Figure 1.-- Here is photograph of the interior view of a Sikorsky S-40 Flying Clipper made for Pan Am. Note how luxurious the interior is made. The future of commercial aviation was, however, not luxurious flights for a few, but more basic transport for the many. Companies pursuing this vision, like Douglas, meant that America had very substantial aviation industry at the time that Hitler launched World War II.

America with its industrial capabilities intact and safe from attack, played a key role in the Allied war effort. American aircraft companies astonished both the Axis powers as well as American military planners with their output. A process of manufacturing specialization began during the War. Boeing, Douglas, and Martin had built civil aircraft before the War. As they were experienced in building large, heavy aircraft, they became the principal developers of bombers and in the case of Douglas, transport aircraft. The Douglas DC-3 airliner became the military transport workhorse--the C-47. Douglas Aircraft turned out C-47 transport every 5 hours. By the summer of 1944, 15 air frame builders were producing 23 types of combat aircraft. Boeing produced nearly 4,000 B-29 Superfortresses capable of reaching the Japanese Home Islands from the Marianas. The B-29 has a ceiling high enough that it did not need fighter escorts to bomb Japan. It was the B-29 that carried the two atomic bombs. Other companies specialized in fighters like Grumman, Lockheed, and Vought. Lockheed produced the P-38 Lightning fighter-interceptor which first appeared in 1939. Some manufacturers had a more varied output. Curtis made some of the inferior Navy planes before the war and the P-40 Warhawk fighter. Its Helldiver had a very good dive bombing record in the last 2 years of the war. North American not only make the P-51 but they also produced the best American and possibly the best of all nations medium twin engine bomber, the B-25 Mitchell. The North American company was only created about 5 years before the war but went on to make some of America's finest and well known planes during World War II and the Korean War: the P-51, B-25, and F-86. In addition to aircraft companies, American production was contracted out to other companies as well leading to enormous production runs. Here the automobile companies were in a unique position to mass produce. The Ford Motor built a brand new factory at Willow Run which alone produced 5,476 B-24 bombers in 1944–45. Goodyear even produced aircraft. Many of the manufacturing companies merged after the War. Here are the major companies, although quite a number of smaller countries produced aircraft during World War II.

Bell

The Bell Aircraft Corporation built several fighters during World War II. The best known was the P-39 Aircobra some 9,600 were built. The Army Air Corps bought some, but were disappointed in high altitude performance. The planes primarily saw action in foreign air forces. The British and French were unimpressed, but after the German invasion (June 1941), the Soviets wanted as many as they could get. They put it to good use, primarily in combat with German planes. Thus the Bell P-39 Aircobras scored the largest numbers of individual German kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type, but flown by Red Army pilots, one more example of the effectiveness of the Allied cooperation and Lend Lease. This reflects the scale of combat on the Eastern Front and the duration of the campaign. For the same reason, German pilots chalked up much higher kill scores than Western pilots. (Interestingly it was the Finnish modified Brewster Buffaloes of all planes that had the highest kill ratio during the War.) Bell was also involved in the development of American jet aircraft, but with disappointing results during the War. The company was best known after the War for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft. Bell also became involved in the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters. Bell was also involved in the American space program. The company also developed the Reaction Control System for the Mercury Spacecraft, the North American X-15 and the Bell Rocket Belt. Textron purchased Bell (1960) and continues to function as Bell Helicopter division of Textron.

Boeing

Boeing, Douglas, and Martin had built civil aircraft before the War. As they were experienced in building large, heavy aircraft, they became the principal developers of bombers. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress became the symbol of American military might, carrying the war to every corner of the Reich. It as not capable of fighting its way through to Germany without fighter escorts, but once the escorts arrived, the industrial cities of Germany were pulverized into vast piles of rubble. Boeing produced nearly 4,000 B-29 Superfortresses capable of reaching the Japanese Home Islands from the Marianas. The B-29 has a ceiling high enough that it did not need fighter escorts to bomb Japan, until LeMay had the bombers come down to lower, more effective altitudes. Still the Japanese fighters did not come up in numbers. They had neither the trained pilots or the fuel to do so. And if they had, they would have been shot down by the P-51 escorts which were increasingly numerous after Iwo Jima was seized by the U.S. Marines (February-March 1945). Instead the Japanese husbanded most of their planes, hiding many in caves. They were preparing to throw some 5,000 aircraft in Kamikaze attacks against the expected American invasion fleet. It was the B-29s that finally carried the two atomic bombs that ended the War.

