Today
we’re taking a look at the Vultee V-11. This was a single engine, light bomber or attack
aircraft that started life as a commercial airliner, albeit a rather small one.
When the Detroit Aircraft Corporation was forced into receivership in 1931, Gerard Vultee, together
with Vance Breese left to try and find financial backing for a six-passenger transport aircraft.
Vultee had been the chief engineer for Lockheed, who was taken over by Detroit Aircraft in 1929.
He was responsible for many of the improvements made to the Lockheed Vega transports, and along
with Jack Northrop he designed the Sirius, which was used for a series of extreme long-distance
flights to plot out new commercial air routes. Vultee eventually found backing in the form of
Erret Cord. Originally, the plan was to produce a new transport for the Cord Corporation,
which itself operated two airliners: Century Air Lines in Chicago, and Century Pacific Lines in San
Francisco. Cord founded the Airplane Development Corporation (or ADC) in January 1932, and Vultee
was appointed as chief designer. A few months later in April, he began work on his new aircraft
and it received the internal designation of V1. All of Vultee’s experience was poured into this
new aircraft, which would become known as the Vultee V1 later, and for the time
of its design it was considerably advanced. The airframe was of all-metal construction,
with a true monocoque design featuring all the latest structural and aerodynamic advances, it
had a powered fully retractable undercarriage, a control suite featuring the newest electrical and
radio equipment available, and a forward sloping cockpit canopy to help reduce glare at night.
With capacity to seat eight passengers, it was predicted to be a comfortable and fast transport,
one ideally suited for local air routes. Speed was its most attractive feature,
with a predicted top speed in excess of 230mph at 4,000 feet. The power to achieve this was
provided by a 650hp Wright Cyclone engine, and it was in this configuration that the V1
prototype first flew in February of 1933. Unfortunately, things went wrong for the V1
rather quickly. Firstly, Errant Cord had sold off his two airlines due to labour disputes,
which meant that the V1 now had no guaranteed customer ready to buy it. Secondly, and more
importantly, incoming changes to commercial transport standards and legislation would
ultimately lead to the aircraft’s doom. Safety standards were going through a period
of rapid improvement. And by improvement, I mean countries were now imposing the bare minimum of
what we would consider to be safety standards today. For example, until this point in time
in the united states there was no minimum crew requirement for passenger aircraft. Then somebody
sensibly pointed out that if the sole pilot of a small airliner had a medical episode,
or was otherwise incapacitated, it might not be a particularly good situation to be in. Thus, the
ruling was made to have a minimum of a two-person crew, and the V1 had to go back for modifications
to its cockpit to allow seating for a co-pilot. During its time back at the workshop,
the V1s fortunes briefly improved when Errant Cord acquired a majority share in the Aviation
Corporation, which included America Airways. This gave the V1 a new future operator in the
commercial sector, and the company placed an order for 20 improved versions as the V1-A.
In July 1934 the V1 entered passenger service for the first time, commencing flights on the
Fort Worth-Chicago air route. It performed its duty well, with positive remarks from passengers
on its comfort, and although some pilots felt its landing speed was a little high, it was overall
received favourably. Unfortunately, its small size made it uneconomic for mass production, however
there were hopes that it could fill the niche of smaller air and mail routes with relative ease.
Then…just three months later it was dealt a death blow. The decision was made that
single-engine aircraft would no longer be allowed to fly scheduled airline flights
except during daylight hours; this was part of a push towards multi-engine designs on the grounds
of improved safety. This pretty much killed demand for the V1 overnight, and only a few
more would be completed. These would all be used as executive transports, and a few would actually
find their way across the Atlantic to serve as transports during the Spanish civil war. But
for the most part, the V1 was now useless, and this left Vultee in a bit of a pickle.
That being said, he was determined not to let the design go to complete loss, and if the V1 would
find no use in the civil market of the United States, he turned his eye towards the military.
