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Bill Greenwood
09-17-2013, 12:31 PM
Earlier I saw an ad for the Russell Me 109, and wrote about it on here, that it was a real Diamler engined German 109, not just an Hispano version, and one of a very important type of fighter.
Another reader said he'd prefer to have an A-36 Apache, the early dive bomber version of a P-51. I thought the 109 was much the more significant WWII plane, not counting price. He wrote that the Apache led to the 51 fighter which was of course of major importance.
The example brought to Oshkosh 2 years ago was the state of the art restoration by the Collings group.

I realized I didn't know very much about an Apache so I researched them.
First an Apache is not a P-51 A, it is an even earlier version than an A, called an A-36. The reason it is a dive bomber is a quirk, that there was govt defense money to build a dive bomber, but not a fighter so that is what they built. It is much like an A, in that it has the Allison engine, but has dive brakes on the wings.
There were not many built, I think five hundred, but I am not sure on that. A report in Feb, 1942 said, "the highest accident rate per hour of flying time of any U S airframe." I don't know if this was a design flaw or pilot technique or both. One problem was they dove too fast, they could get up to 500 mph in a steep dive clean and the dive brakes would slow them maybe a 100 mph.
They scored 84 victories and had a loss of 177 planes so not a good record, but as a dive bomber you would expect losses to flak to be higher than a pure fighter and air to air victories lower. It had " a 365 moh top speed and 25,000 foot ceiling" and was "outclassed by the Oscar" when used in the Pacific. They were replaced in serviced in 1944 by P-40s and P-47s. The P-40 did not have dive brakes, so would dive at a lesser angle.

It was great to see that one owned by Collings and realize what a rare version it is.

champ driver
09-19-2013, 06:07 AM
Since your post the other day Bill I've been trying to remember the name of the book about A-36's written by someone who flew them in WWII. I ran into the author years ago at the local airport, sorry I can't remember the name of the book, but I think his name was Savage. I've tried Google but haven't been able to come up with anything. If anyone has the answer please let me know. Even though the A-36 is part of the evolution of the P-51 and parts would be easier to get and flying qualities are probably easier than the 109. I think the 109 line as a whole is much more significant than just the A-36 model itself.

Southron
10-25-2013, 08:13 PM
Check this out:

www.mmpbooks.com/mmp/books.php?book-id=170

Southron
10-25-2013, 08:19 PM
OOPS! I was hoping this on the A-36 would pull up:

http://www.mmpbooks.com/mmp/books.php?book_id=170