Vultee A-35B Vengeance
|
Crew |
2 | ||
|
Dimensions |
48'0" by 39'9" by
15'4" 14.63m by 12.11m by 4.67m |
||
|
Weight |
10,300-16,400 lbs 4672-7439 kg |
||
|
Maximum speed |
279 mph at
13,500 feet 449 km/h at 4115 meters |
||
| Cruise speed | 230
mph 370 km/h |
||
|
Climb rate |
20 feet per second 6.1 m/s |
||
|
Service ceiling |
22,000 feet 6800 meters |
||
|
Power plant |
One 1700hp (1268 kW) Wright R-2600-13Cyclone 14-cylinder radial driving a three bladed propeller. | ||
|
Armament |
6 0.50 machine guns in wings | ||
|
External stores |
One 2000 lb (900 kg) bomb | ||
|
Range |
600 miles (970
km) normal 2300 miles (3700 km) maximum |
||
|
Production |
A total of 1931 by Vultee and Northrop (Hawthorne): | ||
| 400 | Mk.1 (A-31) | ||
| 200 | Mk.1A (A-31) | ||
| 300 | Mk.II (V-72) | ||
| 100 | Mk.III (A-31) | ||
| 831 | A-35B/Mk.IV | ||
| Variants | The Mk.I was
armed with four 0.303 wing machine guns and two 0.303 rear machine guns. The Mk.II was armed with four 0.50 wing machineguns and one 0.50 rear machine gun. Models prior to Mk.IV used a 1600 hp R-2600-19 engine. |
||
The Vultee Vengeance was built to British
specifications, entering production in 1942. It was not a
great design: One American general is alleged to have described it as
"a shining example of the waste of material, manpower, and
time." However, it saw some limited success in Burma.
About 342 were dumped on the Australians in 1942-1944, who employed in New Guinea until their failings caused them to be withdrawn from front line service.
Most were converted to target tugs by the various air forces that received them.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index