Mexico & Chile The Two Latin American Countries That Operated The Famed USN WWII Dive Bomber "The Dauntless"

AIRFORCES, Inc. Reports: The Northrop BT-1 provided the basis for the SBD, which began manufacture in 1940. It was designed by designers team lead by Ed Heinemann with a 1,000 horsepower Wright Cyclone powerplant. The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was supplanted (although not entirely replaced) by the SB2C Helldiver.

The U.S. Army had its own version of the SBD, known as the A-24 Banshee, it was the same aircraft except it came it came without the tail hook used for carrier landings, and a pneumatic line replaced the solid tail wheel on some of them. This was the same version acquired and thus operated by both the Mexican and Chilean Air Forces, thus making each Country the only Latin American Airforces who operated the famed U.S. Navy Pacific War Dive Bomber.