So I'm wondering what, exactly, the technique was to transition from straight and level flight, to the near vertical dive. No book ever really reveals it, saying always that they “plunged into their dives...”, etc. Well, we all know they plunged, but how did they begin their plunge? Surely they didn't just push the stick forward. For one thing, the it would be difficult to judge the precise moment to push over as the target would have been obscured for several seconds under the nose. For another, that would involve significant negative G which, I've been told, pilots like to avoid. A split-s type maneuver would be no better, as you still wouldn't know when to begin rolling. I've seen footage of SBDs in an echelon formation peeling off one by one, rolling into a dive. Looks like that anyway, but who knows what that was. Could have been a practice dive. Seems to me you would have to approach your target from an angle that allowed the pilot to keep it in sight until the moment he begins his dive, but if your going to dive near vertically on it, how do you do that? The wings would be in the way at the push over point, even if it was off to one side a bit. I have an SB2C-4 pilot handbook, but the “transition maneuver” is not discussed. Heck, diving the airplane is not even discussed.
The VS SBD is great for dive bombing practice, BTW!
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