[tcolvin]

Giles, that's no tangent. It shows you're catching on. There is no mystery why the A36 was dropped. The USAAF did not want it and decided to kill production on March 22, 1943, even before the A-36 had flown its first mission. The decision was made on the recommendation of a Board of Officers convened to study the USAAF's needs and requirements, and to "evaluate current dive-bombers now in production". Their opinion was that, "dive bombers in general, and converted Navy dive-bombers in particular, were not so useful for the tactical conditions encountered by Army Air Forces combat units as were low level attack bombers".
On July 12, 1943, just as the A-36A was proving itself to be an invaluable weapon, the Truman Committee of the Senate issued a press release; "The Army has concluded that it will have little need for additional dive-bombers, for the reason that dive-bombers cannot be operated unless there is a clear air superiority, and then only when the ground forces are not adequately equipped with anti-aircraft equipment".
This press release accurately reflected RAF thinking, so I am afraid your worst fears are true and the USAAF was "brainwashed by the RAF and could not think for themselves" (your words).

A footnote; Col George R Halliwell flew the A-36 from July 1943 to March 1944. He said this; "I've dive-bombed in the P-40 and the A-36 in WWII, in the F-80 and F-86 during the Korean War and in the F-4 Phantom against North Vietnam. Against all these the accuracy of the A-36 stood out head and shoulders above all the others and this was primarily because you could utilise the truly vertical dive with the A-36". (quoted in "Straight Down" by Peter C Smith, which is a must-read if you are interested in dive-bombing).

Tony