Vultee A-35B – Codenamed Vengeance

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The Vultee A-35B, codenamed Vengeance by the Americans, was specifically designed and produce to meet a British’s Royal Air Force (RAF) 1940 requirement of a dedicated dive-bombing platform in the same mold of the highly successful, at least during the early days of World War II; Stuka dive bomber. Even before the German invasion of Poland, the RAF’s Bomber Command was very interested in the concept of a dive platform. The interest was most likely developed during the Spanish Civil War when the German Luftwaffe utilized Stuka dive bombers as air mobile artillery batteries against Generalissimo Franco’s opponents. To the surprise of many in and outside the air industry, the slow moving Stuka proved to be efficient killing machines. So much so, that it’s perceived success paved the way for a completely new line of aircraft design.

The design and development phase of the Vengeance ran smoothly and in record time. By the early spring 1941, the A-35A was ready for taxi trials. Two months later, on July, the aircraft took to the air for the first time. But, as was the case with many “off the shelf” airplane concepts, the Vengeance was obsolete before it became fully operational. The main culprit for the A-35′s demise was the RAF’s concern regarding the vulnerability of the new platform. Nevertheless, the Vengeance went into full production mode in the autumn of 1941. And although history does not refer kindly to the A-35 service record, the aircraft did prove its worth over the course of the war.

The RAF and the Indian Air Force utilized the dive bomber, most of the time operating out of the range of fighter escorts, in operations against the Japanese. In Burma, the A-35 played a pivotal, albeit, unrecognized role in the air campaigns over Kohima and Imphal where they were employed as regular bombing systems in a precision ground interaction.

Beside the RAF, the Royal Navy employed the most A-35Bs (serving with the British) during the war. Up to 88 A-35Bs were delivered to the Navy before hostilities ceased in 1945. An additional 25 units were received in the early part of 1946. The smallness of the number of available Navy Vengeance meant that the plane’s profile would change from a dedicated bombing aircraft to a practice one. Some A-35Bs were even use as target tug in the later stages of the conflict.

The aircraft found its way into many air forces’ arsenals. The Australian Royal Air Force (RAAF) operated several squadrons of Vengeance (a total of 342 serviceable airframes) since the mid part of 1942. RAAF’s A-35s were routinely using in the New Guinea campaigns. The plane remained in front line service with the RAAF until the summer of 1946, when they were officially retired.

The Free French Air Force operated the plane in French North Africa during the Allied invasion of the continent. The aircraft even saw action with the Brazilian air force from 1944 onward. In all, 1528 Vengeance were produced between 1941 and 1944.

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