Fly Past

66 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS

VULTEE

VENGEANCEVENGEANCE

VULTEE VENGEANCE

1942 TO 1947

1918 2018

Above

Personnel of ‘A’ Flight

110 Squadron, possibly

at Digri, India in mid-

1943, bedecking a

Vengeance with its dive

brakes deployed.

Below

A 110 Squadron

Vengeance on a sortie

from Karachi, India,

December 1942.

A

lmost any of the fighters

featured in our sister publication

could become a dive-bomber.

The Vultee Vengeance holds a special

place in the RAF’s heritage as it is the

only dedicated dive-bomber to have

been used operationally.

Conceived to meet a British

requirement for a pinpoint, close

support aircraft, the Vultee took

into account early war experience,

especially the potential exhibited

by the Junkers Ju 87 ‘Stuka’. The

Vengeance carried an impressive

warload of up to 2,000lb (907kg) – in

the early 1930s, which would have

categorised it as a heavy bomber.

Orders for a British version of the

V-72 were placed in mid-1940 and

the first example had its maiden flight

at Nashville, Tennessee, in July 1941.

Many modifications were needed,

and it was not until June 1942

that the initial production example

was ready for delivery. Vultee was

faced with problems gearing up for

mass manufacture and Northrop at

Hawthorne, California, also built

Vengeances for the RAF.

Frontline Vengeances were almost

exclusively issued to the India-Burma

theatre where, after teething troubles,

the type excelled in the close support

role. Four RAF squadrons, 45, 82, 84

and 110 flew Vengeances, with the air

forces of Australia and India also using

the type in the region.

The first operational RAF Vengeance

unit was 82 Squadron, initially at

Karachi (in present-day Pakistan),

in August 1942. It was the following

spring before the dive-bombers were

ready for combat. The Vengeance’s

time in action was relatively brief, 84

Squadron was the last to fly the type

operationally, in July 1944.

Vultee’s dive-bomber found another

role with the RAF, the vital and often

dangerous work of target towing.

Contractor Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft

devised the conversion and nine

British-based units flew the tug, the

first of which was 587 Squadron at

Weston Zoyland. The target-tug

version was the last to fly for the RAF;

the final examples were retired in

May 1947.

TERMINAL VELOCITY

In his superb feature Devastation to

Order, in the September 2016 edition

of FlyPast, Sean Feast paid tribute

to the unsung Vengeance. Wg Cdr

Dennis Gibbs was the commanding

officer of 82 Squadron, the first unit

to receive the dive-bomber. Gibbs

and his men had to battle with

serviceability problems and it was not

until April 1943 before the unit was

fully operational.

“Early Vengeance sorties comprised

sea patrols, hunting with little success

for elusive Japanese submarines.

The squadron also experimented

with tactics, including the optimum

formations, the ideal length of dive

and angle of attack.

“‘Vics’ of up to a dozen aircraft were

considered ideal, diving from 10,000ft

(3,048m) to achieve an accurate drop

and allowing a suitable margin to

descend lower if required. Terminal

velocity, with dive brakes extended

and one-third throttle, was recorded

as 320mph (514km/h) at 90°, or

290mph at 75°. Pilots were soon

getting the hang of things, some being

able to place their bombs within 15

yards (13.7m) of the objective.

“The crews of 110 Squadron

celebrated a red-letter day on March

19, 1943 when a box

of six Vengeances

bombed a Japanese

headquarters

in Htizwe

village on the

Arakan Front

in Burma.