Also nicknamed the "Apache” or “Invader," the A-36A dive bomber was the first US Army Air Forces version of the Mustang, officially developed for Britain in 1940. The first A-36 flew in September 1942, and North American Aviation completed production of 500 A-36As in March 1943. #avgeek #history | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

A Day With The A-36's (1943)

In 1937 North American won the Air Corp design competition to produce the new combat trainer that developed into the AT-6, the most universally used trainer in the Allied Air Forces. It was known as the AT-6 by the USAAF and the SNJ by the U.S. Navy. Cadet training consisted of 26 weeks of pre-flight, 11 weeks of primary training in the N3N, and 22 weeks of advanced training in the SNJ. Carrier landings, gunnery, bombing, and rocket attacks were completed and finally, the reserve officer was mov

Welcome to another episode of Warbird Wednesday! The North American A-36 (company designation NA-97, listed in some sources as "Apache" or "Invader", but generally called Mustang) is the ground-attack/dive bomber version of the North American P-51 Mustang, from which it could be distinguished by the presence of rectangular, slatted dive brakes above and below the wings. A total of 500 A-36 dive bombers served in the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia theaters during World War II before being withd