The Failed Airliner That Became A Bomber - Vultee V-11 [Aircraft Overview #80]

[@RexsHangar]

Hopefully this signals the resumption of a somewhat regular video schedule, thanks for your patience :) F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[@bocefusmurica4340]

AmericaN Airlines

[@steveshoemaker6347]

l am very glad to see your excellent aircraft video's once again.....Thanks very much my friend 👍 Shoe🇺🇸

[@stephenremington8448]

Mentions of the really cool name Vultee usually leads to me think of Convair and the the amazing B-36.

[@johnreep5798]

Nice! Now let’s hear about Vultee’s A-35 Vengeance.

[@womble321]

The Vengeance was excellent why the RAF virtually ignored these aircraft and many others that arrived in the UK I've no idea. The American engines were used in some Wellingtons and Sunderlands the aircraft they were delivered with having been scrapped.

[@franksgattolin8904]

Yes, the Vengeance!!

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

And the Vanguard

[@sadwingsraging3044]

THIS!

[@wintersbattleofbands1144]

There is one surviving. My neighbor has one stored at an airfield. Ferried from Brazil in the 1970s, I think it last flew in '99. Engine is started occasionally.

[@joemccarthywascorrect6240]

Send Rex some Pix!

[@kamilr4145]

Wow that's so cool, is it in flying condition?

[@parrot849]

That has got to be worth so much money now, if it’s in,at all, decent operating condition.

[@wardaddy6002]

I would like to charter it for a flight across the Andies.

[@loveofmangos001]

Sounds like a damn lie Rex is very throughout with his research

[@rastarn]

I find the story of Vultee aircraft really interesting as they're just not well known but pop up in all sorts of places. I hope you do a video on the Vultee Vengeance, an important close air support aircraft for Australia, that also saw combat service with India. A highly accurate dive bomber.

[@yes_head]

If I may be so bold, you apologize way too much for the gaps between videos. Considering the amount of work put into these and the fact that the viewers don't pay for them (other than YT ads), there's really no cause to apologize! This is another fine video, Rex. I'd never heard of this plane before, but it cements in my mind that Jerry Vultee was one of America's great unsung designers, on the level of Jack Northrop.

[@seanny4296]

Another stellar video Rex! The hodgepodge of aircraft used by the Chinese forces in WWII are so interesting.

[@jaywalkersunite]

Must have been a nightmare keeping them all in the air.

[@rooktroop3126]

@@jaywalkersunite poor bastards of those who worked on the logistics for spare parts

[@MrJoeFlorida]

One of my Grandfather helped build the wings to the Vultee Vengeance during WW2 in Indiana. He worked at a washer and dryer factory that was converted to building airplane wings.

[@Straswa]

Great vid Rex! I like the Vultee V-11's design. I've been researching the Sino-Japanese conflict and that's where I learned of this aircraft.

[@russkinter3000]

Thanks!

[@valdeingruo]

Me: I'm not going to read all of that plane info Rex's hanger: what if I read all of the technical data aloud and give you history too? Me: scrambles to grab a chair

[@rogerrendzak8055]

I've seen that V-1 design, my whole life. Now, I can put a name, to the shape. Thank you for, the academic knowledge😉👍!!!!

[@richardaubrecht2822]

9:51 "Bee Es Aitch One" - it's BSh-1 in Russian, or "Bee Esh One". Bronirovannyi shturmovik (armored attack plane) no.1.

[@stephenmeier4658]

Ah, the joy of a new video from Rex's Hangar. Many thanks to you!

[@alanrogers7090]

I hope that you feel better quickly. I enjoy your shows and always learn new things about old friends.

[@lookythat2]

Great video on this very obscure aircraft. As a boy I read a book my uncle owned (now in my collection) published about 1940, that hyped the Vultee as a major asset for the USAAC's new attack aircraft doctrine, as well as its export status to China and Turkey. I wondered for years where this supposedly promising aircraft disappeared to; only the proliferation of information on the internet provided some clues. Good work! Thanks.

[@maxsmodels]

I saw a V1 in the Virginia Aviation museum in Richmond VA. One oddity of the plane was that the landing gea4 door was the landing gear.

[@patrickcloutier6801]

The windscreen and nose of the Vultee remind me a bit of the Breda Ba65 attack aircraft.

