Night view of the final assembly section at the Vultee Aircraft Corporation plant. In just the right circumstances, however, it was a valuable weapon of war. No The aeroplane had apparently become lost and run out of fuel. I'd like to thank Charles Page, Derek Martin and [5] While the first Vengeance was delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in May 1942, the aircraft did not arrive in substantial numbers until April 1943. 25 (City of Perth) Squadron decided that this would be an appropriate time to 55 MILES SOUTH OF SOUTHERN CROSS Only small pieces of metal remain and soil disturbance. with this home page. miles. not see Vultee Arch from the rim, finally deciding it was obscured It is certain that the aircraft were in the parish for their track, 6 MILES NORTH OF WHITTLESEA, VIC A huge effort was mounted to try and locate King and the aircraft. From a break in the clouds an area of dense scrub with no sign of habitation was sited. Christopher and Smith, Frank. What had been [22], According to other sources the A-31 saw extensive front-line combat with the 10th Air Force located in China throughout the spring of 1944. here anyway. Officer King remains the only member of 25 Squadron still listed as "Missing in The cooling system was unreliable, something the British had to solve to keep their planes in the air, and which cropped up again for the Free French. As US Army test pilots disliked the poor pilot view resulting from the zero-incidence wing, that was "corrected" in the A-35, giving the plane a better attitude in cruise but lessening its accuracy as a dive bomber.[5][6]. Or are you interested in war medals and their recipients? site and 3 others on 1 March 2000 with Les Lewis, and his Vultee Aircraft had a product but no purchaser. In 1944, a Royal Australian Air Force (R.A.A.F.) The French needed dive-bombers of their own. two at a crash site in rugged bushland at Mt Disappointment north-east of Melbourne Victoria, and one lying on the muddy bottom of Port Phillip in the approaches to the Port of . EN. A bronze plaque memorializing the Vultees is located near the crash site at the end of Coconino Forestry and Vultee Arch Trails, where a natural rock arch named for them, the Vultee Arch, is located. after American Airlines showed great interest in their six-passenger V-1 design. Fortunately, just at that moment War"
. The wreckage was scrapped for metal after the war. Directions: Location: About 42 miles south of Flagstaff (12 miles west of Sedona) on paved and gravelled roads. third section (FR 231) was well maintained but with a few rough next to Les Lewis, Les Lewis inspecting part of the wing root, An exhausted Peter Dunn inspecting the large radial engine in This is a link to a video produced by the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Center. any information or photographs, "Australia @ It turns out that we were actually headed in the right direction when Near the engine in the creek bed. Hundreds of men and dozens of planes then Assembling the "Vengeance" bomber, Nashville, TN, August 1942. of the company he founded are described in an article appearing on from our view by the west wall of Sterling Canyon. Historic site with few or no built features. Of the two photographs At the tower, we were joined by a Lady from Mesa, AZ who around the crash sites. Just The pilot survived, the navigator has never been found. I think that is partly because "I certainly didn't have that experience of the Vultee. They were significant problems, although ones that could be overcome. Australia on my home pages. By 1937, Vultee headed his own factory in Downey, California, with more than a million dollars in orders for V-1s, V-1As, and V-11s. Vultee was the first company to build aircraft on a powered assembly line, and the first to use women workers in production-line positions. Enough hits were landed using this technique, that they were persuaded by commanders to use this technique when conditions were similar. came only a short time after receiving news his son had been killed on 57 MILES EAST OF NAREMBEEN, Dick Palmer created the BT-13, BT-15, and SNV Valiant trainers[2] and oversaw other major production program such as the V-72 Vengeance, serving in the USAAC as the A-31 and A-35. around searching for the crash site, I found a few colorful flowers. Dive-bombers supported fast-moving attacks by tanks and motorized infantry. Relatives of both airmen attended the ceremony. Date: 25 th may 1944. A plaque has been placed to mark the sight of the crash. specimens, sending those she found most interesting to me for The Vultee Vengeance was regarded by most RAAF men as unsafe. Both crew members survived. Reply. Later a fire went through the area destroying any further evidence.The wreckage of the plane covered four hectares. The following summary of these two crashes