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My Dad was a WWII Army Air Force mechanic in the Pacific Theater, and he talked about the numbers and types of aircraft that were around. I kept this in mind when reading the history of WWII, and always marveled at the massive numbers of airplanes (and everything else) produced. Staggering. Just as staggering to realize how few of them are left.

Dad told me he was on some island (unfortunately I can't remember which one) when the Japanese surrendered. He said the change from one day to the next was huge. Up to that point they had been bustin' tail to fix every airplane -- after that, anything that couldn't fly itself home was scrapped. Airplanes under repair were pushed off to the side by bulldozers. Brand new aircraft and other equipment still in crates on arriving ships were dropped over the side into the water to make room for returning troops. One day everybody was focused on "keep 'em flying' ", the next day, all anyone cared about was getting home. Have no idea how many of those thousands and thousands of aircraft were simply left behind some place.