SBDs at the Naval Aviation Museum - from models in 1978 to the actual combat-flown aircraft in 2018

In 1978 when my dad took me to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, I was able to see a model of a dive bomber that flew from old USS Lexington (CV-2) in early 1942.

When Parker and I went this week we saw an actual dive bomber that flew from the Lexington in early 1942. And that's only part of its history.

Bu No. 2106 was at Pearl Harbor during the attack on December 7, then flew with Bombing 2 with the Lexington, then was reassigned to a Marine dive bombing squadron and sent to Midway where, you guessed it, it was sent out to attack the Japanese carriers on June 4. It's the only known aircraft in existence to have fought at Midway, where it made it back to the island with over 200 bullet holes, as shown in the attached photo.

The plane was retired to training duty, and sank in Lake Michigan. It was recovered recently and completely restored to its June 1942 condition (minus the bullet holes).

Amazing.