In World War II, a dive bomber was an aircraft designed to dive against its target at a very steep angle to achieve the highest degree of accuracy. The principle was simple: Dropping a bomb very close to its target decreases the time it takes for the bomb to reach the target, and the speed of the dive provides momentum that increases the speed of the dropped bomb. Together decreased distance and increased speed reduce the effects of drag, making the path of the bomb much more predictable. The dive bomber was used for tactical rather than strategic bombing, that is, targets were such high-value individual installations as bridges, command buildings, important vehicles, and ships.

The dive bombing concept dates to World War I. No special aircraft existed then, but Royal Air Force pilots developed and practiced steep dive techniques. They were severely limited by the inherent fragility of early airframes, which could not withstand the stress of recovery from a steep dive. U.S. Marine aviators in action against Haitian and Nicaraguan guerrillas in the 1920s employed limited dive bombing techniques. Although aircraft technology advanced sufficiently in the late 1920s to allow steeper dives and safer recoveries, the U.S. Army Air Corps focused on the development of strategic bombers. The U.S. Navy, however, recognized the value of dive bombers as anti-ship weapons and ordered the first aircraft designed specifically for the dive bombing mission, the Curtiss F8C Helldiver.

The Helldiver was a two-seat biplane first delivered to the navy in 1928 as the F8C-1. It was powered by a 430-horsepower Pratt and Whitney radial engine and had a top speed of a little more than 140 mph, but it was sturdy, and, in 1929, the navy ordered a modified version designated as the F8C-4, which could carry a modest bomb load that could be deployed in a steep dive. (The F8C-4 Helldiver is not to be confused with the later SB2C Helldiver, a far more advanced monoplane dive bomber introduced in 1940.)

If the F8C-4 pleased the U.S. Navy, it made an even greater impact on a German military observer visiting the United States in the early 1930s. Ernst Udet, who was otherwise unimpressed by the mostly backward state of American military aircraft, purchased four F8C-4s and sent them to Germany. Luftwaffe planners immediately understood their significance. Dive bombing would allow a relatively small air force to become a potent tactical weapon, precisely what was needed to conduct Blitzkrieg-style assaults. Inspired by the F8C-4, German designers developed the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, destined to become the archetypal and most feared dive bomber in the world. . .

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