WORLD WAR TWO VULTEE VENGEANCE

26 FLYPAST September 2016

DEVASTATI N

TO ORDER
WHILE SENIOR COMMANDERS MAY NOT HAVE RATED THE VENGEANCE, ITS
CREWS TURNED IT INTO A POTENT WEAPON, AS SEAN FEAST RELATES

hink of the most effective divebomber of World War Two

and one would be forgiven for
believing that honour might go to
the German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka,
the Russian Petlyakov Pe-2 Peshka
or the American Douglas Dauntless.
But another American type takes
the top slot for delivering the
maximum number of direct hits for
the minimum amount of losses. It
was an aircraft its crews came to love
and the Japanese learned to fear, yet
it never went to war with US forces:
the Vultee 72 A-31 Vengeance.
Like many aircraft developed
before 1939, the birth of the
Vengeance was not especially easy.
Although the French had been first
to consult the Americans on a new

dive-bomber design, with lArme

de lAir officers urgently seeking
to address their ailing military
aircraft programme, the Vengeance
ultimately evolved to a British
specification.
Having seen the havoc caused by
Stukas in advance of the German
Wehrmacht in Poland and France,
and the reputation of the divebomber at its peak, the RAF rushed
to achieve parity. Contracts were
negotiated in the US in the summer
of 1940 at a time when the RAF was
woefully short of a dedicated divebomber.
The Model 72, brainchild
of Richard Palmer, head of
engineering for Vultee, was a twoseat single-engined monoplane

with a distinctive wing shape. It

was specifically built as a divebomber, with all-metal stressed skin
construction and airframe loads
adjusted accordingly.
Its powerplant was a 1,700hp
(1,268kW) Wright Double Cyclone
R-2600-A5B-5, which gave it a
maximum speed of around 279mph
(448km/h) and the ability to climb
to a little above 24,000ft (7,315m).
Its range was comparatively limited,
but it was never intended that the
Vengeance should fly far to its target.

EARLY FRUSTRATIONS

The first Vengeance for the RAF

didnt take flight until July 1941
and it was immediately clear that
further modifications would be

Top left

Bombing up an 82
Squadron Vengeance at
Jumchar, India, in the
spring of 1944. KEC
Centre left

Vengeances of the RAAFs

12 Squadron peeling off
for a dive, 1944. ANDY
THOMAS COLLECTION

Below

Operating from Amada

Road, India, Vengeance
I AP114 in May 1944. KEY
COLLECTION

WORLD WAR TWO VULTEE VENGEANCE

Above

Personnel of A Flight
110 Squadron, possibly
at Digri, India, in
mid-1943 bedecking
a Vengeance with its
dive brakes deployed.
KEC

Right

Changing the engine

of an 82 Squadron
Vengeance at
Cholavarum, India,
in February 1943. On
the forward fuselage
it carries the legend
United Provinces
Squadron. KEC

required before the design could

be progressed. Such was the work
involved that the first production
model didnt fly until almost a year
later, in June 1942.
Among pilots asked to test the
new type as part of the British Air
Commission was Battle of Britain
veteran Wg Cdr Mike Crossley DSO
DFC. Satisfied, the British signed an
initial contract for 400 Mk.Is and
300 Mk.IIs.
The honour of being the first RAF
unit to operate the Vengeance fell
to 82 Squadron, although its sister
unit, 84, became the first to bomb
Japanese targets. Two other RAF
outfits 45 and 110 Squadrons
were also equipped.
The Indian Air Force flew the
Vengeance, 7 and 8 Squadrons
taking the type, and a Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) unit,
12 Squadron, began receiving it
in October 1942 too; others
were to follow.
All three air arms shared

Vics of up to a dozen aircraft were

considered ideal, diving from 10,000ft to
4,000ft to achieve an accurate drop and
allowing for a suitable margin to descend
lower if required
the same early frustrations. Oil
leaks, faulty piston rings and
temperamental electric fuel pumps
caused equal concern. Many aircraft
returned home with the air gunners
hand cramped from continually
pumping the hand-drive
wobble pump.
The

mounting for the twin 0.30in

machine guns in the rear cockpit was
inadequate and the similar-calibre
four guns in the wings tended to
overheat and jam. Some Vengeances
would come back with all their
defences out of action.
The CO of 82 Squadron, Wg Cdr
Dennis Gibbs, reported it was not
until April 1943 that he obtained
serviceable aircraft which could be
flown every day! Gibbs was later be
awarded the DSO for his period in
command, one of only a handful of

Vengeance aircrew to be recognised

a cause of considerable frustration
and anger at the time and since.
Early Vengeance sorties comprised
sea patrols, hunting with little
success for elusive Japanese
submarines. Between the first
deliveries in the late autumn of
1942 until operational readiness was
achieved the following spring, most
of the time was spent in local flying
and intense bombing practice.
Squadrons also experimented with
tactics, including the optimum
flying formations, the ideal length of
dive and angle of attack. Vics of up
to a dozen aircraft were considered
ideal, diving from 10,000ft to
4,000ft to achieve an accurate drop
and allowing for a suitable margin to
descend lower if required. Terminal
velocity with dive brakes extended
and one-third throttle was recorded
at 320mph 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.
This encouraged an official report
declaring the Vengeance as ideally
suited to being used with good
effect against small targets.

