Douglas SBD-1 1612 Carrier Qualification Training Unit USS Wolverine IX-64

These are 1/72 scale decals for Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless 1612, assigned to the Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) aboard USS Wolverine (IX-64), wearing the Non-Specular Light Gray (NS Light Gray) upper surfaces over Non-Specular Blue Gray (NS Blue Gray) scheme of the early war period.

The USS Wolverine was one of the most unusual vessels in the history of the United States Navy — a converted side-wheel passenger steamship pressed into service as a freshwater aircraft carrier on Lake Michigan. Together with her sister ship USS Sable (IX-81), Wolverine qualified over 17,000 naval aviators in carrier landing and takeoff operations during World War II, operating year-round on the lake to free up the Navy's fleet carriers for combat operations in the Atlantic and Pacific. The shallow waters of Lake Michigan claimed hundreds of training aircraft over the course of the war — many of which have since been recovered and restored, making the Lake Michigan training fleet one of the most archaeologically significant collections of WWII aircraft in existence.

The SBD-1 was the initial production Dauntless, and by the time of the Lake Michigan training operations many early-model SBDs had been cycled out of front-line service and into training roles — exactly the kind of work the CQTU needed. Serial 1612 wears the early two-tone gray scheme with the pre-mid-1942 national insignia without bars. Includes two serial options.

A uniquely American wartime story and a fascinating subject for any WWII Navy training, Dauntless, or Great Lakes aviation collection. Please allow some time for decal printing and shipping.