North American A-36 Apache

The North American A-36, listed in some sources as the Apache or Invader but officially called the Mustang, was the ground-attack and dive bomber version of the P-51 Mustang. It was distinguished from the fighter by rectangular slatted dive brakes above and below the wings. The project was a stopgap that kept North American assembly lines running in the first half of 1942, when the United States had exhausted the funds earmarked for fighters. A contract for 500 aircraft with bomb racks, dive brakes and a stronger wing was signed in April 1942, and the first A-36A was rolled out at Inglewood in September and flew in October. A total of 500 served in the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia during the Second World War before being withdrawn from operational use in 1944.