Vultee Vengeance

The Vultee Vengeance was an American two-seat dive-bomber used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. It saw extensive combat service in the Far East, especially in India and Burma, providing fire support to Allied forces (Chindits and Marauders) in their military counteroffensive campaign against the Japanese, known as the Burma Campaign.

The Vultee Vengeance had first been developed and produced in the USA by Vultee as the V-72. It was a private venture in the late 1930s. It had been exported to Brazil, France, and the Soviet Union. Having witnessed the effectiveness of the Junkers Ju-87 dive-bomber as a flying artillery during the Battle of France, Great Britain wanted to have their own specialized dive-bomber. Thus, in 1940, the RAF placed an order for 700 V-72s. As a result, the Vultee's factory in Nashville began churning it out by the hundreds. In British service, it would be designated the Vengeance Mk I, II, III, and IV versions, with a total of 1,205 dive-bombers being delivered to the RAF.

Below, the Vultee A-35 Vengeance in American service in 1943 flying over Tennessee.

When the United States of America entered the war in December in 1941, the US Army Air Corps ordered 270 Vengeance dive-bombers from Vultee in early 1942, designating it as the A-31 and A-35. However, it did not live up to their expectations and almost all of them were relegated to target towing and training from the beginning as they never made it to the front line in American service. Nevertheless, this dive-bomber saw extensive combat action in World War II in British service but in the Far East. The RAF did not employ it in the European or North African theater because the fast German fighters would have wiped them out of the sky quickly.

Technical Description

The Vultee Vengeance was a two-seat, single-engine monoplane. It had cantilever mid-wing, an all-metal airframe, and retractable landing gear. Although it was rather slow, both the A-31 (Mk II/III) and A-35 (Mk IV) variants were well armed and they were able to perform almost vertical dives, which gave it precision when dropping the bombs.

Specifications (A-35)

Type: two-seat dive-bomber.

Length: 12.12 m (39 ft, 9 inch)

Wing Span: 14.63 m (48 ft)

Wing Area: 30.84 m2 (332 sq ft)

Height: 3.91 m (12 ft, 10 inch)

Power Plant: one 1,700-HP, Wright R-2600-13, Cyclone, 14-cylinder radial engine.

Maximum Speed: 449 km/h (279 mph)

Range: 3,701 km (2,300 miles)

Service Ceiling: 6,800 m (22,300 ft)

Armament: six 12.7-mm (.50-cal) M2 Browning machine guns (four wing-mounted and two in cockpit rear); two 454-kg bombs (two 500-lb).

Crew: two

Below, the RAF Vultee Vengeance Mk IV in low-level flight.

The Vengeance Mk II in England in 1942.

Below, the dive-bomber at an Allied airbase in the jungle in Burma.

A squadron of Vengeance dive-bombers in northeast India, flying toward Burma.

The Vultea Vengeance Mk II, III, and IV in the Far East, in action (video).