The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Vultee P-66 Vanguard
| Crew | 1 |
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| Dimensions | 36' by 28'5" by
13'1" 10.97m by 8.66m by 3.99m |
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| Wing area | 197 square feet 18.30 m2 |
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| Weight | 5234-7383 lbs 2374-3349 kg |
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| Maximum speed | 340 mph (547 km/h) | ||
| Climb rate | 42 fps 12.8 m/s |
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| Service ceiling | 28,200 feet 8595 meters |
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| Power plant | 1 1200 hp (894 kW) Pratt and Whitney R-1830-33 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder two-row radial engine | ||
| Armament | 4 0.30 wing machine guns 2 0.50 nose machine guns |
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| Range | 850 miles 1368 km |
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| Production | 144 by 1941-9 |
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The P-66 came out of an experiment in building four
different aircraft types from common components. The fighter variant
was ordered by
the Swedish government as the Model 48C. However, by the time the order
was ready, the United States had embargoed aircraft exports and the
production run was impounded. The British took over the order as Lend-Lease, but 129 of the aircraft went to China instead, where they saw their only combat service. The remainder were used as trainers.
The aircraft had good acrobatics and reasonable performance for 1941, and the few U.S. pilots who flew it seem to have liked it. However, it was relatively fragile and had a tendency to ground loop. It also had an unfortunate resemblance to the Japanese fighters in use in China, and several were lost to friendly fire.
References
Baugher (1999; accessed 2012-11-16)The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
