Therefore, in 1938, Richard W. Palmer, designed the V-48 fighter. It featured a metal-covered, semi-monocoque fuselage and fully retractable landing gear. It was powered by a 1200hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine. When the first prototype was being constructed, a decision was taken to lengthen the propeller shaft and install a tight cowling to provide a pointed nose to reduce drag. That way, the first prototype made its maiden flight in September 1939 piloted by Vance Breese. Nicknamed "Vanguard", on the 9th May 1940, when performing a test flight, the prototype collided with a Lockheed Sirius, while landing at Vultee airfield, severing one of the undercarriage legs. However, Breese managed to skillfully land the fighter with little additional damage. The prototype was subsequently rebuilt with the orthodox cowling that was employed in the subsequent exemplars.
Flight testing revealed inadequate cooling, however, measures to modify the cooling ducting were of little avail. The design was re-evaluated and it was reached to the conclusion that the insignificant drag reduce wasn't worth the added weight and ducting problems. The second prototype, named V-48X was modified with a conventional cowl, and the first aircraft was subsequently modified.
It flew for the first time on 11th February 1940 and, as result of flight tests, changes were made to the design including substantially increasing the areas of the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces.
On 6th February 1940 the Swedish government ordered 144 Vanguards which were labelled as the V-48C. The production prototype flew later on 6th September 1940. The model V-48C was similar to the V-48X except for the engine which was a later version of the R-1830 engine with a better high-altittude performance and provision for four 0.30in (7.92mm) machine guns in the wings and two 0.50in (12.7mm) machine guns in the fuselage.
When the aircraft was placed into production in September 1941, the U.S. Government placed an embargo on exporting the aircraft to Sweden. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent reorganization of the U.S. Army Air Corps, they were given the designation of P-66. Production ended in April 1942 with around 50 aircraft were retained by the USAAF and used them mainly at pursuit training bases in the Western U.S. assigned to the 14th Pursuit Group in defensive roles. Pilots were impressed by the P-66s handling, however it was considered less than robust and a tendency to ground-loop destroyed more than 15 aircraft in landing accidents.
The British government took possesion of 100 P-66s which named them as Vanguard I with the intention of using them as advanced trainers in Canada. However, they reliquished the aircraft to China where 104 Vanguards, some of them being USAAC's machines, were shipped under lend-lease program. They were originally intended to serve with the 3rd American Volunteer Group (AVG), but plans for additional groups were discarded after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In late 1942 the Chinese received the machines via India and they were pushed into service with USAAF insignia and serials as well as Chinese markings and Vultee serials on factory models.
It didn't have a distinguished career in China due to problems that began back in transit towards China when some were destroyed in tests in India and others were lost while en route to China. Most of the assembled P-66 were not marked as airworthy and were abandoned in Karachi, with just 12 Vanguards serving in Kunming with the 74th Fighter Squadron, 23th Fighter Group where they barely saw any action at all.
Two Chinese squadrons from the 3rd and 5th Groups, based at An-Su, saw some combat action with the Vanguard from August 1943 onwards. However, many P-66s were shot down on the ground during Japanese attacks and many others were shot down by friendly fire when they were mistaken for the Nakajima Ki-43 and Ki-44. Even if the P-66 had a decent top speed of 340mph (550Km/h), it wasn't a rival for the agile Japanese fighters in high-g maneouvers and they had to employ hit-and-run tactics against the Japanese.
In Chinese service, the P-66 was replaced by the Curtiss P-40 in 1943. Some few P-66s were placed in storage at caves for use in the upcoming civil war against the Chinese communists. However, as late as 1947 they were still in their crates and it's not known that they were using after World War II.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vultee_P-66_Vanguard
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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