{"id":504,"date":"2026-06-21T22:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T02:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviation.christophermreed.net\/?page_id=504"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:32:41","slug":"north-american-a-36-walk-around","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/north-american-a-36-walk-around\/","title":{"rendered":"North American A-36 walk around"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@graph\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n      \"@id\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/north-american-a-36-walk-around\/#webpage\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/north-american-a-36-walk-around\/\",\n      \"name\": \"North American A-36A Mustang Walk-Around\",\n      \"headline\": \"North American A-36A Mustang Walk-Around\",\n      \"description\": \"Photographic walk-around and aircraft reference for the North American A-36A Mustang, the World War II ground-attack and dive-bomber variant of the Mustang.\",\n      \"author\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Person\",\n        \"@id\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/#chris-reed\",\n        \"name\": \"Chris M. 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Reed.NET\",\n      \"publisher\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Person\",\n        \"@id\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/#chris-reed\",\n        \"name\": \"Chris M. Reed\",\n        \"url\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Person\",\n      \"@id\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/#chris-reed\",\n      \"name\": \"Chris M. Reed\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/\"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the success of the German Ju-87, the Army ordered a dive bomber variant of the Mustang, the A-36. This had slatted dive brakes, a V-1710-87 engine, and extra .50-cal wing guns.<\/p>\n<p>The 27th BG (Light) (later the 27th FBG) took the A-36 into combat in North Africa, and with the 86th BG, later helped counter German attempts to overrun the Allied beachhead at Salerno during the invasion of mainland Italy. The 27th phased out its A-36s in early 1944, followed by the 86th that summer. In the CBI, the 528th FBS of the 311th FBG operated the A-36 against Japanese forces in Burma.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_360\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-360\" style=\"width: 1003px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-360 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_4.jpg\" alt=\"A-36 forward fuselage\" width=\"1003\" height=\"800\" data-neo-global--processed-neo-rename=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_4.jpg 1003w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_4-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_4-768x613.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1003px) 100vw, 1003px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-360\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Port forward fuselage close-up of a North American A-36 on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF). The image detail showcases the red spinner, three-blade propeller hub, Allison V-1710 engine exhaust stacks, main gear strut, and nose art featuring two kill marks, bomb tally markings, and the aircraft name &#8220;Margie H&#8221;.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_359\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-359\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-359 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_3-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A-36 front quarter view\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-neo-global--processed-neo-rename=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_3.jpg 1067w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-359\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image highlights the canopy enclosure, antenna mast, wing-root radiator scoops, two of the wing-mounted .50 caliber Browning machine gun muzzles, main landing gear strut, an underwing bomb rack carrying an ordnance store, and trailing end of the nose art &#8220;Margie H&#8221;.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_358\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-358\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-358 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_2-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A-36 dive brakes\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-neo-global--processed-neo-rename=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-36-walkaround_2.jpg 1067w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-358\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image highlights the wing-mounted .50 caliber machine gun muzzles, an underwing bomb rack with a mounted bomb, yellow identification band, deployed upper and lower slotted dive flaps (dive brakes), leading-edge landing light lenses, and main landing gear door.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>A-36 Bibliography:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II<\/strong> John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey ISBN 978-0-7858-3716-9<br \/>\np.75: color shot of aircrew posed in front of an A-36<\/p>\n<p>Ad for B.F. Goodrich, with artwork showing a flight of A-36s attacking a bridge Aviation December 1943 p.159<\/p>\n<p>Photo: a severely battered A-36 (that was surely subsequently written off) following a mission over Italy Aviation News June 26, 1944 p.20<\/p>\n<p>Dick Clark &#8220;Wings of the Apache&#8221; Scale Aviation Modeller International December 2013 Building the Italeri (Accurate Miniatures) 1\/48 kit<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/pages\/2025\/05\/p-51c-thunderbird-walk-around-photos\">P-51C &#8220;Thunderbird&#8221; walk around photos<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation-index.html\">Aviation Index<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inspired by the success of the German Ju-87, the Army ordered a dive bomber variant of the Mustang, the A-36. This had slatted dive brakes, a V-1710-87 engine, and extra .50-cal wing guns. The 27th BG (Light) (later the 27th FBG) took the A-36 into combat in North Africa, and with the 86th BG, later [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-504","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1301,"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermreed.net\/aviation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}