Bunches of things you didn't know about the Corsair

[MossRoad]

^^ Further, how many of those former planes would total the cost of a single one today?

Mind boggling finances....

 

[ArlyA]

Yes indeed. Once the Allies got machines into production, like this HellCat. The Axis couldn't possibly keep up with the output.

To put that number of Hellcats into perspective....

There were about 300,000 military aircraft produced for the U.S. in WWII. About 99,000 of those were fighters.

A tad over 12,000 were just Hellcats.

Today, the U.S. military has a TOTAL of a tad over 13,000 aircraft of all types.

Those numbers are mind boggling.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes indeed. Once the Allies got machines into production, like this HellCat. The Axis couldn't possibly keep up with the output.

Sad thing is with all those planes that were chewed up, went so many fine young airmen.

I've been watching a few u-tube videos this last week due to this thread, regarding WWII and aviation. One guy was saying in his flight unit(can't remember if it was bomber or fighter), for a while, the average life expectancy of an airman in his unit was about 4 hours in the air. 4 hours.

 

[Diggin It]

WWI and II were wars of attrition, planes, tanks, people......

You 'won' by having more of something. The Tiger was a far superior tank, but they didn't have enough of them to counter the numbers of ours. And they didn't have enough fuel or support personnel.

 

[bcp]

^^ Further, how many of those former planes would total the cost of a single one today?

A Hellcat cost $35,000 in 1945, according to:

Grumman F6F Hellcat - Wikipedia

Bruce

 

[ArlyA]

Sad thing is with all those planes that were chewed up, went so many fine young airmen.

I've been watching a few u-tube videos this last week due to this thread, regarding WWII and aviation. One guy was saying in his flight unit(can't remember if it was bomber or fighter), for a while, the average life expectancy of an airman in his unit was about 4 hours in the air. 4 hours.

We need to be very careful with Uturde statistics. I remember reading that allied tanks crews had terribly short life expectancy on the fronts. Turns out that's another "internet myth" and rifleman had much greater chance of being lamed or killed than tankers. Seems most tankers got killed or hurt while being outside of there tanks! Go figure.

 

[Industrial Toys]

And many people sat back and made a fortune. If men are giving up their lives, shouldn't the companies fueling the war at least do that without profit. I think FORD and GM made profit on BOTH sides of WWII. Then, at least one of them sued for damages and WON! They got their money back, but the young men didn't come back. SICK!

 

[ArlyA]

WWI and II were wars of attrition, planes, tanks, people......

You 'won' by having more of something. The Tiger was a far superior tank, but they didn't have enough of them to counter the numbers of ours. And they didn't have enough fuel or support personnel.

Depends on you definition of "superior". Compared to the M4A3E8 it took far to many hours to produce and required far more materials than Germany had to spare. They tended to breakdown and got left in the field for that reason to frequently. Very hard to move that much weight to the battle and I still can't figure out how they found bridges strong enough for them to cross. Oh well.

 

[ArlyA]

Industrial and war history is my forte. My name sake did not return with his B17 from his last mission from Poland.

 

[k0ua]

To put that number of Hellcats into perspective....

There were about 300,000 military aircraft produced for the U.S. in WWII. About 99,000 of those were fighters.

A tad over 12,000 were just Hellcats.

Today, the U.S. military has a TOTAL of a tad over 13,000 aircraft of all types.

Those numbers are mind boggling.

Man, that does kinda change the prospective doesn't it!.