SB2U Vindicator
Book Review: SB2U Vindicator in action. Vought'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 & 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 Lexington's air group in Barclay camouflage, as well as a camouflaged French V-156-F.
Bibliography:
"Dependable" Ad for Chance Vought, showing a trio of Vindicators (3-B-13, B-14, B-16) in flight over mountainous terrain. Popular Aviation December 1938 p.75
Bob Rice "U.S. Navy Vindicator" Building the Wings 48 vacuform SB2U as an aircraft of VB-3. Scale Modeler January 1983.
"Arlo Schroeder's Vindicator" FineScale Modeler December 1988 p.22-23 Scratch built SB2U-2 in 1/32 scale
"Well Vindicated" FlyPast May 1999 p.70-71. Photo article on the restoration of SB2U-2 BuNo 1383 (the last remaining Vindicator) at the NMNA.
The Hook: Journal of Carrier Aviation Spring 1993 p.31: small photo showing several VB-4 Vindicators in a hangar
Review: SB2U-1 in 1/48 from Accurate Miniatures Skymodel 9/06 p.66
Review: SB2U-3 test shot build Scale Aviation Modeller International July 2005
Robert Lawson, Barrett Tillman Carrier Air War in Original WWII Color 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.
Phil Butler Air Arsenal North America: Aircraft for the Allies 1938-1945 - Purchases and Lend-Lease p.285: photos of Fleet Air Arm Chesapeakes
Peter M. Bowers Scale Aircraft Drawings Vol II - World War II Air Age Publishing, 1991 SB2U-1 drawings, markings detail
Ted Williams, Amy E. Williams The American Bomber Plane p.56-59: large color artwork of a prewar Vindicator of VB-4/USS Ranger; photos of the Vought SB2U line, and the Vindicator fitted with floats
Walter A. Musciano Warbirds of the Sea p.147: side view photo of XSB2U-3 BuNo 0779
Bill Norton U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 p.101: Photo of a Vindicator trapping aboard a carrier.