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The Vultee Aircraft Corporation became an independent company in 1939 and had limited success before merging with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1943 to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, or Convair.

Gerard "Jerry" Vultee and Vance Breese started Airplane Development Corporation in early 1932 after American Airlines showed great interest in their six-passenger V-1 design. Soon after, Errett Lobban (E.L.) Cord bought all 500 shares of stock in the company and Airplane Development Corporation became a Cord subsidiary.

Due to the Air Mail Act of 1934, AVCO established the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation (AMC) on November 30, 1934 through the acquisition of Cord's holdings, including Vultee's Airplane Development Corporation. AMC was liquidated on January 1, 1936 and Vultee Aircraft Division was formed as an autonomous subsidiary of AVCO. Vultee acquired the assets of the defunct AMC, including Lycoming and Stinson Aircraft Company. Vultee Aircraft was created in November 1939, when Vultee Aircraft Division of AVCO was reorganized as an independent company.

Meanwhile, Vultee and Breese had redesigned the V-1 to meet American Airlines' needs and created the eight-passenger V-1A. American purchased 11 V-1As, but the plane ultimately failed due to safety concerns about a single-engine plane and the advent of the twin-engine Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s. Vultee redesigned the V-1 into the V-11 attack aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, but it received few orders.

In 1938, before he could see Vultee become an independent company, Jerry Vultee and his wife Sylvia died when the plane he was piloting crashed in a snowstorm near Sedona, Arizona. A bronze plaque memorializing the Vultees is located at the end of Coconino Forestry trail named in honor of Vultee Arch, a natural rock arch near the site of the plane crash. USDA Forest Service Coconino National Forest Jerry Vultee's close friend and Vice President of Vultee wrote a letter to TIME magazine about Jerry's death:

Sirs:

Gerard F. Vultee ("Jerry"), not Gerald, my close friend and business associate for many years, was killed when the cabin monoplane he was flying with Mrs. Vultee crashed on the flat top of Wilson Mountain . ... Caught in a local snow-storm and blizzard with no training in blind or instrument flying, he was unable to find his way out. The fire occurred after the crash, not before.

DON P. SMITH Vice President

Vultee Aircraft Los Angeles, Calif. Davis-Monthan Field Register

Richard Millar succeeded Vultee, and Vultee Aircraft, Inc. began to develop military designs. Its major production programs, however, were the BT-13 Valiant trainer and V-72 Vengeance, serving as the A-31 and A-35. The P-66 Vanguard was a 1941 fighter program that was intended for Sweden that was inherited by the USAAC, Great Britain and finally, China. The P-66 had a mediocre combat record in China and was out of service by 1943. The XP-54 fighter project was the last Vultee Aircraft design but only two examples were built.

On March 17, 1943, Consolidated and Vultee officially merged, creating Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, popularly known as Convair. The Vultee management resigned.

Museum displays

• Virginia Aviation Museum, Richmond International Airport, Richmond, Virginia

1936 V-1AD Special NC16099, "Lady Peace II", once owned by publisher William Randolph Hearst - only V-1 known to exist.

• Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania

1942 Vultee BT-13A Valiant

References

• McKillop, Jack. "Vultee SNV Valiant." Brown-Shoe Navy: U.S. Naval Aviation. "Vultee SNV Valiant" , retrieved January 6, 2006.
• Rumerman, Joel. "Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. " US Centennial of Flight Commission. "Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation", retrieved 6 January 2006.
• Thompson, Jonathan. Vultee Aircraft 1932-1947. Santa Ana, CA; Narkiewicz/Thompson, 1992. ISBN 0-913322-02-4.
• "The Vultee V-1A." Golden Age of Aviation E-column. "The Vultee V-1A", retrieved 6 January 2006.

• Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States