Vultee A-31 VengeanceThe Vultee A-31 Vengeance was an American dive bomber of World War II, built by Vultee Aircraft. A modified version was designated A-35. The Vengeance was not used in combat by the United States; it did see combat, however, with the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Indian Air Force in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific.
Design and developmentThe V-72 was a low-wing, single-engine monoplane with a closed cockpit and a crew of two. An air-cooled radial Wright Twin Cyclone GR-2600-A5B-5 engine rated at 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) powered the V-72. It was armed with both fixed forward firing and flexible mounted .30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns in the rear cockpit. The aircraft also carried up to 1,500 lb (680 kg) of bombs in an interior bomb bay and on external wing racks.
The Vengeance was uniquely designed to dive vertically rather than at an angle. To this end the it had a 0° angle of incidence on the wing to better align the nose of the aircraft with the target during the dive. This resulted in the aircraft cruising in a nose-up attitude giving a poor forward view for the pilot, particularly during landing. It had an unusual, "W"-shaped wing planform. This resulted from an error in calculating its centre of gravity. Moving the wing back by "sweeping" the centre section was a simpler fix than re-designing the wing root. This gives impression of an inverted gull wing when seen from an angle, when in fact the wing has a more conventional dihedral on the outer wing panels.
When production of the Vengeance was completed in 1944, a total of 1,931 aircraft had been produced. The majority were produced at the Vultee plant in Nashville, Tennessee.
Operational history (Burma only)It was decided to use the Vengeance in the Burma Theatre to carry out dive-bombing operations in close support of British and Indian troops in the jungles of Burma.
The first RAF squadrons (No. 82 and No. 110) received Vengeances in October 1942. The first dive bombing missions against Japanese forces were flown on 19 March 1943. A further two RAF squadrons in Burma received Vengeances, (No. 84 and No. 45), together with two squadrons of the Indian Air Force (IAF) (No. 7 and No. 8 ).
Vengeances were heavily deployed in support of the second Arakan campaign of 1943/44, and defending against the Japanese attacks on Imphal and Kohima of April–July 1944. Following the successful defeat of the Japanese attack, the RAF and IAF started to phase out the Vengeance in favour of more versatile fighter bombers and twin engined light bombers, with the last Vengeance operations over Burma being carried out on 16 July 1944.
RAF VariantsVengeance I
Vultee V-72 license built by Northrop and ordered directly for Britain, powered by 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) R-2600-A5B engine. 200 built.
Vengeance IA
Northrop built aircraft purchased under Lend-Lease, powered by 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) R-2600-19 engine, otherwise similar to Vengeance I. USAAF designation A-31-NO. 200 built.
Vengeance II
Vultee built aircraft directly purchased by Britain. Small differences from Vengeance I. 501 built.
Vengeance III
Vultee built Lend-Lease aircraft. Similar to IA. USAAF designation A-31-VN. 200 built.
Vengeance IV
A-35B supplied under Lend-Lease to RAF and RAAF. 458 supplied to RAF and 121 to RAAF.
Specifications (Vengeance I)Data from British Warplanes of World War II
General characteristics
Crew: 2 (pilot, navigator/gunner)
Length: 39 ft 9 in (12.12 m)
Wingspan: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)
Height: 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Wing area: 332 ft² (30.84 m²)
Empty weight: 9,725 lb (4,411 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 14,300 lb (6,486 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-2600-A5B-5 Twin Cyclone 14 cylinder radial air-cooled engine, 1,600 hp (1,193 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 275 mph (239 kn, 443 km/h) at 11,000 ft (3,350 m)
Cruise speed: 235 mph (204 kn, 378 km/h)
Range: 1,400 miles (1,220 nmi, 2,253 km)
Service ceiling: 22,500 ft (6,860 m)
Wing loading: 43.1 lb/ft² (210 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns:
4 × fixed forward-firing .30 in (7.6 mm) Browning machine guns in the wing
2 × flexible mount .30 in (7.6 mm) or .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns in rear cockpit (RAF aircraft operating over Burma replaced the .30 in Browning machine guns in the rear cockpit with British built .303 in guns owing to poor reliability of the American built guns on flexible mountings.)
Bombs:
2 × internal 500 lb (230 kg) bombs
2 × 250 lb (110 kg) bomb on wing racks
Four-views drawing
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Topic: Vultee Vengeance (documented request) (Read 13117 times)
