Dive-Bombing Mustangs – The forgotten A-36

Warbird pilot extraordinaire Dan Friedkin, founder of the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation, gets in close with his ultra rare A-36A Mustang dive bomber in 27th Fighter Bomber Group livery for the camera of David Leininger.

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Charles Dills was quick to react to an unfavorable comparison of his second favorite airplane, the A-36, to the P-47. He flew both aircraft in combat and proved to his own satisfaction that the relatively unknown Apache (as it was rarely called) was superior in every respect to the larger, and much more famous Thunderbolt. His favorite airplane was the P-51D, an airplane that might very well never existed had it not been for an...

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