What do you think?
Rate this book
The American Aircraft Factory in World War II
Few, if any, industrial phenomena have been as dramatic as the United States mid-20th-century shift from peacetime manufacturing to wartime production. While the years 1939 to 1945 saw explosive growth in the manufacture of every type of armament imaginable, none was more emblematic of the industrial climate than the proliferation of aircraft factories. Zeroing in on the crux of the American military-industrial complex at a critical moment, this volume documents the production of legendary fighters and bombers by companies like Boeing, North American, Curtiss, Consolidated, Douglas, Grumman, and Lockheed. It was a production unmatched by the Axis powers or any other country, and a crucial part of why the allies won the war. Illustrated with 175 period photographs - including 50 rare color photos never before seen in print - The American Aircraft Factory in World War II conveys the incredible acceleration of aviation technology that took place during this period. Author Bill Yenne considers the various prewar governmental acts that got the plants rolling, as well as the notable gender shift that occurred on factory floors as women entered the work force like never before. He also describes the construction of megafactories like Willow Run, factory-design considerations, and the postwar conversion back to peacetime production. This beautiful coffee table book is an essential part of any World War II history buff's collection, and is a tribute to the veterans of the war - on the fighting and home fronts - who helped build and fly these amazing aircraft that would change the world forever.
- GenresMilitary Fiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2006
About the author
Bill Yenne
208 books52 followersBill Yenne is the author of several novels and over three dozen books on historical topics. He has also been a contributor to encyclopedias of both world wars.
The New Yorker wrote of Sitting Bull, his biography of the great Lakota leader, that it "excels as a study in leadership." This book was named to the number 14 spot among Amazon's 100 Best Books of the Year.
Library Journal observed that "enthusiastic World War II readers will be drawn to" his dual biography, Aces High: The Heroic Story of the Two Top Scoring American Aces of World War II.
Recently, his book Convair Deltas was named as Book of the Month by Air Classics, while his book Tommy Gun was named Pick of the Month by Shooting Illustrated.
His book Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint was listed among the top business books of the year by Cond Nast Portfolio Magazine, which rated Yenne's tome as its TOP pick for "Cocktail Conversation."
Yenne's Rising Sons: The Japanese American GIs Who Fought for the United States in World War II, was praised by Walter Boyne, former Director of the National Air & Space Museum, who called it "a fast moving... page turner," and the "best book yet written on the saga."
The Wall Street Journal wrote, when reviewing his Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West, that Yenne writes with "cinematic vividness," and says of his work that it "has the rare quality of being both an excellent reference work and a pleasure to read."
The author lives in San Francisco, California, and on the web at www.BillYenne.com
"
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 19, 2011
“The American Aircraft Factory in WWII” by Bill Yenne
ISBN 13: 978-0-7603-3913-8
That Bill Yenne is an accessible author and passionate researcher has never been more clearly seen than in his book, “The American Aircraft Factory in WWII.” Filled with a plethora of photographs, the text offers readers reams of information regarding U.S. wartime plane production.
Yenne begins by detailing the industry’s beginnings, showing how the ideas of the Wright Brothers – “aeronautical geniuses but not entrepreneurs” – were taken by business people and transformed into an enterprise. But not very quickly: American aviation, Yenne points out, “barely made it into the game (of WWI)” but grew in the 1920’s with the rise of different plane manufacturers, companies about which Yenne provides pages of detailed information.
The main thrust of the book, obviously, is plane production during WWII, and Yenne dovetails information regarding the industry with then-current international events. For instance, prior to Pearl Harbor, some within US government wanted a build-up of American air power when they saw that the Luftwaffe (literally, “air weapon,” the name of Nazi Germany’s air force) was the focus and representation of Germany’s military strength. In the chapter entitled, “Backing into WWII,” Yenne explains that FDR requested congressional permission to create 50,000 planes on May 16, 1940, “two days after the Netherlands’ government fled in disarray [and] Hitler’s blitzkrieg was on the move and France teetered on the brink of collapse.”
