The SBD-5 Dauntless, affectionately know as the "Slow But Deadly" or "Sweetheart of the Pacific" was one of the most pivotal US Naval aircraft of WWII. It excelled as both a scout plane and a dive bomber. It was the Dauntless that was most responsible of sinking four Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway in June 1942, a battle that signaled the beginnin of the end for Japan in the Pacific. The Dauntless was produced from 1940 to 1944. It was employed both as a carrier plane by the Navy and as a land based plane by the Marines. The US Army Air Corps also flew it as the A-24 Banshee. Small and surprisingly maneuverable when "slick", it had a maximum speed of about 250 kts at altitude. The SB2C Helldiver was designed to replace it but it never had the admiration of its crews as the Dauntless. It was actually flown until 1959 by Mexico.