[@ianbell5611]

Welcome back Great video. Cheers

[@leecrt967]

Oh, thank you for covering the Vultee V-11. I think it is one of the prettiest interwar aircraft produced. I love the long greenhouse perched and blended atop the fuselage, the jaunty forward perched stabilizer, the wraparound rudder, the wing profile, the engine cowling (particularly on R-1830 versions) and the fully covered retractable undercarriage. I DIDN'T like the later R-2600 powered versions as that engine spoiled its trim lines, but I see why they did it. The V-11 was a very jaunty and cool aeroplane. Thanks again.

[@adrianrutterford762]

A new video from The Hanger. The day has improved.

[@kyle_mk17]

Yeah, and the Mario movie trailer

[@oliversmith9200]

The V-1 features in a techno-futurist collage of a painting in the inside covers of the 1946 edition of Compton's Encyclopedia. How's that for minor trivia? I don't think more minor trivia will be submitted in comments. :)

[@GR46404]

Thank you! I enjoy learning more about WWII aircraft like this one. This video was very well made. I hope you get well soon.

[@sabeda1647]

love all this oddball stuff

[@ModelMinutes]

Another interesting video 😊

[@russkinter3000]

I've been waiting for a video on this aircraft for sometime. I first found out about it in Martin Caiden's "Ragged Rugged Warriors", but it was just a brief mention with use by the Chinese.

[@HEDGE1011]

Thanks for the memory, Russ! I read that book as a teen and loved it; I hadn’t thought of it in years but now have to find my copy and re-read it!

[@russkinter3000]

@@HEDGE1011 The book had a big influence on me model building wise. 8th Airforce B-17s and P-51s were now too easy! Obscure aircraft like this became the beckon call. In the 70s though I bit off more than I could chew, because getting info on such aircraft was almost impossible except through aircraft magazines like "Air Power".

[@ricardokowalski1579]

Solid content

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

Notice the Brazilian variant had a snappy paint scheme! Looked great! They couldn’t do otherwise. You must have dug deep for this content - subscribed!👍🏻

[@saparotrob7888]

Very informative. I never knew about this plane.

[@michaelleslie2913]

I have a book about dive bombers which has some of the more obscure aircraft and the A35 Vultee Vengeance features especially in RAF and RAAF service in the far east it was also unusual in that like the Ju 87 it had cranked wings .

[@madbrowndog4887]

The Vengeance didn't really have "cranked" wings a'la Ju-87, as in negative dihedral on the inboard sections. Vengeance simply had no (or negligible) dihedral on the inboard sections, and dihedral on the outboard sections. In photos the Vengeance often appears to have cranked wings, but this is an illusion, created by the difference in inboard/outboard dihedral, compounded by the very unusual wing planform, i.e. leading edges swept back on the inboard sections, and straight on the outboard; and trailing edges straight on inboard and tapering forward on outboard. Photographed from just about any angle other than dead ahead/behind, or directly above/below, it looks like a bird with two broken wings.

[@michaelleslie2913]

Thanks for replying buddy, As regards the wing layout I did know it wasn't the same but I just liked the fact the wings were unusual. 👍

[@glennsimpson7659]

Caused by faulty calculations of the CG - it was too late to change the wing mountings so Vultee moved the centre of lift backwards by cranking the wing in the horizontal plane! The result was an excellent aircraft that was overshadowed (in the SW Pacific Theatre) by the rise of the P-40 as a fighter bomber. P-40s were less accurate but didn’t require escorting, while the Vengeance did. It made more sense logistically to send 2 P-40 bombers rather than 1 Vengeance bomber and 1 P-40 escort. The troops however much preferred the accuracy of the Vengeance when bombs were being dropped in close support!

[@maryclarafjare]

This video was excellent, and even my hubby had never heard of this plane!

[@Dr_Jebus]

Really interesting stuff. Kinda love all these US developed planes that really took off (pun intended) overseas.

[@jaydeister9305]

Great video!

[@damien5748]

Cliked like before even watching.

[@keithstudly6071]

Errett Lobban Cord started as a car salesman for the Auburn company and quickly rose to be the president of that company and went on to combine Auburn with Cord and Duesenberg. He went on to assemble an empire of more than 150 companies. most of them transportation related. The automotive parts of the Cord company died in the 1937 bankruptcy but the Aviation assets, which included Stinson aircraft and Lycoming engines and Vultee went under the name AVCO which stood for Avaition Company. I noticed that the later versions of the V-11 included a Lycoming powered version which I assume was dome for cooperate reasons so that the whole aircraft was built with AVCO components. During the 1940's Vultee became Consolidated-Vultee and then just Consolidated Aircraft. AVCO also got into broadcasting and owned Radio and Television stations in the United States including WLW (the nation's station with 100,000 watts) in Cincinnati which had previously been owned by Powell Crossly.

