08/31/2019. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The A-36A has been referred to as the Invader, Apache and Mustang, the latter being the only official name.

Before the NA-73 prototype was produced, North American opted the name Apache to the British Purchasing Commission, but the name Mustang was adopted. During Operation Husky, the allied invasion and capture of Sicily, Italy, July 9-August 17, 1943, front-line units referred to the A-36A as the Invader.

However, as stated before, the only official name for the P-51/F-6/A-36 variants is Mustang.

02/28/2008. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "In 1940, the British Purchasing Commission approached Curtiss Aircraft with a request to purchase P-40s but Curtiss had a backlog of American contracts and could not deliver them in the time frame the British wanted. The British then turned to North American who agreed to design and build a fighter aircraft in 120-days; the result was the NA-73 Mustang.

The USAAF showed interest in this aircraft and received two examples of the Mustang but the Air Forces budget for fighter aircraft had already been committed and none could be ordered. A sharp-eyed Air Forces general realized that there was money in the budget to purchase attack aircraft and a contract for 500 A-36A-1-NAs (s/n 42-83663 to 42-84162, c/n 97-15881 to 97-16380) was signed on August 7, 1942.

The two units that used the A-36As were the 27th and 86th Fighter-Bomber Groups of the Twelfth Air Force in Italy. The 27th operated the A-36A from April 1943 to June 1944 while the 86th operated the A-36A from June 1943 to June 1944."