{"id":29,"date":"2026-03-16T02:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/2\/?page_id=29"},"modified":"2026-10-11T02:20:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:20:25","slug":"sb2u-vindicator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/sb2u-vindicator\/","title":{"rendered":"SB2U Vindicator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/vindicator-drawing.jpg\" alt=\"A clean black and white technical line drawing of a Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bomber. The aircraft is shown from a three-quarter front perspective, highlighting its radial engine, long greenhouse cockpit canopy, and low-wing monoplane design with fixed landing gear.\" width=\"1170\" height=\"574\" data-neo-global--processed-neo-rename=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/vindicator-drawing.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/vindicator-drawing-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/vindicator-drawing-1024x502.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/vindicator-drawing-768x377.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/pages\/2025\/08\/vought-os2u-kingfisher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vought OS2U Kingfisher<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/pages\/2025\/04\/book-review-carrier-air-war-in-original-wwii-color\">Book Review: &#8220;Carrier Air War in Original WWII Color&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Book Review: <em>SB2U Vindicator in action<\/em>.<\/strong> Vought&#8217;s Vindicator scout bomber helped bring US naval aviation into the monoplane age, but was obsolete by the time WWII started, and after participating in the Battle of Midway the type was relegated to second-line duties. There are side view plans of the XSB2U-1 prototype in both early and late configurations, the SB2U-1\/2, SB2U-3, and the V-156 export machines. Black &amp; white scrap views illustrate the cowling differences between the prototype and production machines, standard and practice bomb dispensers, the XSB2U-3 floatplane conversion, horizontal stabilizer development, and the wing fold mechanism. The are large 3-view drawings of the SB2U-1 and -3, as well as ten color profiles. The latter include a VB-2 machine from <em>Lexington&#8217;s<\/em> air group in Barclay camouflage, as well as a camouflaged French V-156-F.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bibliography:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Dependable&#8221;\u00a0 Ad for Chance Vought, showing a trio of Vindicators (3-B-13, B-14, B-16) in flight over mountainous terrain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Popular Aviation\u00a0 December 1938\u00a0 p.75<\/p>\n<p>Bob Rice &#8220;U.S. Navy Vindicator&#8221;\u00a0 Building the Wings 48 vacuform SB2U as an aircraft of VB-3.\u00a0Scale Modeler\u00a0 January 1983.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Arlo Schroeder&#8217;s Vindicator&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0FineScale Modeler\u00a0 December 1988\u00a0 p.22-23\u00a0 Scratchbuilt SB2U-2 in 1\/32 scale<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well Vindicated&#8221;\u00a0FlyPast\u00a0May 1999\u00a0 p.70-71. Photo article on the restoration of SB2U-2 BuNo 1383 (the last remaining Vindicator) at the NMNA.<\/p>\n<p>The Hook: Journal of Carrier Aviation\u00a0 Spring 1993\u00a0 p.31: small photo showing several VB-4 Vindicators in a hangar<\/p>\n<p>Review: SB2U-1 in 1\/48 from Accurate Miniatures\u00a0\u00a0Skymodel\u00a09\/06 p.66<\/p>\n<p>Review: SB2U-3 test shot build\u00a0\u00a0Scale Aviation Modeller International\u00a0 July 2005<\/p>\n<p>Robert Lawson, Barrett Tillman\u00a0<em><strong>Carrier Air War in Original WWII\u00a0Color<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 p.17 large in-flight photo of a VMSB-131 SB2U-3; p.99 photo of a pair of SB2U-3s from VMSB-241 taking off from Midway Atoll.<\/p>\n<p>Phil Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>Air Arsenal North America: Aircraft for the Allies 1938-1945 &#8211; Purchases and Lend-Lease<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 p.285: photos of Fleet Air Arm Chesapeakes<\/p>\n<p>Peter M. Bowers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>Scale Aircraft Drawings Vol II &#8211; World War II<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Air Age Publishing, 1991\u00a0 SB2U-1 drawings, markings detail<\/p>\n<p>Ted Williams, Amy E. Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>The American Bomber Plane<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 p.56-59: large color artwork of a prewar Vindicator of VB-4\/USS <em>Ranger<\/em>; photos of the Vought SB2U line, and the Vindicator fitted with floats<\/p>\n<p>Walter A. Musciano\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>Warbirds of the Sea<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 p.147: side view photo of XSB2U-3 BuNo 0779<\/p>\n<p>Bill Norton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>U.S. Experimental &amp; Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 p.101: Photo of a Vindicator trapping aboard a carrier.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation-index.html\">Aviation Index<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Vought OS2U Kingfisher Book Review: &#8220;Carrier Air War in Original WWII Color&#8221; Book Review: SB2U Vindicator in action. Vought&#8217;s Vindicator scout bomber helped bring US naval aviation into the monoplane age, but was obsolete by the time WWII started, and after participating in the Battle of Midway the type was relegated to second-line duties. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}