[@peterasp1968]

Another detailed video on a lesser known aircraft which still saw extensive service world wide. Thank you. But can you also do some videos on similar aircraft like the Arado 80 or the Arado 66 or the LaGG-1 or the much obscured Dewoitine 520 ?

[@tonyraheja1]

Very interesting... Thanks

[@stephensowell9578]

Rex, Thanks for your videos; I enjoy learning about lesser-known aircraft. One question, 11:20, the often pictured V-11. Is that a 50-cal inside of a 30-cal on the wing?

[@tommygun333]

We forgive the break😉. Nice to hear you again!👍

[@aaronstreeval3910]

I love these 30s airliners that only could carry like 6 people. can you imagine today taking a flight with American Airlines from let’s say Chicago to Atlanta in a Cessna 340 or 421 or even a Beechcraft king air. Cause those are the modern day equivalent to these aircraft I’m only at the beginning at the time of leaving this comment. That’s why I’m talking about airliners of the 30s

[@JGCR59]

The first I heard about that plane was because it constantly popped up in Luftwaffe fighter pilot kill claims in 1941. Basically any soviet single engine attack aircraft was misidentified as a Vultee V-11, bei it Su-2s and R-10s and even Il-2s.

[@glennsimpson7659]

Same wing planform. Plus you see what you expect to see in the stress of air combat.

[@crazypetec-130fe7]

Just from the looks, I was guessing it was designed by Jack Northrop. Apparently he was a strong influence on Vultee. For future videos, I'm a fan of the Curtiss biplane fighters and divebombers, especially the F9C Sparrowhawk. The Boeing P-12/F4B is another favorite.

[@alexandremarcelino7360]

Saudações do Brasil!! Aeronave muito bonita! Gratidão pelo vídeo! 🌟

[@oxcart4172]

Vance Breese took what eventually would be called the Mustang up on it's first flight

[@craigrobson4513]

Really like the work you put into your video's. Would you be able to make one on the Short Stirling? I was the first 4 engine bomber the RAF had at the start of WW 2.

[@Philip271828]

[Googles] It sounds like a big Skua. Wiki says it's a bit heavier with more bombs and longer range (not contemporary versions) but otherwise remarkably similar.

[@troywalker8078]

I just ordered two. Hope they arrive soon.

[@wkelly3053]

Love the 1930’s. A time when every machine was almost a piece of art.

[@chitlika]

Very interesting and you always come up with lots of photo's I never saw before your vid Please Please do a Video on the Vultee Vengeance That sadly unsung hero of the far east with its ability to drop devastating bomb loads into tiny jungle clearings Without the Vengeance The Brits would brobably been unable to keep the Japanese out of india

[@richardhawkins3596]

A V-1 is shown in the video wearing Spanish Nationalist markings, and the type is mentioned as a transport, but they were first brought into the civil war by the Republican government, who needed a fast light bomber. The V-1s were given a dorsal MG position behind the cockpit. See (for instance) Patrick Laureau's 'L'aviation republicaine espagnole' (1978).

[@whalesong999]

Interesting. A contemporary aircraft of the Vultee V-1 was the Capelis XC-12 which ended up quickly becoming a movie prop. Details for it might be a challenge to dig up but might be enough to make another video of twin aircraft of the period. It was featured prominently in the WW2 film "Flying Tigers" but was limited to scenes taken on the ground - models were used for aerial scenes.

[@davidthompson3697]

a great video i hope 1 day you do 1 of the vultee vengeance

[@johnholt890]

Interesting coverage of a quite obscure aircraft.

[@martryan2060]

Great video 👍. It's if a Harvard had a love child with a nakajima BN5 Kate.. A video of American aircraft in service with Vichy France. Thanks 👍

[@colonial6452]

The former Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond, VA had one of these is its collection. It was a beauty and supposedly had been the personal airplane of Howard Hughes. The museum closed and the collection was dispersed.

[@Ash007YT]

I'd say first but the this is one of the better unknown aircraft.

[@NOOBSLAYER-cw3gd]

hi ash

[@lewiswestfall2687]

thanks

[@gorbalsboy]

Great vid , beautiful aircraft, any chance we could see something aboot the most archaic aircraft in ww2 cheers

[@bryanparkhurst17]

Another great episode. Have you done one on the P-82/F-82 twin Mustang...I'd love to see what you dig up on that one.

