Vultee P-66 Vanguard The "might have been" fighter that didn't
fight much The P-66 Vanguard looked right. It looked like
exactly the kind of World War II fighter that might have won out
in a dogfight with a Messerschmitt or a Mitsubishi. But while it
was somewhat pleasing to the eye, it was ultimately a “might
have been” – one of many warplanes that never quite made a mark.
Perhaps it was simply a mistake, built and fielded long after
better and more capable fighters were available. “It was a
hangar queen,” said former Sgt. Sam Timson, who maintained the
P-66. “The design wasn’t so bad. They made it an orphan by never
finding the right role for it.” The P-66 was a product of the
Downey, Calif., planemaking company founded by Gerard “Jerry”
Vultee. The builder was better known for its BT-13 Valiant basic
trainer, good-naturedly dubbed the “Vultee Vibrator,” that
taught flying to thousands of military student pilot. Vultee was
very big on trainers but had little fighter experience when its
engineering chief Ric