Brewster Aeronautical

The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation was an important defense contractor which operated in the 1930s and during World War II. It was founded as an aircraft division of Brewster & Co., a carriage company that shifted to automobile bodies and airplane parts. James Work, an aeronautical engineer, bought the division for a mere $30,000 during the Depression (1932). He created the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation. Brewster began at a time that the United States had very limited defense budgets thus at first they primarily focused on commercial aviation. They began by making seaplane floats and wing panels. Seaplanes were very important in the inter-War era for long-distance airline routes. The rise of Adolf Hitler and German rearmament (1933) shifted thinking about military spending, although at first only slightly. After engaging chief engineer Dayton Brown, Brewster began designing its own planes. Brewster opened three aircraft plants, at the Brewster Building in Long Island City, New York, Newark, New Jersey, and, in 1941, in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania--NAS Johnsville. The company's first plane was a two-seat scout-bomber, the Brewster SBA (1934) which first flew (1936). the Naval Aircraft Factory built them, with the designation SBN-1. Brewster followed up with the SB2A Buccaneer (1941). The British Royal Air Force operated it as the Bermuda. Brewster might have played a major role in the Pacific War. The Navy was impressed with a Brewster design for a carrier-capable monoplane (1936). The U.S. Navy chose the Brewster F2A Buffalo over an early version of the Grumman F4F Wildcat. The F2A prototype performed well in tests (1938). The Navy ordered 54, but because of production problems, the Navy ended up ordering Wildcats which Grumman had greatly improved. The European countries threatened by Hitler placed orders for Brewster aircraft, but production problems and mismanagement plagued the company. None of their designs met the needs of the U.S. military as a result of poor performance and the advanced German and Japanese aircraft. Brewster did, however, have a substantial manufacturing capability. Its primary contribution to the war effort was thus as a sub-contractor for Vought, manufacturing the magnificent Corsair fighter.

Consolidated

Consolidated was an important manufacturer during the War. It produced several aircraft types. The two best known were the PBY Catalina and the B-24 Liberator. The Catalina was arguably the most important reconnaissance aircraft of the War. Even before America entered the War, a Catalina provided the British RAF as part of President Roosevelt's undeclared naval war against Germany spotted the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic about to reach safety along the French coast (March 1941). And it was a Catalina that first spotted and reporting on the Japanese fleet approaching Midway (June 1942). The Liberators along with the better publicized Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses played a central role in the American strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The B-24 had a longer range than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, but was more difficult to fly. It was used in both the Pacific and European campaigns, but its major role was in the U.S. Army Air Corps strategic bombing of Germany.

Curtis-Wright

While some American aircraft manufacturers specialized, others had a more varied output. Curtis-Wright was founded as a result of a merger of 12 companies associated with Curtis Aeroplane and Motor Company of Buffalo, New York, and Wright Aeronautical of Dayton, Ohio (1929). The combined company was headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It thus became the largest aviation company in the United States. It thus became important in the war effort, if somewhat disappointing in the quality of its aircraft. There was also a scandal involving defective parts. Unlike most other important American aviation companies, Curtis-Wright was a vertically integrated. The company had three principal divisions: the Curtis-Wright Airplane Division (air frames), the Wright Aeronautical Corporation (aeronautical engines), and the Curtis-Wright Propeller Division (propellers). The company adopted the convention of naming their engines Wrights and the using the Curtis name for the aircraft. Curtis-Wright designed and built aircraft for military, commercial, and private markets. The Awll Street crash only months after the company was formed and the ensuing Depression threatened he company's very existence. It was the Wright engine division and its well-established relation with the military that would keep the company going during the Depression. The rise of Hitler in Europe and the Japanese aggressiveness in Asia eventually led to larger defense contracts. The Curtis P-36 fighter aircraft brought what was at the time the largest peacetime aircraft order ever awarded by the Army Air Corps (1937). There were also sales abroad and the plane saw action at the beginning of the War in Europe. Curtis Wright's major contribution go the American war effort was producing aircraft engines, most of which powered planes built by other companies. Curtis-Wright manufactured 142,840 aircraft engines as well as 146,468 electric propellers. In addition they produced 29,269 airplanes. Curtis-Wright during the War became the second largest industrial concern in America, employing 180,000 workers, only exceed in size by General Motor. Revenue exceeded $1 billion, a substantial sum in the 1940s. About half the company's production was the P-40 Warhawk (also known as the Tomahawk or Kittyhawk), some 14,000 planes. It became the main-line fighter of the Army Air Corps. It was not up to the standards of the more nimble Japanese Zero and German ME-109, although innovative commanders like Claire Chennault's improvised effective tactics for his Flying Tigers in China. They also produced over 3,000 C-46 Commando transport aircraft, comparable to the better known Douglass C-47. The C-46 had two powerful radial engines, and could carry more cargo at higher altitudes than the C-47 and thus was extensively used in the China-Burma-India Theater flying the Hump. Curtis' most successful plane in terms of performance was the SB2C Helldivers dive bombers. Over 7,000 of these carrier planes were delivered to the Navy (1943-45) and replaced the Dauntless SBD that played a key role in the first two years of the Pacific War. The SB2C had a troubled history, but was faster than the Douglas SBD and eventually was adopted for carrier use. The main production facility in Buffalo, New York. Along with the Buffalo plant, major aircraft production was at Columbus, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky. Engine and propeller production was at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

