Of the USN single-engined bomber aircraft that were NOT the Douglas AD/A-1, which do you think might have been the next best choice for the role? I'm including the Martin AM Mauler and Grumman AF Guardian in this, though they DID see service, the others, not so much...
From what I've read (so far) about the A-36 Apache, it seems to have been a very effective weapon as an attack aircraft.
It's relatively shory combat history seems to be related to a rather high accident rate in training and the ventral air scoop, also an achiles heel to the P-51 variant, was...