TYPE: Patrol bomber

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of four or five

POWER PLANT: Two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-31 Double Wasp radial engines, rated at 2,000 hp each

PERFORMANCE: 312 mph at 13,800 ft

COMMENT:  The Ventura had been developed initially from the commercial Lockheed Model 18 to a British specification for an improved successor of the Lockheed Hudson. Powered by more powerful engines it was larger and heavier than the Hudson. First flight was made on July 1941 and the RAF ordered 873 aircraft. Further contracts were placed by the USAAF as B-34 which had a larger bomb-bay as well by the US Navy under the designation PV-1. Deliveries of the Navy variant began in December 1942 which procured a total of 1,600 PV-1. These aircraft served primarily in the Pacific area until the end of the WWII (Ref.: 23).