North American's A-36 Apache - Not Fully Appreciated?

[buffnut453]

Lancasters and B-17s did CAS in WW II on occasion, doesn't mean they were much good at it. /QUOTE]

True...but even a Lanc or a B-17 would be no worse than a B-1 or B-52 if the former 2 types were able to carry PGMs.

 

[soulezoo]

B-1's and B-52's were actually doing CAS in Afghanistan using JDAM's.

As an aside, A-10's in the Iraqi and Afghani theaters were often misused by mission taskers with little apparent reason why.
Example, F-16's doing CAS with very little in terms of mission radius where A-10's sent on missions so far out there was little loiter time.

It seemed more often than not that the mission taskers were doing the opposite of what made sense.

I can also confirm that nearly to a man, Army or Marine, felt a lot more warm and fuzzy with an A-10 around than any fast mover.

 

[soulezoo]

I guess I should state that I spent a lot of time in the control room as my job was to assign tail numbers to missions (I was a pro super for KC-10s) and I interacted with the other guys daily. As we used to say "no one kicks ass without tanker gas"

 

[GregP]

Most of the aircraft have similar fuel fractions, and they are definitey fuel-limited, just like a civil aircraft. If you put 4 people in a Cessna 172, you certainly can't take full fuel, so the sightseeing will be range-limited, just like an attack aircraft is fuel limited with a full ordnance load.

Can't do great things without fuel --> and tankers to replentish same. Those guys saved more than one life, that's for sure. If they come into the club, you buy them a round or two, same as Jolly Green pilots.

 

[Mike Williams]

I was hoping to learn something about A-36's... Well, anyway, I just happened to come across this quite by chance:
4 Nov 1943 2(F)./122 Me 410 W.N. 100107 Shot down by a 523 FS (27th FBG) A-36A over Castelignano, 100%, the crew, consisting of Uffz. Alfons Stückler (F) and Ofw. Hugo Knetsch (Bf), were killed. 1/Lt Edmund D. Griffin Jr.; 523FS/27FG; claimed Me210; vicinity of Guidonia A/D.

 

[Mike Williams]

86th Fighter Bomber Group Unit Histories

Looking for material on the 27th Fighter Bomber Group now...

Edit - Frank Olynyk wrote: "The A-36 served with the 528th and 529th FS in Burma, claiming 2/3/9 between Dec 1943 and March 1944. It served in Italy from June 1943 to April 1944, claiming 66/11/22, not all currently recognized by the USAF, but all are in squadron records and combat reports. The units were the 27th FBG (522, 523, 524 FS), and the 86th FBG (525, 526, 527 FS). Both groups started out as Light Bomber Groups/Squadrons (with different squadron numbers) but were redesignated as Fighter Groups or Fighter Bomber Groups while in the Med. There was one ace with the 522nd FS, Mike Russo, while another ace Don Cummings claimed his first victory with the 523rd."

 

[Mike Williams]

A-36 tactics summary from 526th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 86th Fighter Bomber Group.