FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1848.PDF
FLIGHT Twelfth of the New Recognition Series AIRCRAFT TYPES AND Vultee Vengeance and Republic Thunderbolt PROBABLY no other type of aircraft has occasioned so much lively discussion as the dive-bomber. There have been wild recriminations about our lack of this particular type of aircraft by those who pointed to the early successes of the German Stuka in blasting a way for advancing ground forces, but who invariably omitted to mention that they encountered little or no opposition on those occasions and that whenever the Stuka has come up against a Spitfire or a Hurricane it has been " cold meat." Questions have been asked in the House on a number of occasions and, after at least one curious example of official contradiction, it ultimately emerged that we actually ordered Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers from America in July, 1940. Other types, however, were more urgently needed, and in the meantime the R.A.F. has found that such fighter-bombers as the Hurricane IIB (the " Hurri- bomber ") have been capable of carrying out their own form of low-level attack with admirable results. But the dive-bomber, as a specialised design, will soon be numbered among the diverse types employed against the Axis, and both Vultee Aircraft Inc. and the Northrop Aviation Company are now busy producing the Vengeance for the R.A.F., whose standard dive-bomber it is to be. The Vultee Vengeance is a two-seater mid-wing canti lever monoplane of all-metal construction which carries its bombs stowed internally in the fuselage below the floor of the cockpit. It is not yet permitted, however, to publish its bomb load, armament or performance. It is powered by a Wright 14-cyl. double-row Cyclone GR-2600 air-cooled radial geared and supercharged engine of 1,600 h.p., equipped with a three-bladed c.s. airscrew. Dive brakes are fitted under the outer panels of the wings, whose unusual plan make it easily recognised. The centre-section, which tapers in section from thick roots, has a pronounced backsweep to the leading-edge and a straight trailing-edge. The outer wing panels, which have a fairly high degree of dihedral, have straight leading- edges and a pronounced forward sweep to their trailing- edges. The optical effect of this combination of plan taper is to give the impression that the outer panels of the wings bend forwards; the effect in perspective, as will Nxej&ly be seen from the accompanying photograph, is to suggest a slightly cranked wing. The hydraulically operated undercarriage retracts back wards, the wheels twisting through 90 degrees to lie in recesses in the centre-section ; hinged fairings enclose the legs when raised. A long " glasshouse " cockpit cover and a large, angular fin and rudder set forward in relation to the tapered tail- plane are other notable features for the spotter.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
