(Dive) in Italy in 1944. The A-36A-1-NA "Mustang" joined the
27th Fighter-Bomber Group (27th FBG) composed of four squadrons based at
Ras el Ma Airfield in
French Morocco in April 1943 during the
campaign in North Africa. On 6 June 1943, both of these A-36A units flew combat missions directed against the island of
Pantelleria as part of
Operation Corkscrew in June 1943 to take the island prior to attack on Sicily. After the surrender of Italian forces on Pantelleria, it became the home base for the two A-36A groups during the
Allied invasion of Sicily. The A-36A proved to be a potent weapon: it could be put into a vertical dive at with deployed dive brakes, thus limiting the dive speed to . Pilots soon recognized that extending the dive brakes after "peel-off" led to some unequal extension of the brakes due to varying hydraulic pressure, setting up an invariable slight roll, which impeded aiming. Proper technique soon cured this anomaly and, subsequently, pilots achieved extremely consistent results. Capt. Charles E. Dills,
522d Fighter Squadron, 27th FBG, XIIth Air Force emphatically stated in a postwar interview: "I flew the A-36 for 39 of my 94 missions, from to . They were never wired shut in Italy in combat. This 'wired shut' story apparently came from the training group at
Harding Field, Baton Rouge, LA." However, tactical reconnaissance training with P-51 and A-36 aircraft had delivered some disquieting accident rates. At one time, A-36 training had resulted in the type having "the highest accident rate per hour's flying time" of any USAAF aircraft. The most serious incident involved an A-36A shedding both wings when its pilot tried to pull out from a dive. Combat units flying the A-36A were ordered to restrict their approach to a 70° "glide" attack and refrain from using dive brakes. This order was generally ignored by experienced pilots, but some units did wire dive brakes shut until modifications made to the hydraulic actuators. By late May 1943, 300 A-36As had been deployed to the Mediterranean Theater, with many of the first batch sent to the 27th FBG to re-build the group following losses as well as completing the final transition to an all-A-36A unit. Author William Hess claims that the Germans gave it a flattering, if fearsome, accolade, calling the A-36As: "screaming helldivers." Despite establishing a reputation for reliability and performance, the one "Achilles' heel" of the A-36A (and the entire Mustang series) remained the ventral-fuselage location of the radiator/cooling system, leading to many of the losses. By June 1944, A-36As in Europe were replaced by
Curtiss P-40s and
Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. In the Mediterranean, the A-36A was also used briefly by the Royal Air Force 1437th Strategic Reconnaissance Flight, in Foggia, Italy. The 1437th Flight took the aircraft on loan from the USAAF to replace their
Martin Baltimores. These aircraft were painted with RAF roundels and individual aircraft letters and they were also given RAF serial numbers These Royal Air Force had their aircraft chin .50 Browning guns removed. Two squadrons were equipped with the A-36A while the third flew P-51As. Tasked with reconnaissance, dive bombing, attack and fighter missions, the A-36A was outclassed by its main opposition, the
Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar." The light and highly agile Japanese fighter could outmaneuver the A-36A at all altitudes but did have some weak points: it was lightly armed and offered little protection for pilot or fuel tanks. However, the A-36A fought at a significant disadvantage, having to carry out long-range missions often at altitudes above
The Hump that meant its Allison engine was below peak performance. In a fighter escort mission over Burma, three A-36As were lost without scoring a single victory. The A-36A CBI missions continued throughout 1943–1944 with indifferent results. The A-36A remained in service in small numbers throughout the remaining year of the war, some being retained in the US as training aircraft. "The type's relatively brief service life should not camouflage the fact that it made a major contribution to the Allied war effort" especially in the Mediterranean and it amounted to the first USAAF combat use of a Mustang variant. The effectiveness of the A-36 as a ground attack aircraft was demonstrated on 5 June 1944. In a well-planned attack on the large, well defended rail depot and ammunition dump at
Orte, Italy, Lieutenant Ross C. Watson led a flight of four A-36s through a heavy overcast on the approach to the target. Watson's A-36s scored several hits under intense anti-aircraft fire although his aircraft was damaged by ground fire. Under continuing heavy ground fire, Watson pressed home his attack and destroyed the ammunition dump before making an emergency landing at an advanced Allied airfield. ==Operators==