The difference between obsolete aircraft and obsolete requirements

Were late piston-powered US Navy attack aircraft already obsolete when they appeared?

Not necessarily; many were competent products of older requirements, and the mismatch reflected changing doctrine as much as flawed aircraft.

Technical obsolescence differs from meeting an earlier concept of operations. Late US Navy dive and torpedo bombers were built to the requirements then in force. When combat experience changed those requirements, blaming the aircraft alone obscured the procurement decisions that produced it.