Afternoon clue. Thanks; Ernie P.
Question: What warbird do I describe?
Clues:
1: This aircraft came to life in the latter stages of WWII.
2: It was intended to be used in combat.
3. But, although it did see combat in a very limited role, it was never used as intended.
4. It was being held in reserve; awaiting a battle that never happened.
5. Even more so, it was the weapon to be carried by this aircraft that was being held in reserve.
6. The aircraft was to be produced in three different versions.
7. A fighter; ground attack; and a night fighter.
8. The night fighter version failed to materialize because the necessary radar units could not be produced in time.
9. And the day fighter version didn’t go anywhere because heavy day fighters had already been shown to perform poorly when faced with enemy single engine fighters.
10. So, in the end, only the ground attack version was produced in any quantity.
11. And even then, only a few hundred of the ground attack version could be produced.