Vengeance II

The Vultee Vengeance II was a refined evolution of the company’s earlier dive‑bomber, the V-72, introduced in 1943 to meet Royal Australian Air Force and Indian Air Force requirements for a fast, rugged attacker. Built at the company's Downey, California plant, the Vengeance II incorporated a lengthened fuselage, a more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-1830‑94 Twin Wasp radial engine delivering 1,200 horsepower, and enlarged wing flaps that provided a steeper 70‑degree dive angle with better control. Armor plating was added around the cockpit and fuel tanks, while a semi‑automatic dive‑brake system reduced pilot workload during attack runs. Production ran from late 1944 to early 1946, with 423 airframes completed, most serving in the South‑East Asian theater where they proved effective against Japanese supply lines and railway targets. The aircraft’s robust construction allowed operations from primitive forward airfields, and its twelve‑round .50‑caliber machine‑gun armament, coupled with a 1,000‑pound bomb rack, gave it a versatile strike capability. Although quickly superseded by faster, twin‑engine bombers after the war, the Vengeance II demonstrated the potential of dedicated dive bombers and influenced post‑war designs such as the North American F‑100 series, cementing Vultee’s reputation for innovative, combat‑ready aircraft.

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