eko4me (#12100),
Thanks for the pointer - I had not known of this Wiki before - very interesting.
Comment:
...". All of the variants could carry up to 2,000 pounds (910 kg) of bombs [2][3]"
.
Mks I and II had a hard enough job lifting off with 1,500 lb. Would say that 2,000 lb was "pushing your luck ! Never tried it on a Mk.III: never flew a Mk.IV.
... "No. 25 Squadron, located at RAAF Station Pearce in Western Australia, received some Vengeances in late 1942, but mainly operated Wirraways until being completely re-equipped with the dive bombers in August 1943.[20] This squadron was the only RAAF unit to be equipped with Mark IV aircraft, which provided far superior performance to the other variants"...
If the implication is that the Mk.IV was used operationally, I would very much like to know what the dive experience (with a 4° Angle of Incidence) was like. Hitherto we'd supposed that all operations were carried out by Mks I and II only.
..
."The price for each of the aircraft purchased by Australia was A£90,000.[4]"
..
We paid US$63,000 each for ours, which at US$4.08/£ would represent £15.44 sterling (yes, I know we were on Lsd then). What was the relation between A£ and sterling at the time ?
"On 8 March 1944, General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters, which commanded all Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area, directed No. 77 Wing's squadrons to return to Australia and No. 78 Wing to move to the Cape Gloucester area of New Britain......... During a subsequent discussion between Kenney and Air Vice-Marshal George Jones, the Chief of the Air Force, the American general stated that he did not intend to use the Vengeance in combat again"
AHQ India called off all VV ops on the onset of the '44 (ca mid-May), so it was a concerted Allied decision. Unecessary (IMHO) as we could've done much more useful work through the '44/'45 dry season. All the VVs and most of the crews of the six squadrons were still in India: the Mossies (which came out to replace us) brought their own crews anyway (and their aircraft started falling to bits, and did not get sorted out until early'45).
Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing ?
Senior Pilot ? Geriatric, more like ! (any advance on 96 yrs and 8 mths ?)