Yenne obviously loves numbers and when placed within this historical context, they are often quite illuminating. For instance, he mentions that American aircraft factories produced 2,383 planes “in the last pre-Pearl Harbor quarter” but two years later, during the third quarter of 1943, 11,776 aircraft were created by US factories. And as the daughter of a young tail gunner who flew missions in several types of B-26’s rather late in the European theater, I was interested to learn from Yenne’s book that 1,883 B-26B’s were built in Baltimore and 1,210 B-26C’s in Omaha (and I also enjoyed viewing the photographs of partially-finished B-26's included in the book).
Filling the page opposite the book’s introduction, there is an immensely appealing color photograph of a female aviation factory worker leaning on the inside of a partially-finished plane (one presumes), hair net in place, tool in hand, a stunning, red-lipped smile across her face, and a big wink for the camera. The caption mentions that the war’s “Rosie the Riveters” were the most well paid in the aviation sector and Yenne’s book is filled with a plethora of such photographs, many of them staged, some of them obviously not so.
It is photographs like these that provide the book with a general appeal for WWII aficionados but for those with a particular interest in US wartime aviation production, this detailed book is a must-read.
(This review also appears at BookPleasures.com).
ISBN 13: 978-0-7603-3913-8
That Bill Yenne is an accessible author and passionate researcher has never been more clearly seen than in his book, “The American Aircraft Factory in WWII.” Filled with a plethora of photographs, the text offers readers reams of information regarding U.S. wartime plane production.
Yenne begins by detailing the industry’s beginnings, showing how the ideas of the Wright Brothers – “aeronautical geniuses but not entrepreneurs” – were taken by business people and transformed into an enterprise. But not very quickly: American aviation, Yenne points out, “barely made it into the game (of WWI)” but grew in the 1920’s with the rise of different plane manufacturers, companies about which Yenne provides pages of detailed information.
The main thrust of the book, obviously, is plane production during WWII, and Yenne dovetails information regarding the industry with then-current international events. For instance, prior to Pearl Harbor, some within US government wanted a build-up of American air power when they saw that the Luftwaffe (literally, “air weapon,” the name of Nazi Germany’s air force) was the focus and representation of Germany’s military strength. In the chapter entitled, “Backing into WWII,” Yenne explains that FDR requested congressional permission to create 50,000 planes on May 16, 1940, “two days after the Netherlands’ government fled in disarray [and] Hitler’s blitzkrieg was on the move and France teetered on the brink of collapse.”
Yenne obviously loves numbers and when placed within this historical context, they are often quite illuminating. For instance, he mentions that American aircraft factories produced 2,383 planes “in the last pre-Pearl Harbor quarter” but two years later, during the third quarter of 1943, 11,776 aircraft were created by US factories. And as the daughter of a young tail gunner who flew missions in several types of B-26’s rather late in the European theater, I was interested to learn from Yenne’s book that 1,883 B-26B’s were built in Baltimore and 1,210 B-26C’s in Omaha (and I also enjoyed viewing the photographs of partially-finished B-26's included in the book).
Filling the page opposite the book’s introduction, there is an immensely appealing color photograph of a female aviation factory worker leaning on the inside of a partially-finished plane (one presumes), hair net in place, tool in hand, a stunning, red-lipped smile across her face, and a big wink for the camera. The caption mentions that the war’s “Rosie the Riveters” were the most well paid in the aviation sector and Yenne’s book is filled with a plethora of such photographs, many of them staged, some of them obviously not so.
It is photographs like these that provide the book with a general appeal for WWII aficionados but for those with a particular interest in US wartime aviation production, this detailed book is a must-read.
(This review also appears at BookPleasures.com).
