Workbench

Club 1830 and the Vultee P-66 Vanguard

- Brian Derbyshire

Once upon a time, a work colleague was a new and enthusiastic member of the Club Med, which had just re-mustered as the Club 18-30. It was for swinging singles ... and as soon as he began to brag, my PunGear engaged and produced the (Pratt & Whitney) Club 1830.

It was just a passing joke (sort of ) but I made a list - I already had three of the models completed. But the other four were obviously impossible, and the project went into limbo.

Recently, as I was building my third Boomerang, Special Hobby's CA-19, it all came back to me and I thought ‘where did that list go?’ Unsurprisingly, it was tucked into the back of William Green's Warplanes, Vol. 4. There were only seven Club members, as follows: there could be more if they didn't have to be single. CA-12 to CA-19 Boomerang (250 built: operational) Curtiss H-75/P-36 Hawk (some 600 built, plus Wright-powered versions: operational) FFVS J-22 (200 built: operational, though naturally no combat use) Grumman F4F/GM FM-1 Wildcat (over 2,500 built: operational) Republic P-43 Lancer (approx. 150 built: limited second-line operations) Seversky P-35 (approx. 200 built: limited operations) Vultee P-66 Vanguard (144 built: probably training use only)