United States aircraft production during World War II

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Assembling B-25 Mitchell medium bombers at North American Aviation, Kansas City, October 1942. Alfred T. Palmer - Assembling the North American B-25 Mitchell at Kansas City, Kansas (USA).jpg
Assembling B-25 Mitchell medium bombers at North American Aviation, Kansas City, October 1942.

America's manufacturers in World War II were engaged in the greatest military industrial effort in history. Aircraft companies went from building a handful of planes at a time to building them by the thousands on assembly lines. Aircraft manufacturing went from a distant 41st place among American industries to first place in less than five years. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

In 1939, total aircraft production for the US military was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war, America produced 300,000 planes. No war was more industrialized than World War II. [4]

In January 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appealed to Congress for $300 million to be spent on procuring aircraft for the Army Air Corps. At the time the Corps had approximately 1,700 aircraft in total. Congress responded and authorized the procurement of 3,251 aircraft.

The American aircraft industry was given impetus at the early part of the war by the demand from the British and French for aircraft to supplement their own domestic production. The 1939 Neutrality Act permitted belligerents to acquire armaments from US manufacturers provided they paid in cash and used their own transportation - "cash and carry". The British Purchasing Commission had been set up prior to the war to arrange purchase of aircraft and the British and French dealt directly with manufacturers paying from their financial reserves. After France fell to Germany, many of the orders for aircraft were taken over by the British. By 1940, the British had ordered $1,200,000,000 worth of aircraft. [5] This led to some aircraft, such as the North American P-51 Mustang, being designed and produced to meet European requirements and then being adopted by the US. In their need for aircraft the Anglo-French commission also ordered designs from manufacturers that had failed to win US Army contracts - e.g. the Martin Model 167.

The American aircraft industry was able to adapt to the demands of war. In 1939 contracts assumed single-shift production, but as the number of trained workers increased, the factories moved to first two- and then a three-shift schedules. The government aided development of capacity and skills by placing "Educational orders" with manufacturers, and new government-built plants for the private firms to use. [6]

Aircraft companies built other manufacturer's designs; the B-17 Flying Fortress was built by Boeing (the designer), the Lockheed Corporation, and Douglas Aircraft. Automotive companies joined schemes to produce aircraft components and also complete aircraft. Ford set up the Willow Run production facility and built complete Consolidated B-24 Liberators as well as sections to be assembled at other plants.

Total production

Learning curve of the production of B-29 airframes at the Boeing Wichita division during WWII. Learning curve example from WWII production in the US airframe industry.jpg
Learning curve of the production of B-29 airframes at the Boeing Wichita division during WWII.
Production [7]
Type of aircraftTotal1940¹19411942194319441945²
Grand total295,9593,61118,46646,90784,85396,27045,852
Combat aircraft200,4431,7718,39524,66953,18374,56437,861
Very heavy bombers3,7404911,1472,498
Heavy bombers31,685462822,5139,57415,0574,213
Medium bombers21,461527624,0407,2566,7322,619
Light bombers39,9864532,6175,95411,84812,3766,738
Fighters99,4651,1574,03610,72123,62138,84821,082
Reconnaissance4,106636981,437793404711
Support aircraft95,5161,84010,07122,23831,67021,7067,991
Transports23,9001645251,8876,9139,9254,486
Trainers58,0851,6769,29417,23720,9507,9361,352
Communication13,5312523,1144,1673,8452,153

¹July–December ²January–August

Recipients of U.S. aircraft production

Type of airplaneTotal US Army
Air Forces
US Navy and
US Marine Corps
Other
US Services
British Empire
and Commonwealth
Soviet Union Other nations
Grand total295,959158,88073,7113,71438,81114,7176,126
Combat aircraft200,44399,48756,695827,15213,9293,172
Very heavy bombers3,7403,740
Heavy bombers31,68527,8671,6832,135
Medium bombers21,46111,8354,69383,2471,010638
Light bombers39,9867,77920,7038,0033,021480
Fighters99,46547,05027,16313,4179,8681,967
Reconnaissance4,1061,2162,4533503057
Support aircraft95,51659,93917,0163,70611,6597882,954
Transports23,90015,7692,7022673,789703670
Trainers58,08534,46913,85937,640852,029
Communication13,5319,1554553,436230255

Analysis

William S. Knudsen, an automotive industry executive who was made Chairman of the Office of Production Management and member of the National Defense Advisory Commission by the Roosevelt administration to organize war production, said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible." [8]

See also

References

  1. Herman, Arthur (2012). Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II . New York, NY: Random House. pp.  202–3. ISBN   978-1-4000-6964-4.
  2. Parker 2013, p. 7–10.
  3. Borth, Christy (1945). Masters of Mass Production. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co. p. 237.
  4. Parker 2013, p. 5, 7–10, 13, 59, 131–2.
  5. Engel, Leonard (5 December 1940), "Half Of Everything: An American's Survey of Orders Placed in the United States", Flight: 472
  6. Craven, W.F.; Cate, J.L. (eds.). "Chapter 4: The Air Corps Prepares for War, 1939-41". The Army Air Forces In World War II. Vol. I: Prewar Plans and Preparations. pp. 106–107 via Hyperwar Foundation.
  7. "Table 79". Army Air Forces Statistical Digest World War II (PDF). Office of Statistical Control, Headquarters, Army Air Forces. p. 127. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 June 2019. At archive.org
  8. Parker 2013, p. 5.

Sources