I wonder how quickly the force of war would force the evolution of the A-17 and/or BT-1 toward the SBD and beyond? The basics are all there, just need bringing out.
Odd thought: Depending on when the US joined the war, would Jack Northrop leave his company co-owned by Douglas, which became the El Segundo Division of Douglas, to start one that was all his, or would he stay with that company?
SBD development was begun in 1936 when a modified BT-1 with a fully-retractable main
landing gear was ordered as the XBT-2, first flight 22 April, 1938. After testing at Langley,
starting in February 1939, the NACA made a number of recommendations, the majority of
which were incorporated by modifying the XBT-2 making it representative of the SBD which
was ordered into production on 8 April, 1939.
The Northrop Company became Douglas El Segundo in 1937.
The US becoming involved in 1939 is extremely unlikely, 1940 is a major stretch and
if it
did, most likely only after the invasion of the Low Countries and France. No way in hell
during the Phony War period as it was simply not in the best interests of the US to become
involved. You'd need to have one hell of a
casus belli to change that and a Lusitania redux
type event wouldn't do the job, especially as the cynical manipulation of public opinion in that
case was well known by 1939.
The switch to permanent camouflage of Olive Drab over Neutral Gray happened in 1940,
the scheme had been decided on early in the year and as of March Hap Arnold had already
negotiated with Curtiss the delivery of P-40s in the new scheme, ditto Douglas A-20As.
The French took delivery of their first DB-7s in 1939.
My be when the Brits went to the US with their list of equipment they wanted the US to manufacture, the desperation of equipping a rapidly expanding military could have seen them licence produce much more UK equipment as they no longer had the time to perfect their own solutions. On though that comes to mind is US mass produces the M-2 Medium but then replaces it with a licence built, evolved Matilda medium tank with a GM diesel and a 6pdr / 57mm in a Churchill like turret, instead of the M-3, eventually replacing it with something like the M-4, but different, based on the Matilda experience.
Yeah, "Hey guys instead of building your own crap why don't you build our crap".