The new PE-2 kit by Zvezda got me wondering if a Dive Bomber Campaign had ever been done here or is that too restricting for a theme?

There never has been a dive bomber campaign here. (Here are all of them, you can see for youself)

It seems like a pretty good idea actually, could fly.

I could be down for that!

Michael

The dedicated dive bomber had a rather limited life span - about 20 years or less I believe.

I think the first plane built for the practice was the Curtiss Falcon (the 'first' Helldiver, as it was known to the US Marines) in the mid 20's and the last was the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.

Off the top of my head without doing a Google search I can think of:

Curtiss Helldivers 1 and 2
Junkers Stuka
I think the JU-88 was built with dive bombing characteristics
Douglas SBD Dauntless
North American Apache
Aichi 'Val'
Yokusuka 'Judy'
Petlyakov Pe-2

Those are the headliners. What else was there? I think Henschel had one before the Junkers Stuka.

Did the Royal Air Force or Royal Navy have any dedicated dive bombers?

Well, the Blackburn Skua was a Royal Navy combination fighter and dive bomber, so I think that would be included. And, of course, the USN SB2U Vindicator.

Michael

Uh well, sounds interesting. There are other Stukas like the Henschel Hs 123 or the Junkers K47, ancestor of the Ju 87.

By chance, just found an old fujimi Stuka in my stash!

Oliver

There was also the Douglas XSB2D-1 & BTD-1 Destroyer, too late for service in the war, and of which only a few were built.
a few resin kits are available.

edit to add another also-ran, the Brewster Buccaneer.


edit again to add for 1/144 enthusiasts, this Anigrand set contains both a Brewster Buccaneer and a Douglas XSB2D Destroyer, as well as the never produced Grumman XTB2F Avenger II, in addition to the Mercator.

What a perfect opportunity to do this one!

Or this one:

Or even this one:

Might also be able to throw in the Hawker Heart B.4A as Swedish General Björn Bjuggren wrote in his memoirs that his squadron found out that it was capable of dive bombing and developed dive-bombing techniques for the Heart

Also the Loire-Nieuport LN.401

The Military Factory site has a nice listing of aircraft labeled as WWII dive bombers from all combatants. I'm not sure how comprehensive it is and some listed I didn't take as dive bombers (the Douglas TBD for example) but maybe they had performed the dive bomber role.

WWII Dive Bombers

They are just WWII aircraft and we wouldn't want to limit it just to these:

1944 Aichi B7A Ryusei (Grace)
1940 Aichi D3A (Val)
1944 Aichi E16A Zuiun (Paul)
1943 Arado Ar E.340
1943 Blohm and Voss Bv P.192
1943 Brewster XA-32
1941 Brewster XSBA-1 / SBN-1
1941 CAC Woomera (A23)
1943 Curtiss SB2C Helldiver
1938 Curtiss SBC Helldiver
1941 Dornier Do 217
1941 Douglas A-24 Banshee
1944 Douglas BTD Destroyer
1938 Douglas SBD Dauntless
1943 Fairey Barracuda
1945 Fairey Spearfish
1942 Grumman TBF Avenger
1936 Henschel Hs 123
1945 Henschel Hs 132
1943 Junkers Ju 187
1937 Junkers Ju 87 (StuKa - Sturzkampfflugzeug)
1939 Junkers Ju 88
1945 Kaiser-Fleetwings XBTK
1940 Kawasaki Ki-48 Sokei (Lily)
1938 Latecoere 298
1939 Loire-Nieuport LN.401/LN.411 (LN.40)
1943 Messerschmitt Me 210
1938 Mitsubishi Ki-30 (Ann)
1940 Mitsubishi Ki-51 (Sonia)
1943 North American A-36 Apache (Invader)
1941 Petlyakov Pe-2 (Pawn)
1942 Tupolev Tu-2 (Bat)
1937 Vought SB2U Vindicator
1941 Vultee A-35 Vengeance
1944 Vultee XA-41
1942 Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Judy)

I would be up for this one!
Many good kits to chose from

Have to include the P-39 as well

No, because it was not designed as a dive bomber. Otherwise we'd need to include nearly every aircraft which was ever used as a fighter-bomber.

Any more interests?

I just got this kit tonight from my daughter's tutor. He tried offering to one of his students but he had no interests.

Hi,

i could be interested, depending on the time lines ...

cheers
nico

At this point, if this one gets submitted soon, we'd probably be looking at starting in March and running through September.

Michael

Good list Michael. Can't believe no one mentioned vultee until that.
As other Michael mentioned, don't forget the Skua.

Also the IMAM Ro57 and Savoia SM85.

This would be an excuse to build a Val if I can find time.

Haven't heard much from this one lately, what do you all think, are there 10 for this one yet? Let me know if you're going to submit it Michael.

Michael

I've all but abandoned it since we didn't get 10 definitive responses of interest. I thought that was the rule for an air campaign.

It is. Just thought I'd try to drum up some more interest.

Michael

Aw geez, another campaign for me to get all interested in and fail to finish..

Let's see A-36, SBD, SB2C, SBC?, TBF/M, SB2U, and maybe even a Vultee Vengeance in the stash. Time to actually finish something = 0.

I think this puts us at 9. One more and I'll submit it.

Hi Michael

I'm in with a Petlaykov Pe-2 - not sure yet if it will be the 1/72 Airfix model or the new 1/48 Zvezda model. Seeing that it will be my 1st campaign on Aeroscale [or anywhere] I think I will play it safe with the Airfix model.

Regards,
Kobus

And that makes 10!

I've submitted the campaign proposal with some basic rules.

Mike mentioned a date range for this from March to September. Is everyone ok with that?