[@perrydowd9285]

In future years when people muse about the origin of the term "similar-ish" I will say, "DUDE! I was there!" ✊

[@enzovernille3800]

11:56 A rare picture of a Brazilian Army V-11 where you can see the word "Exército" (Army) on lower part of the wing In 1941, with the creation of Brazilian Air Force (which merged the Army and Naval aviations) The remaining 23 aircraft became property of the newly created branch And they protagonised our first attack after our entry in WW2 In August 26th, 1942. A V-11 of 1st Air Regiment attacked an U-boat near the coast of Santa Catarina They dropped 3 150kg bombs Which damaged both the U-boat and the aircraft The latter having to make an emergency landing in the town of Osório due to a damaged cowling made by shrapnel

[@thesnazzycomet]

This thing kinda cool

[@RedXlV]

3:00 "Safety standards were going through a period of rapid improvement", in the sense that they started existing at all instead of aviation being an anything-goes free-for-all.

[@robertguttman1487]

The Vultee V-11 essentially was an American equivalent to Britain's Fairey Battle light bomber and would probably have fared just about as badly had it been committed to combat during WW-II. Like the Battle, the V-11 was not a bad airplane, but it simply was no longer good enough. The two-seat, single-engine day bomber formula was a throwback to WW-I that was simply no longer relevant. Bear in mind that, being a mid-1930s design, the V-11 lacked armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks and that it could only carry 1,100 pounds of bombs, an amount which could have been equalled or exceeded by most single-engine fighters during WW-II.

[@sixgunsymphony7408]

It might have been a good torpedo bomber.

[@AVlad-eg3ds]

Just a few notes on Soviet Union build aircrafts. At least 38 aircrafts were built. Maybe 50. And BSh-1 is pronounced something as as Beh Shah One ('Beh' like 'bet' without 't' and 'Shah' like 'shut' without 't' if you get my idea). Sh is a single sound/letter not to distinct letters. Name goes from Bronirovanniy Shturmovik - Armored Attack Plane.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@RexsHangar >>> 👍👍

[@hawkmoon419]

Great video, thanks. Have you done one on the A-31/A-35?

[@piotrstrzelczyk5248]

10:00 BSh-1 Brtonirovannyi Shturmovik 1 = Armoured Attack Plane No.1

[@joaocarlosferreira5114]

There is a beautiful unit of this aircraft, Vultee V-11, in "Museu Aeroespacial"/ Base Aérea dos Afonsos (Afonsos air field, a military airbase), here in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil.

[@jimchapman9560]

Errett Cord also founded Auburn Cord Duesenberg company that made some of the world's finest classic automobiles.

[@sodypop649]

Make a vid about the Junkers 88,the big bomber after the small legend

[@thomaslubben8559]

The Lycoming engine you mentioned is not a zero dash 1230. What you calling a zero is the letter 'O', for opposed. Just like R is for radial, and V for, well, V.

[@FinsburyPhil]

America's own Fairey Battle! Although they had the good sense not to put it harms way.

[@a.m.7871]

Two things: 1) The Lycoming engine's designation is "O" the letter (for opposed), not "0" the number. 2) In Russian (transliterated from Cyrillic) designations such as BSh-1, the "Sh" should probably be pronounced like "shaw" rather than as separate letters.

[@americanrambler4972]

This is a good looking airplane in the retractable gear configuration. The tail plane looks a little odd in its forward position. I wonder if it would have been more successful if the packard or Allison v12 engines would have been tried.

[@snelhestarna]

At 3:14 Isn't that a Northrop Delta?

[@coreyandnathanielchartier3749]

Jerry Vultee was a prolific designer and was as important to early aviation as Curtiss, Douglas, Boeing and Lockheed. Shame he died in a IMC accident at 38 years old. He did a lot of work in that short life.

[@stretch3281]

So thats why some aircraft had windscreens like that. The Blackburn Skua had one i think. Talking of the Skua, any chance of a vid? I know you like an underdog.

[@glennsimpson7659]

Many Soviet ww2 aircraft have wings with swept leading and trailing edges e.g. Su-2. I wonder to what extend the V-11 influenced them?

[@David77646]

very well researched but when did the Turkish and brazil examples go out of service - 1955 ?