is from Les Lewis :- Vultee Vengeance. As a dive-bomber, the V-72 was rugged and stable. Park on a heading of 32 deg. ], (Ref: Court of Inquiry papers. The plane's engine was buried ten feet in the earth and the wreckage strewn over ten acres. The RAAF Target Tug Vengeance The British Target Tug Vengeance Four different types of exausts (Including the Christmast Tree type You could do anything in them, rolls, loops, stall turns, and there was enough room in the cockpit to hold a ball. It demonstrates a simple method of CPR that can be used by anyone. s We continued along it for about 0.2 miles until we came to an With Brazil's involvement in the Allied effort in World War II, the newly created Brazilian Air Force was equipped with a wide range of military aircraft provided under the Leand Lease Act, including 28 units. In the jungles of Asia, the dive-bomber found a new edge. Originally known as the Vultee V-72, the Vengeance was designed to make use of knowledge gained from dive bombing attacks carried out during the Spanish Civil War. posted the details of 1,085 crashes of WW2 aircraft in Vultee A-31 Vengenance dropping bomb 1943.jpg 2,101 1,578; 1.53 MB. Its service in that theater has been described as "very effective. Moving the wing back by "sweeping" the centre section was a simpler fix than re-designing the wing root. In the process, they exposed their weakness. Vultee YA-19 (Ed Popejoy coll) YA-19 (Model V-11GB) 1939 = 1200hp P&W R-1830-17 Wasp; span: 50'0" length: 37'10" load: 3969# v: 230/207/80 range: 1110-1385 ceiling: 24,400'; ff: 1/27/39. Further information is available to read at the Yilgarn History Museum or in the book Vengeance of the Outback written by Charles Page (available for purchase through the Shire of Yilgarn). Although its career was short-lived, the Vengeance had some advantages as a combat aircraft. He was eventually pronounced "Presumed Dead". 3kms further along the road is Gatherer School site dated 1929-1944. instructions were to maintain a flight level of 1,000ft. This resulted from an error in calculating its centre of gravity. The ex Whaleworld Vultee Vengeance was not a HARS project and I am unaware of its current location and status. But just hiking from the FR 231/old FR 231 junction to the We actually hiked 5.4 The Battle of Britain had been a major proving ground for aircraft. The aircraft were scheduled to depart Laverton airbase at 0830 on a Husband arrived a few minutes later from work to find he had lost his photograph. erected a memorial cairn at the site of the crash. As great views out over the red rock country. 8). scheduled non operational ferry flight from No.1 APU (Aircraft Performance Unit.) Although we looked very hard, we could Warrant [2] Additional aircraft were ordered for Britain in June 1941 under the Lend-Lease scheme, with those being given the US Army Air Corps designation A-31. Indian Gardens in Oak Creek Canyon. 426002 Flight Sergeant Hall R.J. [aged 20 years from Calen body was never found. In fact these were the first crash This information was based on a report and forecast at 0600 hrs. mile markers 390 and 391. It was last used on May 25, 1944 when 20 A-31's scored bombing hits on the Manipar R bridge at Tonzang. here, but will leave it to interested readers to review those sources [4] As the USAAF became interested in dive bombing, it decided to order production of an improved version of the Vengeance, designated the A-35, for both its own use and for supply to its allies under Lend-Lease. The name is said to have been given to the area in 1888 by prospectors Riseley & Toomey who found their way to the site using the Southern Cross constellation to navigate. Petals almost non-existant, but the flower consistes mainly of calyx segments that are brightly coloured. cross. In combat, the type was considered rugged, reliable, stable, and generally well-behaved. AMC was liquidated on January 1, 1936 and Vultee Aircraft Division was formed as an autonomous subsidiary of AVCO. looking across Sedona to Airport Mesa, shows faint contrails from an Cemetery, Fraser's Mine, Court house, Frog Rock and dam, Karalee Rock. The Kakariki was a steamer that was sunk in a collision with the steamer Carradale in 1937. The first RAF squadrons (No. Looking straight ahead On leaving the site, we the time we had finished and we surely would not have found the site In service, the RAF managed to solve those problems, but Free French aircraft that did not have these problems remedied were grounded, being declared uneconomical and unreliable to operate. Mount Disappointment (802 metres) - view from The the plaque mounted in the center of the cross. we had expected and we were about to turn back, thinking that we had The aircraft also carried up to 1,500lb (680kg) of bombs in an interior bomb bay and on external wing racks. Wartime Air Mystery of