Douglas Aircraft

The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded Donald Wills Douglas in Long Beach California after World War I (1921). The company also had manufacturing plants in Rock Island, Illinois and Dayton, Ohio. The company developed ties with the military, both the Navy and Army, made a name for itself from a very early point. The U.S. Army Air Service decided on a headline grabbing mission, in part to gain public attention and greater allocations. They decided to conduct the first circumnavigate the earth by aircraft which they called 'World Flight'. Donald Douglas took a personal interest in the project, recognizing the importance of making a name for his company. The Company modified its two-man, open cockpit DT biplane torpedo bomber which it had designed for the Navy. The modified aircraft was called the Douglas World Cruiser (DWC). Future aircraft company owner Jack Northrop was involved in the project. The successful circumnavigation of the world firmly established Douglas as a major American aircraft builder (1924). by air in Douglas airplanes in 1924. The successful circumnavigation led to the company's motto, 'First Around the World - First the World Around'. The company's new logo became an aircraft circling the globe. The Army Air Service was happy with the World Cruiser and ordered ordered six similar aircraft which they used as observation aircraft. The company was a major player in the commercial aviation industry before the War. Douglas became famous for its Douglas Commercial (DC) series of commercial aircraft. The United States is a large country and from an early point there was a demand for commercial air travel, as soon as a safe comfortable plane became available. The answer to this was the DC series. Douglas produced a commercial two-engine transport, the DC-2 (1934). The much improved DC-3 followed 2 years later. This was the first streamlined all metal commercial airliner. The speed and range of the DC-3 revolutionized commercial passenger air transport. Some aviation historians call it the most significant transport aircraft ever made. As a result of its commercial aircraft production line, Douglas began making transport/cargo aircraft with the outbreak of World War II. Douglas began making a military version of the DC-3, the iconic C-47 Skytrain called the Dakota by the British. The C-47 became the military transport workhorse. Douglas Aircraft turned out one C-47 transport every 5 hours. While Douglas is probably most associated with the C-47 during the War, it also produced combat aircraft, for both the Army and Navy. Douglas also manufactured the Scout Bomber Douglas (SBD) Dauntless. It was the the U.S. Navy's main carrier-borne scout plane and dive bomber (mid-1940). The punch of the Imperial Navy was its torpedo bombers, for the Americans it was its dive bombers. he SBD is most notable for tearing the heart out of the Japanese Imperial Fleet. sinking four of their six main-line carriers at Midway (June 1942). Other Douglas planes included the DB-7 (known as the A-20 Havoc or Boston) and the A-26 Invader. In addition to its own planes, Douglas joined the (Boeing-Vega-Douglas (BVD) consortium and built B-17 Flying Fortresses under contract for Boeing. Douglas produced some 30,000 aircraft during the War. At its peak, the company's workforce reached 160,000 employees, including many women. The company faced a crisis after the War as military contracts were drastically cut and surplus aircraft cut commercial orders. More than half of the workforce had to be let go.

Ford Motor

In addition to aircraft companies, aircraft production was contracted out to other companies as well. Here the automobile companies were in a unique position to mass produce. The Ford Motor built a brand new factory at Willow Run which alone produced 5,476 B-24 bombers in 1944–45. Consolidated contracted out the work to Ford.

Grumman

Grumman played a key role in the Pacific War with the The Wildcat and superb Hellcat fighters.

