Built in numbers that in no way reflected its actual role in the war, the Vultee A-31 Vengeance was a widely used dive bomber which nevertheless had a completely forgettable career to the extent that one USAAF general described it as "a shining example of the waste of material, manpower and time". It was designed at a time when dive bombers had become fashionable due to the success of the Ju 87 over Spain, as such it was immediately ordered by the RAF which was quick to discover its lackluster performance over Europe (just when the myth of the Stuka was slowly being debunked) although it was used to better effect in Burma. A number were also used by Australian forces in New Guinea while the USAAF eventually took control of the redesignated A-35 where they ended up being used mostly as target tugs. Other users of this notoriously unsuccessful design included Brazil and India.

First flown as the V-72 sometime in 1939, the A-31 was immediately ordered by the RAF through Lend-Lease where they were designated Vengeance Mk. I, Mk. II, and Mk. III, all of these corresponding to various versions of the basic A-31 or, in the case of the Mk. II, the A-31A. USAAF units were known as the A-35 and included the A-35A and the A-35B known in RAF service as the Mk. IV. Production was shared by Vultee and Northrop.