Marine Corps Aircraft that Made a Difference
Deck TK

Sikorsky UH-34D
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The National Air and Space Museum's H-34 entered Marine Corps service in March 1961 as an HUS-1 Seahorse; it was redesignated UH-34D in October. After 3,416 flying hours with domestic USMC squadrons, it was retired in November 1970 and was transferred to NASM in 1974. It has been repainted to represent an aircraft of the highly decorated Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163 (HMM-163), stationed near Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam, in 1965.
F4U-1DCorsair
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F4H-1
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F4F-4WildcatNavTable
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F4F-4Wildcat
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Dauntless cockpit
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The first production model, the SBD-1, was found unsuitable for shipboard operations because of limited range and the Marine Corps employed them in land-based operations. After improvements and fleet acceptance, the SBD underwent near-continuous modification in an attempt to increase combat capability and performance, including installation of more powerful engines, and surface search radar in later models.
The SBD-6 was the final version and this example is the sixth of this model built. The U.S. Army Air Corps, awed by the performance of German Stukas, but not having dive-bombers of their own, bought the SBD and called it the A-24 Banshee. Despite their early combat success, the Dauntless slowly ceded the naval dive-bombing mission to the long-delayed Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Abandoned in 1944 by the Navy, the venerable SBD would finish the war—where it started—with the Marine Corps.
Dauntless Gunner position
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Dauntless radio
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