Considering how often most we hear of German wonder weapons I decided to start a thread on what if American wonder weapons got used earlier and with better effectiveness.

Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles - Appendix 1

My favorite speculation is the Aeronca GB-4.

"In July 1942, the USAAF's Wright Field Equipment Laboratory began the development of the GB-4 guided glide bomb under project MX-108 (later continued as MX-618). The 3.72 m (12.2 ft) long GB-4 was basically an AN-M66 900 kg (2000 lb) general-purpose bomb fitted with a 3.66 m (12 ft) wing and twin tails. Under its fuselage it carried an AN/AXT-2 TV camera and transmitter. The latter's image was displayed to the bombardier, who could then send radio commands to correct the glide bomb's course. The GB-4 flew at a speed of 385 km/h (240 mph) and the accuracy under optimal conditions was around 60 m (200 ft) CEP.The GB-4 was declared combat-ready in July 1944, and the first units were then used by a specially formed bomber group in Great Britain. However, the initial combat results were disappointing, not the least because of technical difficulties but also because the TV image was too fuzzy on anything other than a clear day. More than 1000 GB-4s were produced, but only relatively few were actually used in combat, even though the results somewhat improved over time. The USAAF also tested a pulsejet-powered derivative of the GB-4 as the JB-4, but the GB-4/JB-4 project was terminated at the end of World War II."
GB Series

Now lets say the researchers managed to fix the fuzzy image problem so its CEP is down to 100 feet and get it ready in 1943 in large numbers...

Two that actually saw service with some useful result were the AZON bomb particularly with the 36th BG in Burma where it was about three times as effective in bringing down bridges and the USN Bat antiship missile. The later was used late in the war on a few occasions by PB4Y patrol bombers against Japanese merchant ships and auxiliaries. It continued to soldier on for a few years after the war as well.

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The Nuke was a wonder weapon. (Imagine a nuke smiliey here.)

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Its easy to think of most WWII weapons as ordinary. From the perspective of anyone who lived in the 1920s & 1930s many were wonder weapons. Tanks that could cruise roads at 30-40 kph, rockets of all types including shoulder fired rocket launchers, radar, electronic encryption devices, high speed bombers like the Ju88 B26 or Mosquito, tanks that could float....

I enjoyed the picture of the PQ-7. Talk about a worn out B-17 !!!

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What about the QB-40 Flying Fortress Heavy Fighter, now that was a wonder weapon.

...if a little on the heavy and slow side.....

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It was a lot on the heavy and slow side. Couldn't keep up with the planes it was supposed to be escorting.

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A couple of other neat ones that "might have been" had the US needed them more were the JB-3 Tiamat AAM that eventually evolved into the AIM 4 Falcon by Hughes Aircraft and the Army's Nike SAM that started development in 1944.

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