Originally Posted by stang151

Yes Ernie, it is indeed the Lockheed/ Vega PV-1Ventura. It's hard coming up with clues to stump you guys and I knew that I would not be able to for long.

Looking for a warbird,


1. Built as an improvement of an earlier plane, bigger, faster, and of course heaver. A. The Hudson

2. Built by a division of the manufacturer of the "stars". A. Vega ,a div. of Lockheed

3. One glance and a knowledgeable observer would know it's origin. A. Twin engines/twin tails. Electra, Lodestar, Hudson, PV-1, PV-2

4. Used by several countries. A. Brits, Australia , Canada, New Zealand, ect.

5. In it's first use in combat, by an alley, it was found wanting. It was pulled from the front line and assigned a more mundane if. not much needed role, at which it excelled. A. The Brits. used it in daylight raids over France, with no fighter cover. Not a good idea.

6. Two of the home country's services ordered it but with different engines. one with slightly less power than which it was designed for. A. The U.S. Army wanted the Wright R2600 rather than the more powerfull P&W R2800 .

7. As they came off the production line most were endorsed by a somewhat famous mouse and his pals. A. Walt Disney's artist painted the mouse and his pals on the side of many PV-1s as they came of the line.

8. Had a wing planform that some say, Bruce Wayne would approve of. A. Kinda looks like a bat wing.

9. This was the result of the large effective landing flap system. A. Fowler flap tracks

10.Though not as nimble as the fighters it would come across, it's crews knew it had an ace in the hole, speed.

11. This high top speed ,( 322 M.P.H) was the result of the larger engines (4000 combined hp.) usually found on the home country's fighters. Gotta love those P&W R2800s

12. The armament wasn't too bad either , later models could bring to bear 7 guns to the front and 3 to the rear.
All yours Ernie