SBD Dauntless vs A6M Zero-sen: Pacific Theater 1941–44 (Duel)

Second book in the series I'm reading good books

This new Osprey Duel series book matching the U.S. SBD Dauntless diver-bomber against the iconic Japanese Zero fighter would appear at first glance to be an odd subject. In fact, as author Donald Nijboer demonstrates, the Dauntless and the Zero faced each other in every critical battle in the Pacific during 1941-44. The outcomes of those confrontations were critical to shaping the course of the war.The author spends much of this brief book describing the development of the respective aircraft and the training of their crew. This discussion includes plenty of technical data, backed by lots of period photographs and modern illustrations and diagrams. The discussion of actual combat comes in the last third of the book, highlighting the key carrier battles and the Guadalcanal campaign. Of note, the author critically dissects the respective claims of aerial victories. Well recommended to students of the conflict.

I received from Amazon books quickly and at a good price.Very interesting book about the extensive battles between the Zero Sen fighter and the SBD Dauntless dive bomber in WW2. Research is excellent, though a few minor editing errors. I would highly reccommend book due to superior nature. Only criticism that I would have would be the topic is too extensive to be covered in a short volume book as this.

It's a must if you want to learn about how the SBD Dauntless came head to head against the vaunted Zero.

thank you

Very disappointed. There are better books available regarding these 2 aircraft. Some of the author's statics regarding the Dauntless sucess against the Zero are questionable. Very little touched on for Midway. From a Viet Nam Veteran K-9.

Good book covering the development of both fighters and employment. I was surprised by the dive bomber coming out on top in this verses series by Osprey.

SBD vs Zero is an excellent addition to the Osprey Duel series. Though it is nominally about both the SBD and the Zero, it mostly emphasizes the SBD. This is completely reasonable given how little has been written about the SBD. For example, there are only 4 books available on Kindle about the SBD (including this book), while there are 6 Kindle books about the Zero in the Osprey Duel series alone!Like all Duel books, SBD vs Zero is divided into several sections: design and development, technical specifications, the strategic situation, the combatants, combat, statistics and analysis, and aftermath. The high points of this book are the technical sections about the SBD. Readers will gain a rich understanding of the aircraft’s development, variants, and operational doctrine. The combat section is also quite good. It very nicely describes every major encounter between the SBD and Zero. One additional plus to this book are its amazing photographs. The subjects of the photos are more or less typical - there aren't really any WOW shots - but almost all of them are absolutely, perfectly crystal clear. On the Kindle Fire this means you can zoom in to see lots of detail. In one case you can even see the individual teeth on the zipper of a distant airman’s jacket.All in all SBD vs Zero is an excellent book. It’s a great addition to a Pacific war library and is close to a must have for SBD fans.