The A-36A-1-NA "Apache" (although Apache was the A-36A's official name, it was rarely used) joined the 27th Fighter-Bomber Group (27th FBG) composed of four squadrons based at Ras el Ma Airfield in French Morocco in April 1943 during the campaign in North Africa. The 27th had a mixed component of Douglas A-20 Havocs and A-36As while the second operational unit, the 86th Fighter Bomber Group (Dive) arrived in March 1943 with the first pilots trained and qualified on the A-36A. On 6 June 1943, both of these A-36A units flew combat missions directed against the island of Pantelleria. The island fell to Allied attack and became the home base for the two A-36A groups during the Allied invasion of Sicily. The A-36A proved to be a potent weapon: it could be put into a vertical dive at with deployed dive brakes, thus limiting the dive speed to ("A36A-1 Flight Manual requires deployment before starting a dive"). Pilots soon recognized that extending the dive brakes after "peel-off" led to some unequal extension of the brakes due to varying hydraulic pressure, setting up an invariable slight roll, which impeded aiming. Proper technique soon cured this anomaly and, subsequently, pilots achieved extremely consistent results. Depending on the target and defenses, the bomb release took place between , followed by an immediate sharp "pull up."