February 4, 2019
Well researched book. Lots of great pictures. My only complaint - I kept going to google to check out images of planes mentioned that did either not get pictured in the book, (but were mentioned in the text), or planes that got mentioned, but it took more pages to go by before you finally saw the aircraft. Impressive stats: March 1944 saw >9,000 planes produced in the US, with the grand total for 1944 exceeding 96,000. I guess I knew that the B-24 was the most produced a/c by the US in WW2, but this book explained how all the popular planes had shared facilities with other manufactures to meet the demand. I liked the picture of the 26 acre Boeing plant 2 that had an entire fake residential town constructed on the roof for camo. Very interesting book.
March 6, 2011
The American Aircraft Factory in World War II by Bill Yenne is truly magnificent. When I first had the book in my hand I thought “coffee table book”. After reading the book and looking at the pictures it is so much more. It is a wonderful tribute to the men and women who built the airplanes. It is an excellent history of the aircraft industry in the Unites States. The author gives a great background and understanding of the founders and companies like Boeing, North American, Curtiss, Consolidated, Douglas, Grumman, and Lockheed.
I learned of the Air Mail Act of 1934. The act required the separation of the airlines from manufactures. It caused some like William Edward Boeing to leave the industry. He gives great tribute to the gender shift in the work place and the ramping up of the industry for the war. He takes us through the construction of the facilities as well as the transition back to a peace time production.
The photographs in the book are amazing. I have never seen so many high quality photographs of this era in one collection. Without the pictures the book is a wonderful history of the aircraft industry. With the pictures it is transformed into a work of art.
I highly recommend the book for all aviation and World War II buffs. It would be an excellent addition to community and public school libraries as well. This is a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.
I learned of the Air Mail Act of 1934. The act required the separation of the airlines from manufactures. It caused some like William Edward Boeing to leave the industry. He gives great tribute to the gender shift in the work place and the ramping up of the industry for the war. He takes us through the construction of the facilities as well as the transition back to a peace time production.
The photographs in the book are amazing. I have never seen so many high quality photographs of this era in one collection. Without the pictures the book is a wonderful history of the aircraft industry. With the pictures it is transformed into a work of art.
I highly recommend the book for all aviation and World War II buffs. It would be an excellent addition to community and public school libraries as well. This is a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.
April 3, 2017
An entertaining and informative read packed with great photos. Among many of the interesting facts presented:
In 1939 the U.S. built 916 military aircraft. By 1944 that number had grown to 96,318. American manufacturing aircraft at its zenith.
At it's height in WWII The U.S. Army Air Force had nearly 80,000 aircraft in service. The United States Air Force had approximately 6,800 aircraft at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991. Even less since.
On a typical day in 1944 there were more planes in the air around the world than there is today or at any other time since.
And this gem: The 5,000th B-17 Flying Fortress manufactured at Boeing's Seattle plant in WWII was nicknamed the "5 Grand". Every worker on the assembly line was allowed to sign it when the plane came through his/her assembly station. Remaining Boeing employees were then encourage to sign. An estimated 35,000 workers decorated the plane with their autographs. On its trans-Atlantic flight, the crew found the 5 Grand to be about about 7 mph slower than any other similar stock B-17G's due to the weight of the ink and paint used on the signatures and the surface roughness from some of the more colorful applications.
In 1939 the U.S. built 916 military aircraft. By 1944 that number had grown to 96,318. American manufacturing aircraft at its zenith.
At it's height in WWII The U.S. Army Air Force had nearly 80,000 aircraft in service. The United States Air Force had approximately 6,800 aircraft at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991. Even less since.
On a typical day in 1944 there were more planes in the air around the world than there is today or at any other time since.
And this gem: The 5,000th B-17 Flying Fortress manufactured at Boeing's Seattle plant in WWII was nicknamed the "5 Grand". Every worker on the assembly line was allowed to sign it when the plane came through his/her assembly station. Remaining Boeing employees were then encourage to sign. An estimated 35,000 workers decorated the plane with their autographs. On its trans-Atlantic flight, the crew found the 5 Grand to be about about 7 mph slower than any other similar stock B-17G's due to the weight of the ink and paint used on the signatures and the surface roughness from some of the more colorful applications.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews