Aviation and Aerospace
In 1939 the aviation industry in the United States was the 41st largest industry in the country. In 1945 it was the largest industry in the world. From the beginning of 1940 through the end of August 1945, the United States produced over 300,000 aircraft of numerous types and designs. The dollar value of the industry reached $16 billion before the end of the war. To say that its growth was meteoric is a gross understatement. The industry grew to become both national, with plants and development centers across the country, and international, with American factories operating in Canada producing aircraft for the United Kingdom.
In the early stages of the war in Europe most of American aircraft production was for the benefit of customers in France and the United Kingdom, who were allowed to purchase aircraft from American manufacturers on a cash and carry basis according to US Neutrality Laws. After the implementation of Lend-Lease these orders increased, and were driven yet higher when President Franklin Roosevelt established the goal of producing 50,000 airplanes per year in May of 1940.
During the war the American industry didn’t merely produce aircraft according to existing designs. The exigencies of the war dictated the need for specialized operations beyond the capabilities of existing designs, and new models were envisioned, developed, tested, and deployed during the course of the war. The B-29 Superfortress was designed and built during the war, as was the P-51 Mustang, which was originally proposed in 1940 based on a new design derived from British specifications and requirements.
In both the Pacific and over Europe, control of the air was the strategy which emerged from World War II. The German blitzkrieg which overran much of Europe achieved its early successes by destroying opposing air forces. Japanese battle doctrine was based on the long range use of aviation based on aircraft carriers. US battle doctrine in 1940 did not espouse either of these, and as the military leaders adapted to the new reality, aircraft to support the changing mission were developed and deployed.
American aircraft production was so efficient and the number of airplanes so great that by the end of the war airplanes were being flown directly from the factories where they had been produced to the boneyards, to be taken apart for their scrap value. Some of the more than 2 million workers employed manufacturing aircraft found temporary employment disposing of them. America’s aviation industry was dominant in the Second World War, producing the airplanes which won air superiority in war theaters around the world.