Lockheed

The Lockheed Aircraft Corporation was founded as the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company by the Loughead brothers in San Francisco (1912). As such it was one of the earliest American aircraft companies. The founders renamed the company the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and moved to Santa Barbara (1916). This was the year that Jack Northrop, who would play an important role in the American aviation industry, got his first job in aviation working as a draftsman for the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The company designed and construct the Model F-1 seaplane, which was introduced during World War I (1918). It set the American non-stop record for seaplane flight by flying from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Loughead played, however, virtually no role in World War I. American flyers used British and French planes. And the Germans asked for an armistice before American industry could be converted to arms production and begin the production of significant quantities of arms. Loughead began working on monoplane technology, producing the Model S-1. The end of the war and the glut of war surplus aircraft proved impossible for the innovative little company to master and it closed (1921). This was the beginning of a storied road. Allan Loughead, Jack Northrop, and Kenneth Jay obtained funding to form the Lockheed Aircraft Company. The spelling was changed, but this is how Loughead was pronounced. This revived company which set up shop in Hollywood utilized some of the same technology developed for the Model S-1 to create the Vega. The Vega was an innovative, powerful six-passenger monoplane which the company began to produce (1927). It was at the time at the cutting edge of aircraft design and made a name for Lockheed. Two years later, the Stock Market Crash and resulting Depression ruined the market for aircraft. Lockheed was purchased by the Detroit Aircraft which soon after went bankrupt. The company was brought out of receivership by a consortium and began constructing Vegas again. The first new plane was the Electra, a small airliner designed to compete with the DC-2. With Europe moving toward War, Lockheed shifted to military aircraft. An Electra model was converted into the Hudson bomber. It was purchased by both the British and Japanese. While largely obsolete by the time war broke out, it proved useful in anti-submarine patrols. Lockheed's primary contribution to the air war, led by famed air craft designer Clarence (Kelly) Johnson, was a design to the Army Air Corps for an interceptor. The result was the famed P-38 Lightning. It was the most effective American fighter during 1942 before the improved American types began reaching the Pacific theater. The P-38 was based on an unorthodox twin-engine, twin-boom design. It proved to be the only American fighter aircraft in constant production from Pearl Harbor to V-J day. It filled a variety of combat roles. Lockheed also produced Electras for air transport, Ventura bombers, and B-17s under contract from Boeing. Lockheed would of course play an even greater role in the Cold war.

(Glenn L.) Martin Company

The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company. It was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. He was an American aviation pioneer. Martin designed and built his own aircraft and was an active pilot. He was also a noted aviation record-holder. He founded his own aircraft company (1912). Martin was not one if the more important American aircraft companies and played a role. And two of the most important contributions was hiring aviation pioneers Donald Douglas and Dutch Kindleberger. Its most important plane was the B-26 Marauder, a medium bomber. Other aircraft was thed A-22 Maryland bomber, the PBM Mariner and JRM Mars. There were also flying boats, used for air-sea rescue, anti-submarine warfare, and transport. Martin also built planes under sub-contract with the major companies. Martin built 1,585 B-26 Marauders and 531 B-29 Superfortresses under contract withbBoeing. These included all the Silverplate aircraft Both Enola Gay and Bockscar, which dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasakiwere Martin built planes.

North American

The North American company only emerged as an aircraft manufacturing company was only created about 5 years before the war but went on to make some of America's finest and well known planes during WW II and Korean War--the P-51, B-25 and F-86 Sabre. Clement Melville Keys founded North American as a holding company (1928). The company bought and sold interests in various airlines and aviation-related companies. The Air Mail Act of 1934 forced the breakup of such holding companies, including Boeing. North American became a manufacturing company, run by James H. 'Dutch' Kindelberger, who had been recruited from Douglas Aircraft Company. NAA did retain ownership of Eastern Air Lines until 1938. eneral Motors Corporation took a controlling interest in NAA and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation (1933), but retained the name North American Aviation. Kindelberger moved the company's operations from Dundalk, Maryland to Los Angeles, California, permitting year-round test flyingh. He decided to focus on training aircraft, believing it would be a task in which it would be easier to compete with the mor established companies. Its first planes were the GA-15 observation plane and the GA-16 trainer, followed by the O-47 and BT-9, also called the GA-16. Kindelberger pioneered important assembly line mass production techniques and had a close rekatiinshiop with Army Air Corps chief Hap Arnold. He promoted the iddea of opening aviation plants in the South. Because of Kindekberger's World War I assiciatiin with Billy Mitchell, the comapony's B-26 bomber was chrisdten the Mitchell bomber. Kindelberger worked with Col. Jimmy Doolitle pre paring the poalnes for the carrier raid on Tokyo (April 1942). North American began with a basic trainer, but would produce the most most advanced pistonn driven propleller air plane ever created--the P-51 Mustang. The P-51 was one of many befits of the Anglo-American alliance. North America created the air frame, but was under powered with its radial engine. The P-51 played a central role in the Allied strategic bombing campaign against Germany for its role as a bomber escort. This was vital because the War against NAZI Germany was the central struggle of the War. And the P-51 by destroying the Luftwaffe both made D-Day possible as well as the strategic bombing devastation of Germany's war-making capability. The P-51 also excelled as an air superiority fighter, essentially destroying the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany itself (early-1944). The P-51 was an extremely versatile platform. It was not only superb as an air superiority fighter, but also highly effective in a role as a low-altitude ground attack and infantry support aircraft. The P-51 also some limited action at start of the Korean War. North American also made the the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, widely regarded as the the best of all nations' medium twin engine bombers.

