Vultee V-1

1933

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  TRANSPORTVirtual Aircraft Museum / USA / Vultee  

Vultee V-1

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Specification 
 MODELV-1AS
 CREW2
 PASSENGERS8
 ENGINE1 x 890hp Wright R-1820-F52
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight4200 kg9259 lb
  Empty weight2405 kg5302 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan15.24 m50 ft 0 in
  Length11.28 m37 ft 0 in
  Height3.07 m10 ft 1 in
  Wing area35.68 m2384.06 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed362 km/h225 mph
  Cruise speed264 km/h164 mph
  Ceiling6100 m20000 ft
  Range1610 km1000 miles

Comments
Pops, e-mail, 22.09.2011 13:15

It's interesting that deaftom would mention that ping pong balls fell out of the aeroplane when it was restored. Not quite accurate, I'm afraid. The aeroplane in the Virginia Aviation Museum is Serial Number 25 and was originally owned by William Randolph Hearst. The 'ping pong' ship was Serial Number 8 and was flown by Dick Merrill to London and return in 1936. It was destroyed in Spain many years later. The aeroplane in Richmond was owned by the late Sidney L. Shannon, Jr. and displayed (and flown) at his Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, Va. I was, at the time, the chief pilot for the Shannon museum and flew the aeroplane approximately 120 hours over a three year period. Lovely old aeroplane that has not flown since approximately 1981.

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Klaatu, e-mail, 21.05.2011 04:10

In it's day this was a very fast and very advanced airliner. Unfortunately, it came out just before the advent of the new Federal Law stipulating that, henceforth, all commercial airliners had to have at least two pilots and two engines. As a result, the V-1 soon vanished from the U.S. commercial airways. However, it quickly became a favorite business and VIP transport, a sort of 1930s equivalent of the Lear Jet. In addition, at least one example ended up in Republican Spain during the Civil War, where it was converted into a bomber.

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deaftom, e-mail, 12.04.2011 05:42

The sole surviving Vultee V-1, a V-1A model, is preserved in the Virginia Aviation Museum at Richard E. Byrd Airport, Richmond, Virginia. This particular one was originally planned for a 1930s transoceanic flight, and had its wings stuffed with ping-pong balls for floatation in case it had to come down at sea. I have read that when the wings were opened up for restoration a couple of decades ago, a few 50-year-old ping-pong balls fell out.

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