WWII Aircraft Facts

[howdy]

These numbers are staggering:

http://www.bmpt.org.uk/News/Amazing%20W ... 0Facts.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jmra]

Incredible! Thanks for posting.

[erick619]

Thanks for the link!

[ELB]

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.

[gthaustex]

These numbers are staggering:

http://www.bmpt.org.uk/News/Amazing%20W ... 0Facts.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow. Awesome information. Seems like I keep seeing something new (to me) about WWII every couple of months. There was a post on here a few months back about the fuel depots and pipelines used to supply the Allies. This information is similar. Thanks for posting.

[The Annoyed Man]

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.

It wasn't always about making room on the ships. Many of the war manufacturers had it written into their production contracts that the products they manufactured for the war effort could not be returned to the United States once it left the country. This was true with the Wyllis company for instance, which manufactured 361,339 of the total 647,925 jeeps produced during the war. They feared, probably legitimately, that if the domestic market were flooded with surplus jeeps being brought back into the country, that the civilian car market could collapse.

Post Iwo Jima, my dad spent the last few months of the war on Guam, training for the assault on Japan. When the Japanese surrendered and the job of occupation fell to the fresh troops who were already en route from the U.S. to Japan for the invasion, there was considerable celebration among the 3rd Division marines stationed on Guam, who had already been bloodied at Iwo Jima. My dad was one of the celebrants. The celebrations involved copious amounts of beer, torpedo juice, and anything else the men could procure with a non-poisonous alcohol content.

A frequent object of amusement for those celebrants was the launching of newly-uncrated jeeps off of the cliffs into the ocean. The jeeps came mostly pre-assembled in a crate. All you had to do was bolt the wheels on, pour gas in it, and it would start right up. They would start them, aim them at the edge of the cliff, then someone sober enough to lean over the driver's seat without falling in would place a brick on the gas pedal, yank it into gear, and jump back. They took bets as to how far they could launch them off the edge before they came down.

Even officers like my dad were not immune to the charms of that particular entertainment.

[budroux2w]

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.

It wasn't always about making room on the ships. Many of the war manufacturers had it written into their production contracts that the products they manufactured for the war effort could not be returned to the United States once it left the country. This was true with the Wyllis company for instance, which manufactured 361,339 of the total 647,925 jeeps produced during the war. They feared, probably legitimately, that if the domestic market were flooded with surplus jeeps being brought back into the country, that the civilian car market could collapse.

Post Iwo Jima, my dad spent the last few months of the war on Guam, training for the assault on Japan. When the Japanese surrendered and the job of occupation fell to the fresh troops who were already en route from the U.S. to Japan for the invasion, there was considerable celebration among the 3rd Division marines stationed on Guam, who had already been bloodied at Iwo Jima. My dad was one of the celebrants. The celebrations involved copious amounts of beer, torpedo juice, and anything else the men could procure with a non-poisonous alcohol content.

A frequent object of amusement for those celebrants was the launching of newly-uncrated jeeps off of the cliffs into the ocean. The jeeps came mostly pre-assembled in a crate. All you had to do was bolt the wheels on, pour gas in it, and it would start right up. They would start them, aim them at the edge of the cliff, then someone sober enough to lean over the driver's seat without falling in would place a brick on the gas pedal, yank it into gear, and jump back. They took bets as to how far they could launch them off the edge before they came down.

Even officers like my dad were not immune to the charms of that particular entertainment.

I have to admit, it sounds like fun.

[cb1000rider]

It's interesting to see many of these planes still flying.. I don't primarily mean the fighters / bombers, but things like the Stearman.. I see them frequently still used in working capacities as tow planes, commercial planes, and just for fun planes. I think they're all beautiful.

It also saddens me to see the state of General Aviation today... Technology is largely still stuck in the 1950s-1960s (literally) largely due to a huge burden of certification and legislation. Where I could buy a car in 1980 that had fuel injection, largely certified aircraft are still using opposing cylinder motors running the same carb system that they designed back in 1950.

Sure, you can get EFI. You can get diesel. Experimental-only.

[jmra]

The little airport where my son takes glider lessons has the largest fleet of DC-3s still in service in the country. Want to take a ride in one? Be at the MidWay Airport in Midlothian on June 7 for the Pancake Breakfast fly in (I'll include the flyer below).

[cb1000rider]

I might make it up that way.. Thanks for posting that!

The local airport in Georgetown, Texas has a B-25. It actually flies quite a bit... And gets worked on quite a bit. It's amazing to see them replace one of those huge radials.



There's also a privately owned P-51D...



And last time I was up in Michigan, they had found a Wildcat in one of the lakes.. Pulled it out and are going to restore it... It's one of those "I can't believe they can restore that" things...

[philip964]

Great thread.

My uncle was a combat photographer stationed on Gaum. I ended up with a lot of his stuff from WWII. I
have a "Crash Pass". I assume when a plane crashed on Guam, he would be assigned to photograph the wreckage. I assume the MP's would keep gawkers away. This was his pass.

He would print extra copies of amphibious landings from the air, like Iwo Jima. He would go down to the Marine barracks and show the photos to them. He would trade the photos for Hari Kari knives which the marines had.
He would take those to the flight people who had just come in from the states. He would trade the knives for bottles of booze. He would sell the booze from his tent by the drink for cash. He ended up using that to buy a city block in old Scottsdale AZ and operated a tradition post, selling Indian pawn jewelry to the tourists in the 1950's.

He was a colorful guy, always on the look out for a good trade.

[mlawler]

Another staggering statistic to look up is ammo production amounts. I've seen sources quote as high as 200 BILLION rounds of 'small arms' ammo in US production, with some US manufacturers also making Allies ammo (Winchester made something like 4 billion rounds of 303 British for example).

Even with the higher production totals for some enemy aircraft, our victory was a result of better training and replacement of killed aircrews & pilots. I'm highly appreciative of that "Greatest Generation."

[The Annoyed Man]

Great thread.

My uncle was a combat photographer stationed on Gaum. I ended up with a lot of his stuff from WWII. I
have a "Crash Pass". I assume when a plane crashed on Guam, he would be assigned to photograph the wreckage. I assume the MP's would keep gawkers away. This was his pass.

He would print extra copies of amphibious landings from the air, like Iwo Jima. He would go down to the Marine barracks and show the photos to them. He would trade the photos for Hari Kari knives which the marines had.
He would take those to the flight people who had just come in from the states. He would trade the knives for bottles of booze. He would sell the booze from his tent by the drink for cash. He ended up using that to buy a city block in old Scottsdale AZ and operated a tradition post, selling Indian pawn jewelry to the tourists in the 1950's.

He was a colorful guy, always on the look out for a good trade.

Dude, your uncle was an entrepreneur in the finest tradition!