Lockheed Model 37

The Lockheed Model 37 was the USAAF designation given to 264 Ventura II medium bombers taken over from RAF orders after Pearl Harbor. Another seventy six Ventura IIs were taken by the US Navy, given the designation PV-3 and used as training aircraft.

The Model 37 was powered by two 2,000hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-31 US military engines. The bomb bay could carry 3,000lb of bombs or a 780 US gallon fuel tank, an increase of 500lb over the Ventura Mk.I.

Although most Model 37s served as training aircraft (along with the very similar B-34), a number were used to fly anti-submarine patrols off the east coast of the United States. Both the 45th and 304th Bombardment Groups used the Lockheed aircraft alongside a number of other types. Both groups were inactivated in December 1942, but by then the Model 37 had already been withdrawn, for in October 1942 it was given restricted flight status and redesignated as the R Model 37.

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