In late 1934, Vultee developed an attacker / light bomber based on the design of the V1, and he
submitted his proposal to the US Army Air Corps. The wing, undercarriage, and tail surfaces of the
original V1 were joined to a new fuselage section to produce the V11. Powered by a 750hp Wright
Cyclone SR-1820-F53 (driving a two-blade variable pitch propeller) the V11 prototype featured two
tandem seats under a four-section canopy. The aircraft was easy to identify by the unusual
arrangement of the tail surfaces, the horizontal stabiliser was located ahead of the tailfin.
As it was designed more as a light attack aircraft, the offensive capabilities of the
V11 were fairly modest. Provision was made for an aft-firing .30 calibre machine gun for defence,
and one in each wing, sighted by the pilot using a telescopic sight for offense. The prototype was
designed to carry a 1,100 lb bombload that could be mounted internally or externally,
depending on the ordnance used. First flown on 17th September 1935,
the first V11 got off to a rough start. Following a successful test flight, it crashed the following
day on take-off for its second flight at Mines Field, Los Angeles, killing pilot T
C Van Stone and Project Engineer Dugald L Blue. However, a second prototype was already being
built and it was soon ready by the 9th October. Designated as the V-11A, it differed slightly by
having a three-blade propeller, and a ring and bead sight in place of the telescopic one.
Though Vultee had developed the V11 with the Army Air Corps in mind, the first operator of the
aircraft would turn out to be China. As the second prototype went through its evaluation trials,
it received growing interest from observers from the Chinese Nationalist Government, and an order
for thirty aircraft was eventually placed. The first was completed in December 1936, and the rest
were shipped between July 1937 and April 1938. All but the first were shipped without engines,
and they were assembled at Shanghai and Hangkow. The engines, which were the 850hp R-1820-G2,
were purchased separately, and this resulted in these aircraft being designated as the V-11G.
The details of the V11 in Chinese service are somewhat sparse, though I hope to touch on it
a bit more in a future video that covers the aerial element of the Second Sino-Japanese war.
From what I could find, it appears they may have flown with two different air units. Most
sources state they flew with the 14th Squadron at Hangkow, which contained a mix of volunteer
American and French pilots with Chinese gunners, but others allude to them being used by the 10th
Light Bomber Squadron as well, though I’ll have to do some more digging to confirm all of this.
Basically, it appears that the V11s service in China was relatively brief, though it certainly
saw combat, and from the few translated sources I have gone through so far, it looks like it
even managed some aerial kills as well. But, as I said, more on that topic in another video.
Back in the United States the V11-GB was the next variant to be developed.
This had a third crew member in the lower aft fuselage, who acted as bomb-aimer /
camera operator in a prone position, and also as a second gunner with a rear-facing, ventral-mounted
machine gun. The wing armament was increased to four .30 calibre machine guns, which appears to
have been done to improve its effectiveness in strafing missions, rather than suggesting the
V11 be used for extensive aerial combat. Four of these new models were acquired by
the Soviet Union, along with a licence to manufacture the GB variant domestically.
The first was flown on the 31st January 1937, followed by another in February. These were
flown with the G-2 variant of the R-1820, but the other two aircraft were delivered without
engines and mostly used for parts. Locally, at least 31 were built in the Soviet Union
as the BSh-1 with the 920hp M-62 engine, which was a licence-built version of the cyclone.
One of the main differences from the Chinese model was the inclusion of better armour plate
protection for the pilot. Now this improved survivability, but the increase in weight
compromised performance to such a degree that the aircraft was rejected by the VVS.
Following this, most were turned over to Aeroflot in 1939 and redesignated as the PS-43. In this
guise they would spend the next two years flying mail routes until the German invasion,
after which they were requisitioned by the VVS again and flown as liaison aircraft.
Though it had little success with the Soviets, the V11s use with foreign powers was not quite
over. Vultee retained one of the V11-GBs as a demonstrator for a proposed tour
of Europe in 1937, unfortunately this never eventuated but this disappointment was offset
by new interest from Turkey and Brazil. Turkey placed an order for forty V11-GBTs;
these were delivered between September 1937 and April 1938 to the 2nd Regiment at Diyarbakir,
and it appears that the demonstrator aircraft went to Turkey as well.
