I thought the original mention of the P38 being bomber was a shot at all us cartoon B-38 pilots
I think it's like the F-117; designate a bomber as a fighter, and you'll get fighter pilots to drop bombs. It's still a bomber, but no one has the heart to tell them.
@%@$#%@$#%@#$!ack-ack
This is kinda off topic, but why do the British fighters have weird looking sticks? The one with the loop on the end of it.
The Brits (on their rainy island) are so used to sticks with roundish handles (umbrellas)
if i had tto guess, i would think it would allow the british pile-it to gain better leverage by having convenient placement of both hands in hard maneuvers.
... FOR TEH MUPPET$ TO PAD OUR SCO?E N to WIN TEH EPIC WAR OF TEH UNIVERSE We MUST VULTCHE DA RUNWAYZ N DROP UR GUYZ FIGHTERZ Bunkarz Then OUR SKWAD will Finarry Get TACTICAL NOOK for 25 KILL SCORE STREAK>X
hence it's original title of A-36 apache. A=Attack.
With no funds for pursuit aircraft, as fighters were then called, Lt. Kelsey came up with a way to beat the system and get some additional Mustangs on order for the USAAC. Using some remaining funds for attack aircraft, Kelsey asked North American to develop a dive bomber version of the NA-73. Choosing A-36, which was the next available attack designation, Kelsey ordered 500 of these dive bomber versions on April 16, 1942.
Err since this is already way off topic:I always thought the references to P38 bombers was all about the droop-snoot version? This, I believe, saw some use over Europe, contained a bomb aimer and Norden bomb sight. I have also read that there was an interface that allowed the lead bomb aimer to automatically drop the bombs for the rest of the squadron.The P38 had a version that really was a level bomber.Here's a quick Google grab:http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aca/kit_aca_2158.shtml