- Yes
- No
Hello! And welcome to my first suggestion for the Vultee Vengeance in RAF service (aka the A-35) in this suggestion I will cover the second production variant for the RAF, the Mk.II, I feel this could come to game as a rank II attacker for the British tree, most likely around 2.3.
History
Spoiler
The Vengeance was originally designed for the French, with Vultee Starting development in 1940 under the name Vultee Model 72 (V-72) to meet the standard for a French Air Force requirement, with france opting to order 300 of these aircraft to be delivered starting in October 1940. However as france capitulated in May, the design, like many other orders of the time, Piqued the interest of the British who at the time were looking for a dive bomber with comparable performance to the German Ju-87 Stuka, and as the V-72 was the only aircraft that met this requirement, and 200 of the 300 aircraft ordered were initially redirected to the British in July, with the remaining 100 being purchased in December that year.
However, due to development issues, and a lack of available construction lines led to the delaying of the project, with the first prototype not taking flight until march 1941, by which point a further order of aircraft had been made by the US for the British Under the lend lease scheme, following this, and the american entry to the war in late 1941, several of these aircraft were kept by the US, however none of these initial aircraft would see front line service, with them mainly being used for Pilot training and Target Towing.
The Vengeance didn’t have much Success initially with the RAF either, having been delayed significantly, the first aircraft didn’t start arriving until mid 1942, and as the Brits experience facing the Stukas in the Battle of Britain and North Africa, they had judged dive bombers to be vulnerable to enemy Fighters, which as it was a major threat in the skies over Europe, it was judged ineffective for these roles in the west. However, it did see success in the East.
The First Eastern Squadrons received Vengeances in October 1942, with them First Seeing combat against the japanese in March the following year, These aircraft were a mix of the First 3 Variants, The Mk.I, IA and most importantly Mk.II, the Only main difference between the two being the Manufacturer, the Mk.Is being built by Northrop, whilst the Mk.IIs were built by Vultee once their production lines were freed up.
The RAF was not the only Commonwealth nation to receive the Mk.IIs however, both the RAAF and Fledgling IAF received large quantities of Vengeances as well, with 2 Indian Frontline squadrons and 5 Australian ones, They were the largest operators outside of the UK and US, with Australia in particular, continuing to operate the vengeances in a combat role until as late as 1946.
Images
Spoiler
A Vengeance Mk.II of 151 OTU, operating from RAF Peshawar
The First Vengeance Mk.II, AF745, Shortly before delivery to the UK
An Indian Crew posing beside their Vengeance in Burma
A Vengeance of No.21 Sqn Taxiing following landing
A Large amount of Mk.IIs, during a pre delivery inspection in India
A Close up image of the Vengeance Mk.IIs gunner position
Specs/armaments
Spoiler
General Characteristics/Performance
- Crew: 2 (Pilot and 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 sq ft (30.84 m2)
- Engine: R-2600-19 OR -A5B-5 (1600 hp)
- Empty weight: 9,725 lb (4,411 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 14,300 lb (6,486 kg)
- Maximum speed: 275 mph (443 km/h, 239 kn) at 11,000 ft (3,350 m)
- Cruise speed: 235 mph (378 km/h, 204 kn)
- Range: 1,400 mi (2,253 km, 1,220 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 22,500 ft (6,860 m)
- Wing loading: 43.1 lb/sq ft (210 kg/m2)
- Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg)
Armament
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Guns
- 4 x 7.7mm (.303) Machine guns in the wings
- 2 x 7.7mm (.303) Machine guns in a flexible turret facing aft
-
Bombs
- 2 x 250 lbs bombs under wings
- 2 x 500 or 1 x 1000 lbs bomb in bomb bay
Place in game
Spoiler
I feel that this aircraft could come to game to fill the large gap in the British tree between 2.0 and 3.0 where it has very few aircraft, This would also be useful in Ground lineups, It could Compliment Britain 2.3 Lineup which currently lacks any real CAS for its BR, often having to choose between the Hurricane Mk.IIB/Trop as a makeshift CAS, or bringing up Lower rank Aircraft such as the Chesapeake or Blenheim.
In terms of BR I would expect this to sit at around 2.3, as it offers a slight downgrade compared to the 2.7 A-35B in the French tree, whilst it has the same bombload, the Mk.II would have a worse armament (6 x 7.7mm compared to 7 x 12.7mm) but other than that would perform almost identically to its Higher BR counterpart.
Sources
Spoiler
Vultee A-31 Vengeance - Wikipedia
The Vultee Vengeance in the RAF – RAFCommands 2.0
Database: Vultee Vengeance
eBay: Vultee A-31 Vengeance | Page 3 | Aircraft of World War II - WW2Aircraft.net Forums
https://www.jets-are-for-kids.ch/pdf/vultee_vengeance_aviationNews_01-2015.pdf
National Archives of Australia: Publication of Technical Order -Vengeance Instruction No 6 - Identification of Different Models of Vengeance Aircraft
