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The statistics are remarkable. During 1939-1945, the industry became the largest single industry in the world and rose from 41 st place to first among industries in the United States. From 1939, when fewer than 6,000 planes a year were being produced, the industry doubled production in 1940 and doubled it again in 1941 and 1942.
- Production of B-24S and C-87S
Production of B-24 bombers and C87 transports at...
- B-25 Final Assembly Line
View of the B-25 final assembly line at North American...
- P-51 Mustang Fighter Planes
P-51 Mustang fighters being prepared for test flight at the...
- Rosie The Riveter
This famous poster of "Rosie the Riveter" was created by J....
- Production of B-24S and C-87S
- Overview
- World War II
- The advent of jets and missiles
Germany’s aircraft industry after World War I was heavily restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921–22 the constraints were eased, and a productive light-aircraft industry began to develop. When restrictions were basically abolished in 1926, a number of new ventures were formed; those which survived included such companies as Arado, Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Junkers, and Heinkel. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, funds were channeled into the development of the German aircraft industry through these companies. Compared with the period 1927–31, when a total of 84 million Reichsmarks were spent, funding soared to 980 million marks in 1936 alone. By the start of World War II the German aircraft industry was the most advanced in the world.
The biggest importer of German aircraft was Japan, whose aircraft industry was technologically far behind its European and American counterparts until the early 1930s. After that time a new elevation of Japanese industry was punctuated by the performance of Mitsubishi’s A6M Reisen (or Zero) fighter, which in the Pacific war was superior to its first American counterparts.
In 1938, alarmed by Germany’s conquests, the British and French started to order military aircraft from their own sources and from the United States, resulting in a new stimulus to American industry. After the United States entered the war in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the domestic production of 20,000 military planes in 1942 and a doubling of production every year thereafter, this from a base of fewer than 6,000 planes a year. A total of 22,000 planes were built in 1942; by 1944 the annual rate had grown to 96,000, including several thousand delivered to the Soviet Union.
From January 1, 1940, to August 14, 1945, the United States produced 300,317 military aircraft. Beginning in early 1942, factories ran 24 hours a day, six to seven days a week. By the end of 1943 the industry labour force had swelled to a high of 2.1 million workers, including tens of thousands of women. The Ford Motor Company plant in Michigan alone turned out 5,476 B-24 bombers in 1944–45. At its peak Douglas Aircraft Company’s production line built one C-47 military transport (the military version of the DC-3) every five hours. By the summer of 1944, 15 airframe builders were producing 23 types of combat aircraft.
To achieve this production level, facilities of existing plants were expanded, new facilities erected, nonaircraft producers (mainly automobile manufacturers) brought into the industry, qualified personnel recruited and trained, and new production processes developed. Nonaircraft producers obtained licenses to build entire products developed by the aircraft industry or acted as subcontractors for aircraft manufacturers. As a result, a revolutionary change in the technology of airframe production occurred, shifting from “job shops” with craft labour to assembly lines with workers of lesser skills. This necessitated greater standardization of parts and job processes because of the complexity of the product. For example, the 5.5-metre (18-foot) nose section of the Boeing B-29 bomber had more than 50,000 rivets and 8,000 different parts procured from over 1,500 suppliers. On the other hand, automobile-engine manufacturers were able to use existing skills to build aircraft engines along mass-production lines in already established factories.
World War II began a differentiation among the aircraft producers. American companies such as Boeing, Martin, and Douglas, which had emphasized larger civil aircraft in the prewar years, became developers of bombers, as did Great Britain’s Vickers, Avro, Bristol, and De Havilland and Germany’s Dornier and Junkers. Focusing on fighters were Curtiss, Grumman, Lockheed, and North American Aviation in the United States; Hawker and Supermarine in Britain; Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf in Germany; and Mitsubishi and Nakajima in Japan.
Germany’s aircraft industry after World War I was heavily restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921–22 the constraints were eased, and a productive light-aircraft industry began to develop. When restrictions were basically abolished in 1926, a number of new ventures were formed; those which survived included such companies as Arado, Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Junkers, and Heinkel. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, funds were channeled into the development of the German aircraft industry through these companies. Compared with the period 1927–31, when a total of 84 million Reichsmarks were spent, funding soared to 980 million marks in 1936 alone. By the start of World War II the German aircraft industry was the most advanced in the world.
The biggest importer of German aircraft was Japan, whose aircraft industry was technologically far behind its European and American counterparts until the early 1930s. After that time a new elevation of Japanese industry was punctuated by the performance of Mitsubishi’s A6M Reisen (or Zero) fighter, which in the Pacific war was superior to its first American counterparts.
In 1938, alarmed by Germany’s conquests, the British and French started to order military aircraft from their own sources and from the United States, resulting in a new stimulus to American industry. After the United States entered the war in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the domestic production of 20,000 military planes in 1942 and a doubling of production every year thereafter, this from a base of fewer than 6,000 planes a year. A total of 22,000 planes were built in 1942; by 1944 the annual rate had grown to 96,000, including several thousand delivered to the Soviet Union.
From January 1, 1940, to August 14, 1945, the United States produced 300,317 military aircraft. Beginning in early 1942, factories ran 24 hours a day, six to seven days a week. By the end of 1943 the industry labour force had swelled to a high of 2.1 million workers, including tens of thousands of women. The Ford Motor Company plant in Michigan alone turned out 5,476 B-24 bombers in 1944–45. At its peak Douglas Aircraft Company’s production line built one C-47 military transport (the military version of the DC-3) every five hours. By the summer of 1944, 15 airframe builders were producing 23 types of combat aircraft.