Northrop

Aircraft industrialis and designer, Jack Northrop, founded 3 companies using his name. The first was the Avion Corporation (1928) which was quickly absorbed by the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation and operated as a subsidiary -- Northrop Aviation Corporation. It was eventually acquired by Boeing. Northrop wanted his own company and founded the "Northrop Corporation in Hawthorne, California (1939). Noirthrop was a minor aviation company in World War II, playing a more imortant role in the Cold War.

Republic

The Republic Aviation Corporation was Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. It was founded by the Seversky Aircraft Company. It designed and manufactured several military aircraft. Its most important Wold War II aircraft was the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was large for a fighter. It would be the heaviest and most expensive fighter aircraft to be powered by a single piston engine. Despite its size, it could take on the German fighters. While a fighter, it had a more limited range than the P-51 Mustang. Thus it was commonly used in a ground attack role. It was heavily armed and could carry a substantial bomb load, ideal for ground attack missions. It was armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. Fully loaded, the P-47 could weigh up to eight tons. In the ground attack role, it could carry five inch rockets or a bomb load of 2,500 pounds. After the War, Republic it developed the F-84 Thunderjet and F-105 Thunderchief jet fighters, as well as the A-10 Thunderbolt II close-support aircraft.

Sikorsky

The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. The company was was founded by Russian-trained aircraft engineer Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972). He was born in Kiev emigrated to America to escape the Bolsheviks (1919). He founded his American company 4 years later, the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company (1923). It began manufacturing in Roosevelt, New York. They moved to Stratford, Connecticut (1929). It became a division of the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) (July 1929), just before the Wall Street Crash. Sikorsky in America focused on the development of multi-engine land planes, continuing his work in Russia. Than he began working on sea planes. Because the aviation industry was poorly developed before the War, long range aircraft like the Pan Am Clipper flying across the Atlantic and Pacific were seaplanes. They could thus land at isolated places without a developed air field. The Sikorsky S-40 Flying Clipper was perhaps the most luxurious air liner ever made. The company's sales declined (late-1930s). By that time the American commercial aviation industry was turning toward planes that could carry passengers without all the expensive luxuries. This was also as it turned out what the military needed. United Aircraft merged its aircraft division with Vought Aircraft. It is at this time that Sikorsky began working on developing a helicopter. Sikorsky did not even the helicopter, but he did develop the first practical model. The Germans were also working on helicopters. After first flying the VS-300 he developed the Sikorsky R-4, the first stable, single-rotor, did not play an important role in World War II, but began to be used in the Korean War, primarily to recover downed pilots and medical evacuation. It would be Vietnam when the helicopter finally came into its own.

Vought

Chance Vought was best known during World War II for the iconic F4U Corsair fighter. The first prototype was delivery to the U.S. Navy (1940). Full scale production began soon after Pearl Harbor (December 1941). With the outbreak of the Pacific War, both the U.S. Navy and The U.S. Army Air Corps found their mainline fighters, the Wildcat and P-40 Warhawk were outclassed by the Japanese Zero. While built built for the Navy, the Corsair was not ideally suited for carrier operations. Thus it was used at first in the South Pacific from land bases. Carrier operations were eventually perfected, thanks to the Royal Navy. The fighter was so effective that demand quickly exceeded Vought's limited manufacturing capacity. Production as a result was farmed out to Goodyear and Brewster. Goodyear was of all things a rubber-tire company. Brewster was another aircraft company. The Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and Brewster-built aircraft F3A. There were 12,571 F4U Corsairs manufactured by Vought in 16 separate models. The Corsair had the longest production run of any piston-engine fighter in U.S. history (1942–53).

Created: 5:59 PM 2/15/2013
Spell checked: 2:00 PM 11/29/2020
Last updated: 5:34 AM 1/23/2021