chicago's Midway Airport, he enthusiastically endorsed the project. But when the city dedicated their multi-media display commemorating the Battle of Midway on June 4, the Dauntless was missing.

Chicago's Municipal Airport was renamed Midway Airport in 1949 to commemorate those who fought in the Battle of Midway, long considered the turning point in the Pacific war. The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor crippled the American Navy and a crucial part of the Japanese offensive was capturing the Pacific atoll of Midway. This would allow them to launch further attacks on Hawaii.

Although the American navy was outnumbered, they inflicted great damage on the Japanese fleet largely due to the Dauntless. After losing almost all the torpedo planes, 40 SBDs sank two of the four Japanese carriers on June 4, 1942, destroying 40 percent of their tonnage within 2 minutes. A third carrier and fourth carrier were later destroyed, marking the end of the Japanese offensive in the Pacific theater.

In 1998 a group of veterans and aviation enthusiasts approached the City of Chicago with a plan to install a restored Dauntless in the new terminal at Midway Airport. The city agreed it would be an appropriate tribute to those who died in the Battle the airport's name commemorates.

The National Museum of Naval Aviation agreed to loan the city a Dauntless they had on display in Pensacola. In return, the city would fund restoration of another Dauntless to replace the first one. They would then have the option of either airplane.

Ironically, both planes were recovered from Chicago's own backyard. During the war the navy conducted flight training in Lake Michigan at Glenview NAS off Chicago's Navy Pier. Two side-wheel lake steamers were converted to carriers, and many pilots trained on planes already considered obsolete. Because of this, Lake Michigan is a veritable graveyard of rare planes, with hundreds of F4F Wildcats, SDB Dauntless,' F4U1 Corsairs and Vought SB2U Vindicators lying at the lake's bottom.

All the more reason for a Dauntless to be on site at Midway, say the veterans. The salvager who recovered the Dauntless joined in the campaign. After bringing up more than 30 planes from Lake Michigan, A & T Recovery's Taras Lyssenko grew tired of seeing these planes shipped off to other cities.

"Seventeen million people would be exposed to this - what good is having it in some museum where you have to go to it to see it," Lyssenko points out. Most people who pass through the airport are unaware of the name's significance, he adds. The presence of the Dauntless would be a stark reminder for many, and spark the interest of a new generation.

The Chicago Marine Heritage Society, which protects Lake Michigan's underwater treasures, also came on board. "If you ask any American if there was ever a point where America might have lost WWII they would not have a clue," says Captain Dave Truitt, Chairman of CMHS. "The Battle of Midway is a story of heroism and achievement, about strength and courage, and it should be told."

While the city supported the project in principle, lack of space and funding led them to back out of the original deal. After a year of negotiations they opted for a virtual reality display.

Veterans, however, insist that nothing can replace the real thing. With the help of City Councilman Edward Burke, A &T Recovery's Taras Lyssenko and Captain Truitt they formed the Chicago Midway Memorial Committee and continue to lobby to bring the Dauntless to Chicago.