A-36 Apache was an aircraft that was designed for dive bombing. It was a variant of the P-51A. Wings were strengthen to hold two 500 lb. bombs while it retained the six 50 cal. machine guns (2 in each wing and 2 in the nose). The operational difference; embedded in the wings were 2 dive brakes (grated slats) that popped out 90 degrees from both the top and bottom of each wing. The February 2017 issue of Flight Journal has a cover story on the model and several (10) photographs on the ground and in the air of the aircraft with and without the slats deployed. A real surviving example is shown flying with the dive brakes deployed in a two page photo at the beginning of the article. The article indicates that some A-36s were fitted with two 20mm cannons. Most of the aircraft were used in Italy and some in the Far East. North American Aviation built 500 of them. It was a very effective dive bomber. It would be relatively easy for HTC to develop this model as you could use the shell of the P-51B, revise the performance a little and add the dive brakes. A quick and effective way to get a new aircraft into the game and one designed specifically for the task - Dive Bombing.
