For what it's worth... The picture depicts an SBD (Scout, Bomber, Douglas) likely an SBD-3 version with markings indicating it came from the Carrier Yorktown and flown by the Bombing Group Leader (B1) attacking the Japanese carrier Akagi.
My real question...
The movies and other artwork commonly depict bomb attacks taking place across the beam.
This makes little sense to me other than it is just artistic license and frames the pictures nicely.
It just looks good!
The Akagi was ~850ft long and ~100 ft wide.
If aiming for dead-center and attacking across the beam, any bombing error of more than 50ft would result in a miss.
If aiming for dead-center and attacking from the stern, an error of 400ft, long or short, would still result in a hit.
An 8x easier shot. Add the relative motion of the ship canceling some of the motion of the plane if attacking from the stern and it gets even easier.
Does anyone know if the attacks were actually made along the length of the ship or is there a logical reason to attack cross the beam?
Or are the common depictions just the creative liberties of the artists.