INTO THE FRAY

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,
supporting Allied troops who were
heavily engaged. All 12 bombs burst
in the centre of the target, causing
considerable damage.
More sorties were flown against
enemy strong points and pillboxes
over the next few days, prompting a
congratulatory signal from the Air
Officer Commanding, Bengal.
Other RAF units were soon in the
fray, among them 82 Squadron.
Attacks were made throughout May
and June 1943 before 82s place was
taken in the line by 45 Squadron to
maintain momentum. Targets in and
around Akyab Island became the
priority to disrupt the landing
and transportation of supplies
to Japanese forces.
An unusual task was a
precision strike on a photorecce Spitfire that had crashed
behind enemy lines. The Allies
did not want its camera equipment
falling into Japanese hands so 45
Squadron was ordered to destroy it.

UNWANTED CHILD

Despite early successes, there was

still reluctance among senior
commanders verging on

outright antipathy towards the

Vengeance as a weapon of war. It
was as though the aircraft was an
unwanted child, an embarrassment
to its parents, and its achievements
served only to distress them further.
While they would tolerate its
existence if they must, they would not
commit any more support if it could
be avoided.
With the ebb and flow of the war in
Burma, the conflict shifted back to the
Arakan and the squadrons were called
in to support the armys attempted
advance. It was a period of maximum
effort and, not surprisingly, the
Vengeances run of good fortune came
to an end on October 17, 1943.
That day, 23-year-old Flt Sgt
Richard Harding and his navigator,
W/O John Barnard, of 82
Squadron failed to return; their
aircraft was hit by flak and seen
to
crash near

Above

Fuelling and rearming an

82 Squadron Vengeance
at Dohazari, December
1943. KEC
Below

A 110 Squadron Vengeance

on a sortie from Karachi,
India, December 1942. KEC

the
target area. It was the first combat
casualty of any Vengeance unit.
The RAFs pace of attacks in
the last few months of 1943 was
relentless and casualties were
sustained, although the numbers
remained mercifully low. Each
successful operation was greeted by
a Strawberry communicated by
September 2016 FLYPAST 29

WORLD WAR TWO VULTEE VENGEANCE

Right

Sergeant Das Gupta

and Aircraftman
Enshain of the Indian
Air Force bombing
up a Vengeance. KEY
COLLECTION

Centre right

An impressive bomb
tally on an 82 Squadron
Vengeance. KEC

...two dozen Vengeances from 45 and 110

Squadrons attacked a Japanese stronghold
at Kyauktaw twice in the space of less than
20 minutes, with devastating effect
army/navy headquarters, and there
were plenty to report; Raspberries,
conversely, were happily few and
far between. Indian Air Force
Vengeance squadrons meanwhile
joined the fray in December.
Flak remained the greatest danger.
Japanese fighters appeared only
occasionally, but when danger was
expected the dive-bombers flew with
fighter escort but it was by no
means a given. Vengeances mostly
had to fend for themselves.

CAB RANK

As well as frontline objectives,

Vengeance units were also briefed
to support the behind-the-lines
activities of the famed General Orde
Wingate and his Chindit special
forces. When the first columns moved
off, 84 Squadron, under Sqn Ldr
Arthur Gill, was ready in support and
relieved soon after by its counterparts
in 45 Squadron.
Increasingly the RAF units worked
alongside one another in a pattern
not dissimilar to the cab rank system
perfected by Hawker Typhoon
squadrons over Northern Europe.
With increased liaison with
ground forces, Vengeances
could drop down from
the skies to pick
off

targets where they were most needed.

For example, on January 17, 1944
two dozen Vengeances from 45 and
110 Squadrons attacked a Japanese
stronghold at Kyauktaw twice in the
space of less than 20 minutes, with
devastating effect.
The action was one of the last the
men of 45 Squadron were involved in
before being pulled out of the line to
re-equip with DH Mosquitos. Sadly,
on the units last-ever Vengeance
operation, Plt Off Hedley Jewells
aircraft was shot down.

INVASION ALERT

Missions by Australian Vengeance

squadrons (12, 21 City of
Melbourne, 23 City of Brisbane,
24 City of Adelaide and 25 City of
Perth) mirrored those of their RAF
counterparts. Although they were
initially on invasion alert, operations
in earnest began in New Guinea in
September 1943 from Tsili, hitting
Japanese radio location installations
on the islands of Kaial and Wonam
and supporting the Australian 9th
Divisions amphibious landing on
Satelberg.
Nadzab in northern New Guinea
became a focus in the winter of 19431944, with strikes on enemy positions
that were holding up the advance of
the Australian 5th and 7th Divisions
moving along the Huon peninsula.
At one fortress known locally as
Shaggy Ridge, RAAF

Vengeances
from 24
Squadron
dropped nine
tons of bombs
in an initial
attack, and in
less than a week
a painful thorn in the Australians side
had been removed.
Throughout February, the RAAF
units combined to bring even greater
weight to their strikes and on the 24th
of the month, 23 and 24 Squadrons
hit enemy anti-aircraft batteries in
Hansa Bay. Sadly, they lost two of
their aircraft in the strike including
one carrying an army captain as an
observer.

