Missed opportunity: US Navy land based P38D and P38E with dive flaps as a vertical dive bomber early 1942

drgondog said:

The A-36 was on the drawing Board in November 1941, Arnold was appraised in Jan-Feb 1942, the A-36 contract was let in April, first flight in November 1942, suitability testing was initiated Spring 1943 and squadron level deployment to MTO began in ~ June 1943, October for CBI.

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Yup, I meant to say "Fantasy timeline" in my post (we are talking about a Navalized dive bombing P-38 after all so...), I was pretty sure the A-36 was still some time off in the future when Midway went down, thanks as always for the correct timeline.

My real question was at what angle could the A-36 conceivably dive at? I thought it was upwards of 70 degrees which would be a tough nut to crack for IJN AAA if true.

Peter Gunn said:

My real question was at what angle could the A-36 conceivably dive at? I thought it was upwards of 70 degrees which would be a tough nut to crack for IJN AAA if true.

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Not to exceed 70°