Everybody tried to stop panzers (or their ennemies) with a "miracle plane".
This result in such different aircraft as
- Breguet 693 and MB-175 for the Armée de l'Air
- Battles and Blenheim for the RAF, early on
- Typhoon with rockets, later
- Il-2 for the Soviets
- P-47s for the Americans. A-26s. A-20s.
- and dive bombers, too: Stuka, V-156F...
- HS-129
None of these solution was optimal.
Light bombers were chopped to bits: attack bombers (MB-175, A-20s) remained vulnerable and too large targets; dive bombers were vulnerable targets; Il-2 while strongly armored, lost thousands; ground attack fighters were at least not too vulnerable but lacked punch and it wasn't their primary role.
There was no clear solution to the flak problem. Frack, even B-17s at 30 000 feet still fell to it.
I wonder if a single-engine, single-crew type with a huge powerful radial (to protect the crew) wouldn't be ideal.
But even R2800 wouldn't lift enough armor, P-47s still had too many losses.
R3350 maybe ? and there we get... the Skyraider, which did wonders in Korea and even in Vietnam. Also Algeria.
R4360 would result in the Mauler, but that one was a piece of junk.
I'm personally fond of the Douglas XB-42, hell of a flying machine. But off topic there.
