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Introduction to Dive Bombing - US Navy Pilot Training Film, World War II
This media is the work of U.S. Navy personnel or employees or contractors, made during the
course of their official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the media is in the public
domain.
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater
accuracy and limit the exposure of anti-aircraft fire. This type of aircraft was most heavily used
before and during World War II; its use fell into decline shortly afterwards.
Diving (nearly) vertically at the target, in the same direction the bombs will take, the aircraft will
release the bombs very close to the target at high speed. This allows a dive bomber to accurately
place bombs on relatively small and/or moving targets with relative ease. Additionally, no
complicated precision bombsight is needed for targeting.
Dive bombers were widely used to attack high value targets such as ships and bridges. This also
had the advantage of attacking ships at a weak spot; armour was the heaviest near the waterline
and thin or nonexistent on the deck. In addition, dive bombing allowed relatively small airplanes
carrying limited bombload to inflict disproportionately heavy damage.
On the negative side, optimizing an airplane for near-vertical dives came at the expense of
performance. In addition, a dive bomber was extremely vulnerable to ground fire as it dived
towards its target. Dive brakes were employed on many designs. These created drag which
slowed the aircraft somewhat in order to increase accuracy. These were almost exclusive to dive
bombers, though the air brakes fitted to modern aircraft are often of a similar design.
European theatre
In the early 1930s, Ernst Udet visited the U.S. and was able to purchase four F8Cs and ship them
to Germany, where they caused a minor revolution. The dive bombing technique would allow a
much smaller Luftwaffe to operate effectively in the tactical role, and this was all they were
interested in. Soon they had sent out contracts for their own dive bomber designs, resulting in the
gull-winged Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (a contraction of Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally "drop-fight plane").
For its day, the Stuka was the most advanced dive bomber in the world. Using it as "aerial artillery"
solved a major problem in the concept of Blitzkrieg—how to attack dug-in defensive positions.
Normally this would require slow-moving artillery to be used, making the fast moving armored
forces wait for it to catch up.
This was proven to great effect during the invasion of Poland and the Low Countries. In one
particular example, the British Expeditionary Force set up strong defensive positions on the west
bank of the Oise River just front of the rapidly advancing German armor. Attacks by Stukas quickly
broke the defense, and combat engineers were able to force a crossing long before the artillery
arrived. Another important example for that were the massive aerial attacks in 13 May 1940 against
strong French defense positions at Sedan in the Battle of France, which allowed the German
forces a fast and for Allies unexpected breakthrough through the French lines, eventually leading to
the German advance to the Channel and the cutting off of large parts of the Allied army.
Despite its success in the French campaign, the Stuka soon showed its weaknesses in the Battle
of Britain where great numbers of Stukas were lost due its inappropriateness as a tactical bomber.
The Ju-87 Stuka was the only widely used dedicated tactical dive bomber to be used against both
naval and land targets, particularly in the anti-armour role in case of the land use. However, with
the loss of air superiority they became vulnerable to the Red Army Air Force fighters and beginning
from 1943 begun conversion to the more conventional cannon attack tactics.
Pacific theater
The Japanese also spent considerable effort on dive bombers, for the same reason as the U.S.
Navy—to allow it to strike ships. They started the war with one of the best designs, the Japanese
Navy-flown Aichi D3A Val, but this design also quickly became outdated, partly as it had fixed main
landing gear, just as the Stuka did. They later introduced the much better Yokosuka D4Y Suisei,
but at a time when their industry was already unable to supply them in any numbers. In contrast,
the U.S. fielded the Douglas SBD Dauntless which was similar to the D3A in performance, but
later replaced it with the faster, more complex Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Both were provided in large
numbers.
The most famous example of successful naval dive-bombing attacks took place in the Battle of
Midway in June 1942 when American Dauntlesses scored fatal hits on three separate first-line
Japanese aircraft carriers within a six minute timespan.
This media is the work of U.S. Navy personnel or employees or contractors, made during the
course of their official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the media is in the public
domain.
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater
accuracy and limit the exposure of anti-aircraft fire. This type of aircraft was most heavily used
before and during World War II; its use fell into decline shortly afterwards.
Diving (nearly) vertically at the target, in the same direction the bombs will take, the aircraft will
release the bombs very close to the target at high speed. This allows a dive bomber to accurately
place bombs on relatively small and/or moving targets with relative ease. Additionally, no
complicated precision bombsight is needed for targeting.
Dive bombers were widely used to attack high value targets such as ships and bridges. This also
had the advantage of attacking ships at a weak spot; armour was the heaviest near the waterline
and thin or nonexistent on the deck. In addition, dive bombing allowed relatively small airplanes
carrying limited bombload to inflict disproportionately heavy damage.
On the negative side, optimizing an airplane for near-vertical dives came at the expense of
performance. In addition, a dive bomber was extremely vulnerable to ground fire as it dived
towards its target. Dive brakes were employed on many designs. These created drag which
slowed the aircraft somewhat in order to increase accuracy. These were almost exclusive to dive
bombers, though the air brakes fitted to modern aircraft are often of a similar design.
European theatre
In the early 1930s, Ernst Udet visited the U.S. and was able to purchase four F8Cs and ship them
to Germany, where they caused a minor revolution. The dive bombing technique would allow a
much smaller Luftwaffe to operate effectively in the tactical role, and this was all they were
interested in. Soon they had sent out contracts for their own dive bomber designs, resulting in the
gull-winged Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (a contraction of Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally "drop-fight plane").
For its day, the Stuka was the most advanced dive bomber in the world. Using it as "aerial artillery"
solved a major problem in the concept of Blitzkrieg—how to attack dug-in defensive positions.
Normally this would require slow-moving artillery to be used, making the fast moving armored
forces wait for it to catch up.
This was proven to great effect during the invasion of Poland and the Low Countries. In one
particular example, the British Expeditionary Force set up strong defensive positions on the west
bank of the Oise River just front of the rapidly advancing German armor. Attacks by Stukas quickly
broke the defense, and combat engineers were able to force a crossing long before the artillery
arrived. Another important example for that were the massive aerial attacks in 13 May 1940 against
strong French defense positions at Sedan in the Battle of France, which allowed the German
forces a fast and for Allies unexpected breakthrough through the French lines, eventually leading to
the German advance to the Channel and the cutting off of large parts of the Allied army.
Despite its success in the French campaign, the Stuka soon showed its weaknesses in the Battle
of Britain where great numbers of Stukas were lost due its inappropriateness as a tactical bomber.
The Ju-87 Stuka was the only widely used dedicated tactical dive bomber to be used against both
naval and land targets, particularly in the anti-armour role in case of the land use. However, with
the loss of air superiority they became vulnerable to the Red Army Air Force fighters and beginning
from 1943 begun conversion to the more conventional cannon attack tactics.
Pacific theater
The Japanese also spent considerable effort on dive bombers, for the same reason as the U.S.
Navy—to allow it to strike ships. They started the war with one of the best designs, the Japanese
Navy-flown Aichi D3A Val, but this design also quickly became outdated, partly as it had fixed main
landing gear, just as the Stuka did. They later introduced the much better Yokosuka D4Y Suisei,
but at a time when their industry was already unable to supply them in any numbers. In contrast,
the U.S. fielded the Douglas SBD Dauntless which was similar to the D3A in performance, but
later replaced it with the faster, more complex Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Both were provided in large
numbers.
The most famous example of successful naval dive-bombing attacks took place in the Battle of
Midway in June 1942 when American Dauntlesses scored fatal hits on three separate first-line
Japanese aircraft carriers within a six minute timespan.
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| WWII TRAINING VIDEOS |
