Vultee Vengeance - 82 Squadron RAF

[MorrisOxford]

Vengeance Mk. 1 of the Vengeance Development Flight, Karachi(?) 1943.

82 Squadron RAF were the first to get Vengeances, and were instrumental in discovering and solving the many problems that these aircraft were delivered with. The leader of the unit was Wing Commander W.H. McMichael (centre, standing immediately behind the unit placard).
According to my late father (back row on the wing, third from right with his "Bombay Bowler" underarm) the Wing Co was a really good chap to work for, who took soundings from everyone involved and was popular with aircrew and groundcrew alike. He saw the potential in the aircraft and was fully commited to sorting out the problems and lobbying the top brass to make sure they were not used operationally until they were safe. Frustratingly for 82 Squadron they sorted their problem aircraft out, saw them transferred to other units and then were issued with another lot of duff ones to fix.

 

[MorrisOxford]

Vultee Vengeance Mk III Serial FB983 'L' Jumchar, British India, February or March 1944 .

According to Joe Baugher's list it originally had USAAF serial 41-31114. It was a Vultee built, Lend Lease aircraft which survived the war - being finally SOC May 9, 1946.

Note the wing mounted bomb racks.
By this time, Vengeances of 82 Squadron RAF were regularly operating with a full bomb load of 1500 lbs - 2x500's in the internal bomb bay and 2x250 's on the wing racks.
Personnel are ground crew responsible for this aircraft showing off their recently aquired "Slouch Hats".
(My father 1st left in the first image, 2nd left in the second and third images).

Andy

 

[Mosquito45]

View attachment 764275
Vengeance Mk. 1 of the Vengeance Development Flight, Karachi(?) 1943.

82 Squadron RAF were the first to get Vengeances, and were instrumental in discovering and solving the many problems that these aircraft were delivered with. The leader of the unit was Wing Commander W.H. McMichael (centre, standing immediately behind the unit placard).
According to my late father (back row on the wing, third from right with his "Bombay Bowler" underarm) the Wing Co was a really good chap to work for, who took soundings from everyone involved and was popular with aircrew and groundcrew alike. He saw the potential in the aircraft and was fully commited to sorting out the problems and lobbying the top brass to make sure they were not used operationally until they were safe. Frustratingly for 82 Squadron they sorted their problem aircraft out, saw them transferred to other units and then were issued with another lot of duff ones to fix.

Hi, Wonderful photos, I have the one showing the VD flight with several aircrew identified from 82 Sqdn. W/C John Hubert McMichael was indeed by all accounts a most respected leader I am in the latter stages of writing the history of 82 in Burma flying the VV and the Mosquito, my uncle was a navigator from early 45 flying the Mossie. I have corresponded with air and ground crew over the years, I would be interested to positively identify your father for the squadron records and indeed the photo above.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Wayne Little]

Great shots...!