The Turkish order was quickly followed by 26 V11-GB2s for Brazil, which was completed between
June 1938 and March 1939. Interest was also expressed in a floatplane version of the V11,
which made sense given Brazil’s vast coastline. Unfortunately, the seaplane demonstrator,
which was a hastily converted version of the last Brazillian model, suffered in storage
and transport…and it arrived with rust. The Brazillian navy rejected this model,
and although two more seaplanes were built as demonstrators for both Brazil and the Netherlands
(with the latter proposed to carry torpedoes as well), no further orders would eventuate.
Ironically, for a US design that saw most of its use in foreign service,
the last customer for the V11 would actually be the US Army Air Corps. On the 24th of June, 1938,
the Air Corps ordered seven V11-GBs as service test aircraft, as they were considering the
possibility of a larger production order. This was partly a reflection of the deteriorating political
situation in Europe, and partly because of the equally deteriorating diplomatic relationship
with Japan, which made the US Army realise its air units were woefully underequipped if it were
to soon find itself at war – thus the renewed interest in the design from Vultee. Admittedly,
the Air Corps was only looking at Vultee’s design as a backup-option, as they considerably favoured
twin-engine attack aircraft instead, but they didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.
Designated as the YA-19, the first was flown on the 27th of January 1939. They were powered
by a new engine, the 1,200hp Prat & Whitney R-1830-17 Twin Wasp. Armament was increased
to six .30 calibre machine guns, but the bombload remained at 1100lbs.
Five more YA-19s were delivered during the summer of 1939, but the 7th aircraft from
the order would instead be delivered as the XA-19A. This was an experimental model fitted
with the Lycoming 0-1230-1, a liquid-cooled twelve-cylinder engine that produced 1200hp.
This configuration didn’t last for particularly long, and it was subsequently re-engined with a
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-51 and renamed the XA-19C. Another of the service test models was then also
converted for experimental use, becoming the XA-19B,
but the other five YA-19s remained as they were. Unfortunately, they did not match the performance
of other attack aircraft that the Air Corps was considering, and in consequence of this no further
orders for the V11 would eventuate. The five test models were still taken into official service as
the A-19. But their time was brief and they never saw combat; aside from a stint at March Field,
California, they would see some service in the Panama Canal zone, operating as liaison or
transport aircraft, though they would be withdrawn from this role before the middle of 1940.
The final version of the aircraft was the V11-T. First flown in January 1940,
it was a converted V11-A that was to be used as a testbed for Pratt & Whitney. Equipped with a
larger rudder and a fixed undercarriage, it was used to test various engines for several years,
until it was destroyed in an accident on the 20th of March 1945. This meant that out of all
the variants, this final test model probably enjoyed the longest service life doing what it
was actually intended to be used for. Unfortunately no examples of this
obscure underdog survive today. Though it never had a glowing record,
nor did it cover itself in glory, the Vultee V-11 was -on the whole- successful. It had
no major design flaws that turned it into a death trap, it achieved the requirements of
its original military design, though modest, and it was produced in relatively large numbers for an
interwar military aircraft. Over 170 were built in the United States, and if you take models produced
locally in the Soviet Untion and China into consideration, that number rises to over 220.
Considering the Vultee V1 was looking to be a dead loss in 1934, this was a remarkable comeback.
As always thank you all so much for watching and a big thank you of course to the Patreon supporters,
who’s names you’ll see here. I apologise for the gap in video production, when I got back
from my mini-break some behind-the-scenes stuff took priority and I had to get that
sorted before our regular content could resume. But, fingers crossed, it should all be back to
normal moving forward. A big thank you as well to our wing commander tier patrons, and a warm
welcome to Reese Glidden and Graham Kid, who are the newest members of this special group.
Thank you all so much for your continued support, and I’ll catch you all next time. Goodbye.