AHC: Your very own USAAC/USAAF

P-61 was a complex aircraft, especially since Northrop was no Douglas or Lockheed - companies with extensive experience in designing and production of two-engine aircraft. With that said - deleting the powered turret from initial proposal would've allowed for less complexity, that would've made design & production faster. Without the turret, it's ammo and gunner the P-61 can be a smaller aircraft, meaning better performance on same engine power.
Grumman was proposing the XP-65 to the USAAF, that was supposed to be powered by two turbocharged R-2600 engines. AAF was not interested. So we can have the AAF taking the proposal, probably with R-2800 engines (the turboed R-2600 will probably need a lots of work, looks it was a troublesome combo on the A-20, so turbo was removed rather early from those) or two-stage R-2600s.

Just Leo's Swordfis-turned-nightfighter is a cool option, too.
The A-20-based NF is another, but with better engines than it was the case with the historical P-70s. A better version of the R-2600, maybe a R-2800. Or, using the previous, lightweight DB-7 version (pre-A-20) perhaps go with 2-stage supercharged R-1830, or turboed, or turbo V-1710. At any rate these DB-7/A-20 were probably capable for 360+ mph with good engines.

BTW - Hap need to reinforce the request for Mosquitoes, once the request is turned down, with saying that war will be over within several years, and that he will remember who played the ball and who did not....
 
In this timeline our Air Corps chief goes to England and gets a preview of the Mosquito. He returns to the states with the plans for the plane. Maybe he can remind the aircraft companies that the Air Corps has a good memory and it will remember who its friends were after the war. So our Air Corps commander lets everyone know "I want a Mosquito what can you do for me?" He can also be more vocal about the need for a long range recon bird.
 
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In this timeline our Air Corps chief goes to England and gets a preview of the Mosquito. He returns to the states with the plans for the plane. Maybe he can remind the aircraft companies that the Air Corps has a good memory and it will remember who its friends were after the war. So our Air Corps commander lets everyone know "I want a Mosquito what can you do for me?" He can also be more vocal about the need for a long range recon bird.
The Air Corps has a protocol for obtaining aircraft. Walter Beech and Howard Hughes are both going to be around long after I am gone, and I respect Walter. Curtiss is screwed after the war without me doing a thing. The Air Corps hindered NAA's aspirations to power the Mitchell with an R-2800, and cancelled the XB-28 recce after a crash. It could have equaled the Mossie PR.XVI in performance in 1944. The Northrop F-15 could have exceeded it. The Lightning and Mustang were also quite effective, and the Lightning Swordfish had certain potential. Being vocal doesn't compare favorably with calling for competetive bids with specific requirements.
 
Well with five aircraft companies passing on building a Mosquito we are back to square one. I can think of two options:

1. Go back to Northrop and put fire under them to get a P-61 variant up and running.
2. Could Grumman come through with an earlier F-7 Tigercat?

USAAC didn't want the XP-50, the earlier land based version of the F5F in 1939 after the turbo blew in testing in 1941, ditto for the paper XP-65 that had more powerful R-2600s, two 37mm cannon and four .50s, with pressurization gear. Estimated performance was 427 mph at 25,000 feet, a service ceiling of 42,000 feet, and range of 825 miles. Weights were to be 15,943 pounds empty and 21,425 pounds loaded.
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The XP-65 was the last design that Grumman attempted to sell to the USAAF
 
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