Western Australia" uk sites of military and aviation history i come across mainly wreck sites but i will try to fit in more! . Flickr photos, groups, and tags related to the "vulteevengeance" Flickr tag. would have cleared the spur and the ridge that lay beyond. The Vultee A-31 Vengeance was an American dive bomber of World War II, built by Vultee Aircraft. Originally ordered for French use as the V-72, some 300 examples arrived before the fall of France. A few days later a chance conversation between a commercial pilot and Squadron Leader Haber, the Commanding Officer of No. Hill Vic. 7 and No. ", This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 05:30. The navigator, Flt/Sgt CL King was never found. We all then drove back to the parking Vultee Aircraft was created in November 1939, when Vultee Aircraft Division of AVCO was reorganized as an independent company. What they got was a plane with many challenges. The below photograph, The very sketchy ], A27-49. See Australia @ War to see how many of these aircraft were lost during the war. The pilot then climbed to the required height and baled out himself. houses Ivy Goy 29,Brian Baker 20 months , Elizabeth Banton 60, Edith The Royal Australian Air Force was the second most important operator of the Vultee Vengeance dive-bomber, receiving a large number of aircraft both from British orders and directly from the United States, and using it in combat over New Guinea.. Vultee A-31 Vengeance. [7] The majority were produced at the Vultee plant in Nashville, Tennessee. Pilots found it a pleasure to fly, even with a full bomb load. The engine was embedded three metres in the ground. Download the TracesOfWar app directly on, Australia (1901-present, Federal Monarchy), Belgium (1830-present, Constitutional Monarchy), Canada (1931-present, Constitutional Monarchy), Soviet Union (1922-1991, People's Republic), Crash Site & Remains B-24D-110-CO Liberator 42-40886 - Engati, Privacy statement, cookies, disclaimer and copyright, Crash Site Vultee Vengeance Mark IA A27-83. 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The plane was stable, but its center of gravity was thrown off if the rear cockpit was open and did not contain a gunner. Warrant Officer King although one of the most believed is that on baling out he Textron Lycoming Turbine Engine, a Company History of AVCO and Lycoming/Textron, Avco Financial Services, Inc. from the Lehman Brothers Collection Twentieth Century Business Archives, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, General Dynamics Corporation, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, Central Manufacturing Co. of Connersville, Indiana, a history of Cord, AVCO, and others, NASA Industrial Plant (Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Plant), Downey, Los Angeles County, CA, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vultee_Aircraft&oldid=1142087007, Prototype single engine basic combat trainer, 1934 AVCO acquired the Airplane Development Corporation from Cord and formed the, 1939 Vultee Aircraft Division of AVCO reorganized as an independent company known as, 1941 Consolidated Aircraft Corporation sold to AVCO, 1942 Vultee acquires Intercontinent Aircraft Corporation, 1985 General Dynamics formed the "Space Systems Division" from the Convair Space Program, 1994 Convair Aircraft Structures unit sold to, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 12:27. that at approximately 0830 hours, the air route forecast was collected by one of the Four days after the crash, the pilot (Warrant Officer J Ingram) was found at a remote farmhouse having survived by eating goanna. The pilot decided that he and the navigator should bale out The Vultee Vengeance is a cumbersome aircraft and has to roll to allow the crew to bale out. This time we followed the old roadbed for 0.3 miles, Left to right (standing): Jerry Showalter, Lila Wright, Miriam Sterling, Mike. This kit was originally released by Frog, then reissued by Novo and some other manufacturers. AT MOUNT DISAPPOINTMENT TracesOfWar.com tells you more! 110) received Vengeances in October 1942. The V-72 was the only readily available option. All armament was removed and a light cable winch fitted in the rear fuselage for sleeve towing. old road, now closed to vehicular traffic, that I later learned was However, Certainly if they had seen the terrain only seconds earlier, they Quite an interesting day. before actually reaching the tower. Early experience with the aircraft showed that there were problems with engine cooling. [21], While the U.S. received 243 V-72s and A31s diverted from the RAF orders together with large numbers of A-35s specifically built for it, these saw no combat, being used as initial equipment for light bomber squadrons that re-equipped with twin-engine aircraft before deploying overseas, and as trainers or target tugs. distance to the junction from the tower proved to be just 0.6 miles, by Charles Page, Please we made our way east along the rim, we were constantly treated to Crash Site Vultee Vengeance Mark IA A27-83; Crash Site Vultee Vengeance Mark IA A27-83. Vultee Vengeance 82 Squadron ID required Help or advice wanted By Welkin, May 25, 2020 in Aircraft WWII Share Followers 0 Posted May 25, 2020 Date of Crash: 3 November 1942 Location: Cholavaram, India Aircraft Type: Vengeance I Serial Number: ? 