[@lastflightofosiris]

There are so few records about that era, and whatever there are still restricted. But i suspect much earlier. Turkey was bombarded with all kinds of aircraft by both allies and axis during the war. So much so that there wasn't uniformity even in squadrons. After the war, new American planes dominated the TAF. And Turkey was first to get most of the new tech, being the first line of defense against the USSR.

[@drstevenrey]

I would love to know who came up with the idea of the forward sloped windscreen. That looks so daft, it hurts.

[@LostShipMate]

The airplane industry seems like a nightmare to run as a business, so many restrictions and changing times to keep up with, especially during the early 20th century. The only thing that seems even close to as difficult a business is the gun industry(most fail).

[@samobispo1527]

The first drawings remind me of the AN-2 Colt.

[@travisedmonds4214]

On my Ghosts calendar, it states that a V11 sank U-206 on this day in 1941 in the bay of Biscay. I'm guessing that you didn't come across any information to support this?

[@petergray7576]

That is incorrect. The RAF used the A-31 Vengeance, but not the V11, and the former didn't enter service until the middle of 1942. And U-206 is listed as missing fate unknown (MFN), though she was likely a victim of an RAF minefield codenamed Beech, that was laid off St. Nazaire by Coastal Command Hampdens or Wellingtons.

[@drstevenrey]

Basically a very pretty aircraft. The only eye sore is the short landing gear that makes it look fat.

[@puppetguy8726]

Also I think Brazil wanted a seaplane because of the vast amounts of rivers which would allow aircraft to be operated in the interior parts of the country

[@fasold2164]

The forward inclined front windows of the cockpit canopy makes the V-1 look quite ugly. There are a few other aircraft with this feature, for instance the Boeing 247. What is the background of this design detail? An anti-glare effect?

[@lastflightofosiris]

Indeed it is. Early 737s also sported that kind of front windows but they were ditched for back-reclined windows plus glareshield. I wonder why nobody thought of a glareshield up until then.

[@pythosdegothos6181]

I was wondering why some mid war aircraft have the forward swept windscreen. Now I know.

[@bernardedwards8461]

Whatwas the idea of the beetle browed cockpit design, which was not widely imitated?

[@davidford85]

3:12 Surely that can't be true that there was no minimum crew requirement, at least technically speaking if not necessarily legally. After all surely the minimum crew requirement for any plane was at least one pilot, otherwise you've just got a very expensive paperweight, and a bunch of upset passengers 😂 Does sound like a bad comedy sketch about a 1930s budget airline: "Crew are not required under law, enabling us to provide our customers with the best value for money in the world by both removing the expensive cost of a pilot, and also allowing a slight increase in luggage allowance (or even fuel). All our planes come with a free and easy to use guide, but should you fancy treating yourself a range of pilots to suit a variety of budgets are available under the optional extras."

[@neithere]

A minor comment: not sure if БШ-1 (BSh-1) should be pronounced as "bee ass aich" or rather something like "bee sha": Б for бомбардировщик (bombardirovshik = bomber), Ш for штурмовик (shturmovik = attack aircraft). :)

[@ivangenov6782]

The amount of confusion one could get when looking at the title and then the thumbnail is one that shouldn't be this big.

[@anthrax2525]

I remember using the Bsh-1 back when I played World Of Warplanes (it was a special item). It could reasonably dogfight (utterly massive grain of salt to be taken here).

[@ninjalanternshark1508]

I am a simple lanternshark. I see Rex's Hanger upload, I click Rex's Hanger upload.

[@jeffreysargent9363]

I hope he Continue this game play throught.

[@zAvAvAz]

Yeah, thats why they call me Spitfire! the prodigy

[@stevenward3856]

Mr. Cord, who was mentioned earlier in this video, is probably the E. L. Cord who bought Auburn and Deusenburg automobile companies. After which, he started a third car company which he named after himself. E.L.Cord was positioned to give the "Big Three" auto companies in Detroit a major competitor based in Auburn, Indiana, but was being investigated for buying companies, build them up and sell stock in them, after which he sold these companies and left them to flounder on their own. I may not have all of the facts right, but he is a person of interest that you might like to read up on.

[@thegreat_I_am]

Obviously all other designers decided that nighttime glare on the windshield was a price worth paying, if the alternative was having an ugly forward sloping screen

[@davidgrainger5994]

Just sold my Vultee Valiant after 5 years of flying her. Great aircraft, better than Texans.

[@airplayn]

You left out that the Sirius was piloted by Lindbergh with his wife in the passenger seat operating the theodolite.

[@msgfrmdaactionman3000]

If the name is Vultee, it's qualitee!