Second of the 86th …

In early 1942, immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany’s declaration of war on the U.S., the U.S. Army Air Force created hundreds of new units and then began to scramble to find aircraft to fill them.

Tactical ground attack units, like the newly formed 86th  Bombardment Group (Dive), were a particular challenge since the U.S. had no modern ground attack aircraft.

The Air Force quickly rejected single-mission dive bombers, like the previously
discussed Vultee Vengeance and a version if the Navy’s Dauntless, but that left a quandary: what aircraft was available to fill the new tactical ground attack units?
Fortunately – and despite the obtuseness of the AAF – by accident, an aircraft was available. In the spring of 1940, the British Royal Air Force, desperate for fighters, had come to the U.S. to look at the American inventory for possible acquisitions. They settled on, among others, the Curtiss P-40 – one of America’s first line fighters.

The RAF then went to a small company, North American Aviation Inc., and asked if it would produce the P-40 under license. The RAF was  taken aback when North American rejected the idea and said that in 120 days it could build a far superior fighter.

The RAF, which had been unimpressed with the P-40’s performance and had planned on using it as a second line fighter, accepted the idea, and 117 days later North American rolled out the Na-73. After a few flights it was clear the Na-73 was much superior to the P-40, and the RAF ordered several hundred.

The AAF agreed with the proviso that the fifth and 10th aircraft be delivered to the service for testing. They were delivered, but despite glowing reports it was not ordered, mainly because its Allison engine suffered a major power loss above 15,000 feet, and the AAF wanted high altitude fighters like the P-38 Lighting and P-47 Thunderbolt.

The Na-73 – dubbed the Mustang I by the RAF – proved to be an outstanding aircraft in combat at low and medium altitudes, and when the U.S. entered the war it quickly requisitioned the RAF production run of Mustangs and brought them into the AAF service as a reconnaissance-fighter – the F-6A.

The AAF wanted more Mustangs as fighters, but even in a war budget issues intervened. The AAF had the P-40, P-38 and P-47 in high rate production and could not justify another fighter, but it could justify requesting money for a new ground attack aircraft. North American quickly added dive brakes to the wings and under wing bomb shackles to the Mustang and voila! It then became the A-36A.

The A-36As for the 86th Bombardment Group (Dive) began to arrive in November 1942, and the group was renamed the 86th Fighter-Bomber (FB) Group. The 86th began training at Keesler Field, Miss., and, while the A-36 had exciting performance, there were problems with the wing dive brakes. At first they occasionally opened unevenly in a dive and induced a strong aircraft roll that was the cause of several accidents, and use of the dive brakes, as well as dives of more than 30 degrees, were banned by higher headquarters and the dive brakes wired shut.

To the 86th pilots, a dive bomber that couldn’t dive did not make much sense, and soon the commander prevailed on higher headquarters to allow “maximum performance tests” for more experienced pilots and the dive brakes began to be unwired for certain missions.

In May 1943, the 86th and its A-36s deployed to North Africa as part of Operation Torch, the first land confrontation between the U.S. and German forces. The dive brakes were then permanently unwired and the 86th FBG flew its first combat missions in July 1943, leapfrogging across North Africa following the ground troops.

The A-36 showed up well in combat. Its normal mission was dive bombing with two 500 pound bombs, followed by strafing runs with its four .50 machine guns. When engaged by German or Italian fighters, which was rarely, it proved fast and agile as a dogfighter at altitudes below 15,000 feet. Its long range was much appreciated, and the only problem was the liquid cooled engine, which was vulnerable to small arms fire. The A-36s stayed with the 86th FBG until mid-1944, when they were replaced by P-47 Thunderbolts.

Meanwhile, the AAF had stopped production of the A-36 in favor of a fighter version – the P-51A. Then, in September 1942, the RAF changed the engine on one of its Mustang Is to a Rolls Royce Merlin that was very efficient at high altitude, and passed the results on to the AAF.

 It quickly became clear at the lower echelons that this aircraft, the P-51B, was a war winner with great high altitude performance and long range, but it took the AAF a year to realize this. Gen. Hap Arnold later said this delay was the AAF’s greatest mistake of World War II, but that’s another story.
(For questions or comments, contact Dr. Michel at marshall.michel@ramstein.af.mil.)