21 and 23 Squadrons on Hansay Bay. It was decided to use the Vengeance in the Burma Theatre to carry out dive-bombing operations in close support of British and Indian troops in the jungles.[11]. 400 V-72s were ordered. This debris field is seen from another angle in the below Classification: Malvaceae - Guichenotia - macrantha. She photographed a number of different nowhere in any of these reports had I found location coordinates or a [13], After Burma service, a detachment from 110 Squadron RAF was sent to Takoradi in West Africa via the Middle East, a number of aircraft breaking down en route. A modified version was designated A-35. The Vengeance saw considerable action attacking Japanese supply, communications and troop concentrations in Burma. it were. It grew farther away as we continued Indecision about which aircraft type should replace it in production at the Vultee plant led to several "make-work" contracts for Vengeance aircraft to prevent dispersion of the skilled workforce. ], A27-92. Hunter street and the home of the pilots girlfriend after a slow circuit WW2 AUSTRALIAN AIRCRAFT CRASH WEBSITE THE FOLLOWING SPELLING MISTAKES ARE ON THE ROUGH ORIGINAL. right of the cross in the above photograph and debris is scattered "As with the Curtiss XP-55 "Ascender", the. As many as 60 A-31's could be fielded for a single mission. site and 3 others on 1 March 2000. distance to follow more closely along the rim. Vultee Vengeance Line up of Vultee Vengeance aircraft Version A-35B Height 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) Wing Area 332.0 sq ft (30.84 sq m) Empty weight 10,300 lbs (4672 kg) Full weight 16,400 lbs (7439 kg) Fuel Capacity The Court of Inquiry assumed that over 3,000 feet to reach the top of the backside of the far peak in the Tale of an aRch The graceful sandstone arch was virtually unkown and nameless until gerard Vultee's fatal plane crash on January . The tattered shreds of a parachute were found 30km from the crash site. Official caption "To enable the much slower and less capable P-51 to stay in formation, this Vengeance had a fly at just above stalling speed. Their Stuka pilots had gained combat experience during the Spanish Civil War when they supported Francos right-wing troops. On March 17, 1943, Consolidated and Vultee merged, creating Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, popularly known as Convair. 1/48 Vultee Vengeance Mk.II Dive Bomber - DW-48044 - Model Planes - This is a plastic model kit, which comes unassembled and unpainted. wife , sister , two of his daughters and his Grandson this terrible loss Vultee Vengeance Mk I (Model 72) Engine: Wright GR-2600-A5B-5 Cyclone Power: 1,700hp Crew: 2 Wing span: 48ft Length: 40ft Height: 12ft 10in Loaded Weight: 12,480lb Max Speed: 279mph Cruising Speed: 250mph Service Ceiling: 24,300ft Range: 1,200 miles Armament: Four 0.30in guns in wings and two 0.30in flexibly mounted guns in rear cockpit mushroom photographs. |. When people talk about aircraft used in WWII, most remember the German Stuka dive-bomber used to great effect very early in the war, but both sides of the conflict made use of dive-bombers. The Vultee A-31 Vengeance was the dive-bomber of the Allies. [9], In contrast, many crew spoke well of the Vengeance. on the main road (FR 231), we could see a gate across that road about Continue straight for 5.8kms to a junction of bitumen and gravel road. It provided valuable aerial support for fast-moving ground troops. "Part 2, Armament and Equipment". Stukas had been very effective when they were the only aircraft in the skies. any information or photographs, "Australia @
Commonwealth forces operated the type from May 1942 to July 1944. All Rights Reserved. This is a free facility for finding camps & points of interest all over Australia. When The lessons learned in Spain were put into practice by the Luftwaffe during Germanys blitzkrieg attacks on Poland and then France. To be effective, all those aircraft required an environment of local air superiority and fighter escort. The A-31 first saw combat in China on March 14th, 1944 when 41 A-31's along with British aircraft hit targets in Arakan and Chin Hills China. Vengeance aircraft on Nadzab strip in New Guinea - Feb 1943. Visitors to the Scale Model World 2021 exhibition will be able to see the model at our stand, in Hall 2, row 2D .