The Curtiss A-18 Model 76A Shrike II was a 1930s United States twin-engine ground-attack aircraft. They were assigned to the 8th Attack Squadron, 3rd Attack Group at Barksdale Field, Louisiana in 1937. The squadron won the coveted Harmon Trophy for gunnery and bombing accuracy in their first year of service. During its service with the 8th Attack Squadron, the retractable landing gear of the A-18 had an inherent weakness, with no less than eight of the 13 A-18s suffering from a landing gear collapse on landing or roll-out. The last of the A-18s with the 8th were replaced by early-model A-20 Havocs in 1941.

The A-8 was a low-wing monoplane ground-attack aircraft built by the United States company Curtiss, designed in response to a 1929 United States Army Air Corps requirement for an attack aircraft to replace the A-3 Falcon. The Model 59 "Shrike" was designated XA-8 (the "Shrike" nickname was not officially adopted).