Vultee Aircraft Co, Downey, CA 1944-45

[jdvoss]

In 1944 the USAAF & USN began replacing the BT-13 / SNV Valiant with the NAA AT-6 for the Basic phase of flight training. So the question arises with the Valiant production line presumably terminated what did Vultee's Downey plant backfill their plant site with? Did they take on sub-assembly work for the many other aircaft manufacturers in the L.A. area ?

Any experts out there ??

I am aware that when their Nashville (TN) plant site completed the A-35 Vengeance production run they received a contract to construct 2000 Lockheed P-38's of which about 112 were completed.

[The Inspector]

A long, strange, and convoluted trail, involving Jerry Vultee, the Lockheed Corp, Reuben Fleet, E.L. Cord (Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg automobiles) Lycoming engines, Consolidated aircraft and probably two guys waiting to catch a bus on some street corner. For a while VULTEE built his airplanes next to Lockheed in BUR sort of like how Jack Northrop did with DOUGLAS.
After the Downey plant stopped building A-35s they concentrated on the XP-54 SWOOSE pusher and the XP-81 turboprop experimental fighter, both cancelled when the shooting stopped. I would assume the Downey facility closed and folks got moved to San Diego or Tehas or just were told to 'go away'.

[Baldeagle]

OK, somewhat of a tangent, but a few years back I helped film a TV commercial, and much of the filming was on a set that is on the site of the Vultee Downey plant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is2wh1mwaAk

The flying scenes were shot out of Camarillo, but the street with houses is a movie set at the old Downey plant. Most of the houses are only 10 feet deep, and all of the various trees and etc. were fake and could be moved as needed. It's clearly visible on Google Earth or Google Maps. There were still some buildings there that had obviously been hangars, and the large buildings looked old enough to have been there in WW2.




-

[51fixer]

Back in the late 80s or so.
The POF Flying Wing was restored by a group of volunteers in space donated by a company that produced AN Hyd fittings.
The building they were in was the Vultee plant.
Still had the hangar doors but beyond some parking were acres of railroad tracks built down the runway.

[k5083]

I google earthed the plant when I was doing this page for my site. Still there, seems to be a warehouse now.

http://aircraft-in-focus.com/vultee/

August

[jdvoss]

To: THE INSPECTOR

I appreciate your comments. Given the very close proximity of Vultees Downey facility to three Douglas Aircraft Co. sites, North American Aviation, Northrop and Lockheed those experienced employees would have been quickly absorbed. Immediatley following WWII North American took over the former Vultee plant and I "believe" that is the site where they constructed 1200 Navions.

In 1961 Downey was still a NAA site and had been taken over by their electronics division of Autonetics. The former runway had been converted into a parking lot.

[bdk]

The Space Shuttle design was done in Downey AFAIK (Rockwell and later Boeing).

[jdvoss]

Apparently 'Old Timers Disease' hit me (again) as I neglected to check Paul Freeman's Abandoned Airfields website for Vultee Field. Although my original question was not answered (i.e.Vultee's post BT-13 production activity) the NAA usage is well covered. NAA located the production for the T-28 Trojan, AJ Savage and Hound Dog missle at Downey. See attached link for great photos. I still believe that the Navion was produced there as well prior to outsourcing it to Ryan.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Air ... htm#vultee

[jdvoss]

To bring closure on the subject of "what happened to Vultee Aircraft Co. post BT-13 production" the answer is simply nothing. The development of the XP-81 was to be their savior as a long range fighter escort for the B-29. Due to powerplant and performance problems with the aircraft only two were ever consructed.

At one time there was discussion that Vultee would take over the A-20 Havoc production from nearby Douglas (Santa Monica). The USAAF was more interested in maximizing C-54 production from that location than they were for the A-20's that were mostly going to our allies via Lend-Lease. But obviously that transfer never happened and Vultee folded their doors within few years after the war.

[HBBates]

Have grown up in Pico Rivera right next to Downey ..the plant became North American Space division and was home of Apollo and the Space Shuttle.....it helped take man to the moon...