NEW TACTIC

Above

Vengeance II AN795 of
7 Squadron, Indian Air
Force, tucking the gear
up in May 1944. KEY

The Vengeance squadrons

powers reached their zenith in
the spring and early summer
of 1944. Crews were engaged
in all the major actions along
the Indo-Burmese border and
in particular the battles in and
around Imphal and Kohima.
Flying hundreds of sorties,

COLLECTION

Left

Ground crew getting

ready to turn around
an Indian Air Force
Vengeance, March 1944.
KEY COLLECTION

Centre left

Vengeance IV A27-503 of
25 Squadron, RAAF, which
crashed at Ceduna, South
Australia, on October 10,
1944 during a ferry flight.
ANDY THOMAS COLLECTION

the dive-bombers were pushed to the

limit of their endurance. Two ops per
crew per day were not uncommon,
with some attacks delivered on enemy
targets within a few yards of friendly
forces. Even a near miss could cause
terrible damage, so accuracy was
essential and the 14th Army was once
again full of praise for their air force
colleagues.

Despite the increase in volume and

frequency of strikes, casualties were
remarkably low. Losses to Japanese
aircraft were virtually unheard of:
enemy fighters seemed unwilling, or
unable, to engage. The Vengeances
that did fail to return inevitably did
so as a result of flak or, at the point of
pulling out of a dive, to small arms
fire.
September 2016 FLYPAST 31

WORLD WAR TWO VULTEE VENGEANCE

Twelve Vengeances made an early
afternoon attack on an enemy
ammunition dump on July 16. The
sortie was completed with the usual
high degree of accuracy, most of
the bombs and incendiaries falling
in the target area. All the aircraft
returned safely to base.

Right

100% ACCURACY

Vengeance II A27-209
of 12 Squadron, RAAF,
New Guinea, early
1944. ANDY THOMAS
COLLECTION

BURMA THEATRE RAF VENGEANCE UNITS

Squadron
45
82
84
110

From
Dec 1942
Aug 1942
Dec 1942
Oct 1942
Below

Ground running
the Double Cyclone
on Vengeance II
A27-211 Biddles of
12 Squadron, RAAF,
probably at Nadzab,
New Guinea, late
1943. ANDY THOMAS
COLLECTION

To
Feb 1944
Jul 1944
Oct 1944
Jan 1945

Replacement
Mosquito VI
Mosquito VI
Disbanded
Mosquito VI

At least one of the squadrons

worked out a new tactic: attacking
the target in two vics from opposite
directions to divide the enemys antiaircraft fire. A misjudged approach
could have fatal consequences.
Occasionally a Vengeance would be
caught in the blast from the bombs
of the aircraft in front of it, although
the fuses were timed to avoid this.

FINAL FLING

Under the command of Sqn Ldr

Hemango Choudhuri, the crews of
7 Squadron, Indian Air Force, were
briefed on May 25, 1944 to bomb

a strategic bridge near Imphal. The

structure was of vital importance
to the Japanese armys lines of
communication and nothing short
of total destruction would do.
The Vengeances swept down
through thick cloud to register a
direct hit, seriously delaying the
Japanese advance. Other raids on
similar bridges were attempted
but never with the same degree of
success.
The start of the monsoon season
in June signalled the beginning of
the end for Vengeance operations
in the Far East. In what appeared to
be undue haste the squadrons were
withdrawn and re-equipped.
It was fitting that the Vengeances
final combat operation was flown by
84 Squadron, the unit that had first
taken the dive-bomber into action.
Appropriately, it was led by the
CO, Sqn Ldr Gill, with Flt Lt Alan
Blackburn in the rear seat.

While the Vengeance was enjoying

its swansong, thousands of miles
away in the US the decision had
been taken to cease production and
the last one rolled out of the factory
on June 2.
New roles were found for those
yet to be delivered, some becoming
garishly painted target-tugs and
sturdy or reliable station hacks.
Trials were even undertaken to use
the Vengeance to carry poison gas.
In total, 1,528 of all types had been
built, of which 1,205 were passed to
the RAF some purchased outright
and others on Lend-Lease.
So how does the Vengeance rank
in the list of the all-time greats?
Comparing various bombers in the
Far East for their bombing accuracy,
a study by the Indian Air Force found
the B-24 Liberator registered 50%
hits and the B-25 Mitchell 60%,
whereas the humble Vengeance
achieved 100% accuracy.
Its time that Vultee Vengeances
and the men that crewed them are
given the recognition they so richly
deserve.