Douglas SBD Dauntless
The squadron arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara, California on June 14, 1942 and became part of Marine Aircraft Group 24. On 14 September 1942 the squadron was redesignated as VMSB-244. In October of that year they changed out their Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers for the new Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver.