The V-72 Vengeance dive-bomber was developed independently by Vultee without any American orders. It was intended originally for France, which was invaded before any were supplied. Flown by the British Commonwealth, France, Brazil and the USA, it was remarkable that none of these customers wanted dive-bombers, and its use was limited by doctrinal inflexibility. Nevertheless, on the rare occasions when it was employed in that role, ground troops found it the best at cracking enemy defences. The Vultee Aircraft Company became a separate concern in November 1939 after several years as a subsidiary business, latterly when Gerard 'Jerry' Vultee was in partnership with engineer and test pilot Vance Breeze within the Vultee Aircraft Division of the Airplane Development Corporation at Downey, California. But Jerry Vultee did not to live to see his name appear on an independent company. On 29 January 1938, the 38-year-old Jerry and his wife Sylvia Parker were killed in the crash of his Stinson SR9C, NC17159, which he was flying in a snowstorm near Sedona, Arizona. He was returning to California after trying to sell V-11 aircraft to the US Army Air Corps. Donald P. Smith, vice-president of the company, wrote for Time, "Caught in a local snow-storm and blizzard with no training in blind or instrument flying, he was unable to find his way out."
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