To achieve this production level, facilities of existing plants were expanded, new facilities erected, nonaircraft producers (mainly automobile manufacturers) brought into the industry, qualified personnel recruited and trained, and new production processes developed. Nonaircraft producers obtained licenses to build entire products developed by the aircraft industry or acted as subcontractors for aircraft manufacturers. As a result, a revolutionary change in the technology of airframe production occurred, shifting from “job shops” with craft labour to assembly lines with workers of lesser skills. This necessitated greater standardization of parts and job processes because of the complexity of the product. For example, the 5.5-metre (18-foot) nose section of the Boeing B-29 bomber had more than 50,000 rivets and 8,000 different parts procured from over 1,500 suppliers. On the other hand, automobile-engine manufacturers were able to use existing skills to build aircraft engines along mass-production lines in already established factories.
World War II began a differentiation among the aircraft producers. American companies such as Boeing, Martin, and Douglas, which had emphasized larger civil aircraft in the prewar years, became developers of bombers, as did Great Britain’s Vickers, Avro, Bristol, and De Havilland and Germany’s Dornier and Junkers. Focusing on fighters were Curtiss, Grumman, Lockheed, and North American Aviation in the United States; Hawker and Supermarine in Britain; Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf in Germany; and Mitsubishi and Nakajima in Japan.
The development of the jet engine about 1936–37 was the result of independent undertakings in Great Britain by Frank Whittle and in Germany by Hans von Ohain. The first successful test of a turbojet engine was conducted in 1937 in Britain, while two years later the German Heinkel He 178 became the first operational aircraft powered by a jet engine.
Jet power rendered piston-engine military aircraft virtually obsolete following the end of World War II, meaning that the surplus situation of the post-World War I era was not repeated. Nevertheless, a major contraction of the industry occurred in both the United States and Britain; by 1949, in fact, the producers were essentially the same as those of the prewar period. The Korean War saw use of the residuals from World War II, with the exception of two early jet fighters, the Lockheed P-80 and the North American Aviation F-86. Their power plants were furnished by Westinghouse, General Electric, and the Pratt & Whitney division of United Aircraft Corporation. The postwar “Century” series of fighters (i.e., fighters from various companies having an “F-” designation of 100 or higher) stressed supersonic performance, and the first production aircraft capable of flying supersonically for a sustained time was the North American Aviation F-100. Its several innovative characteristics included the use of titanium in the airframe because of the metal’s lightness, strength, and heat resistance (see titanium processing: Aerospace applications).
The Soviet Union entered the jet aircraft field using conventional airframes and either German Junkers Jumo axial-flow jet engines or British Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal-flow engines. The first all-new Soviet jet aircraft, using pirated copies of the Nene that had been upgraded by the Klimov plant, was the MiG-15, which began deliveries to front-line fighter units in 1949. More than 15,000 aircraft of this type were built, including those produced in Soviet bloc countries. The MiG design bureau became the sole producer of Soviet fighters for many years, while the Yakovlev bureau developed several radar-equipped all-weather interceptors (such as the Yak-25, of which some 10,000 were produced). The Tupolev bureau was responsible for all bombers and civil jet transport planes.
By 1958, combat aircraft worldwide had largely achieved supersonic breakthroughs, and a new breed of fighters emerged. Although, with time, the Soviet Union developed larger and faster fighters, initial versions were lacking in performance and weapons capacity. In Britain in the 1960s, Hawker Siddeley Aviation worked on a new type of jet fighter, the Harrier. Adjustment of the angle of the engines’ nozzles allowed the aircraft to take off and land without a runway—the vertical/short-takeoff-and-landing (V/STOL) concept. For the American market, the Harrier was licensed by McDonnell Douglas and produced for the U.S. Marines.
Immediately following World War II, because many veterans wanted to continue or learn flying, American light-plane production soared—33,254 aircraft were sold in 1946, a 455 percent increase over the last prewar sales figures. Although prospects seemed promising, rising retail prices for aircraft, high operating costs for the owner, and other factors caused the market to narrow, and by the mid 1950s only the three light-aircraft industry leaders—Beech, Cessna, and Piper—remained major forces.
With the advent of the Cold War and as the military’s transition to jet aircraft moved into high gear, a new opportunity arose—the development and production of guided missiles. During World War II German researchers had pioneered antiaircraft missiles, submarine-launched solid-fuel missiles, and surface-to-surface missiles, of which the V-2, with a top speed of 5,000 km (3,100 miles) per hour and a range of 320 km (200 miles), was the greatest achievement. The German developments and the researchers themselves provided the foundation for research and development by the victorious countries after the war. Initial postwar missile production began in the early 1950s. The first generation included artillery-like battlefield weapons, antiaircraft missiles, pilotless tactical bombers, and air-launched weapons, with increasing competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. Between 1955 and 1958 the United States worked on no fewer than nine missile programs, including ground-to-air defensive systems and pilotless bombers, both of which were also emphasized in Europe. While cooperative efforts existed between Britain and the United States, both Britain and France developed strong independent programs.
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Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) has served as an essential voice for the aircraft, space and defense industries for more than a century. During this time, it has produced countless volumes that serve as a critical record of the evolution of aerospace, which has played a defining role in modern society. This historical archive represents ...
In the six-year period 1940 through 1945, American firms built 300,718 military aircraft, including 95,272 in 1944 alone. In the previous six-year period, American firms built only 19,587 aircraft, most of those civil. In 1943, the aviation industry was America’s largest producer and employer — with 1,345,600 people bent to the task of ...
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.
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Mar 2, 2020 · By 1944, with wartime production at peak levels, more than 96,000 military aircraft were built, generally more complicated and larger than those of 1940. This prewar B-17C under construction in 1940 shows the individualized handbuilt nature of many aircraft before mass production techniques were harnessed to meet the fantastic needs of wartime.
