The 1945 Aircraft Year Book

694 Pages·2015·44.68 MB·English

The
AIRCRAF
YEARBOOK
For 1945
I'
COURTESY 7he NEWYORK TIMES

AII-~Cl{AFT YEAH. BOOK FOR 1945
U. S. Army Air .1:' orces puuLO
THE LAST GERMAN HIDE-OUT
An aerial view of Berchtesgaden, Hitler's retreat in the mountains of Bavaria.
Other German leaders had their hide-outs nearby.
The
AIRCRAFT
YEAR BOOK
(Registered U.S. Pate111 Office)
For 1945
TWF.NTY•SR\"£.STH ANNUAL 1-:uJ'riOS
HOWARD MINGOS
•
Editor
Official Publication, of
Aeronautical Chamber of Cominercc
of America, Inc.
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A.~c~
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... ·····- .......... .
Published by
LANCIAR PUBLISHERS, INC.
10 Rockefeller Plaza New York 20, N, Y.
Copyright 1945 By
LANCIAR PUBLTSHERS, INC.
NEW YORK, N. Y.
0
MANUFACTURED COMPLETE BY
THE COLONIAL PRESS INC., CLINTON, MASS.
WAMI'
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. TilE \VAR JN TilE AIR • • • • • • • • • • • • • • II
We Come a Long Way Toward the End o£ the \\"ar-Coordi
nation of Land, Sea and Air Forces Brings Decisive Victories
in Europe and the Pacific-Our Air Supremacy in All \Var
Theaters Paces Defeat of Our Enemies-Our Tremendous De
struction o£ Enemy Equipment-Our Air Forces Play Vital
Role in Liberation of France--\\"e Knock the Japanese Out of
Half of the Total Area The\· Had Dominated-Our Record Pro-
duction of Aircraft. ·
II. TnF. U. S. ARMY AIR FoRCEs 27
The World's Most Powerful Air Force--1\·Iore than a Million
Tons of Bombs Hurled on the Enemy in 1944-The Record of
Destruction-Over 19,000 Enemy Planes Destroyed-AAF Op
erations on Five Air Fronts-The Invasions ·of Normandy and
South France--The Return to the Philippines-The Campaigns
in Asia-The Bombing of Japan-Gen. Arnold's Co,mments.
III. u. s. NAVAL AVIATION • • • • • • • • 69
How Navy Air Power Helped to Roll Back the Jap-A Major
Factor in Our Pacific Victories-Coordinated Surface and Air
Arms Destroy Enemy at Every Turn-Extraordinary Achieve
ments of Fast Carrier Task Forces-The Strength of Naval
Aviation-Maintenance of Supply Lines-Incredible Heroism of
Navy Airmen-The U. S. Coast Guard.
IV. THE AIR TRANSPORT RECORD • • • • • • • • • 93
Our Wartime Air Transportation System Spans the "Vorld- ~
Enormous Shipments of Military Cargoes Across the Atlantic
and the Pacific-Our Wounded Are Flown Home from All the
Battle Fronts-Operations of the Army Air Transport Com
mand, Naval Air Transport Service and the .Air Lines of the
United States.
v.
TRAINING FOR AJR SUPREMACY • • • 129
Millions of Americans Receive Various Kinds of Training in
Aviation-How Our Army and Navy Air Forces Became the
Most Powerful in the World-Results of Civil Pilot Training
by CAA-Training Activities of the Civil Air Patrol-Work
of the Schools.
VI. AcriVITIEs oF THE FEDERAL AGENCIEs • • • • • • • • • 153
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics-Aircraft
Production Board, WPB-The Civil Aeronautics Administra
tion-U. S. Forest Service-U. S. Weather Bureau-U. S.
Public Health Service-Federal Communications Commission
Aviation Division, Department of State.
v
ILLUSTl{ATIONS
Vlll
PA<.a:
Fairchild Assembly 281
C-82 Packet Fire Power of the 1-'-51 ~Ius-
Loading C-82 Packet tang
Federal Transmitter Unit 341 ~! itchell s . 51, 52, 195
Firestone Rocket Launchers 343 P-51D Mustang J2
Flying 1\fail for the European Production
Fronts 118 Northrop
Grumman P-61 Black \Vidow .W. 199
Avenger 81, 91 Top Tur,ret of the Black \\"iclow 284
Hellcat Aboard Navy Carrier Numbendl Holder · · . . 365
JRF Grey Goose Over Alaska Onsrud Bevel Miller A-9.2 310
Wildcat Pacific Engineering Aerostands 36.1
Harvey-'Whipple Preheater 350 Parachute Forest Fire Fighters 161
Invasions Pennsvlvania Central Airlines 125
Leyte 23, r8o Pione~r Gyro Flux Gate Com-
Luzon 24. 89 pass
Nortf1 France IS, .39. 41, 43 Pioneer Parachute Tester
South France 45 Piper
Jacobs Ambulance 105
Engine Production 304 Cub 54. 201
Inspection Turntable 303 Liaison Plane in Burma . 6s
Plant . . . . r6s Pratt & \Vhitney Assembly Line Jo6
Jacoel Tension Testing Machine 3S2 Republic P-47 Thunderbolt . . JJ
Jones, Casey, School of Aero- Ryan . . .
nautics 149 Automatic R1vetmg ?vfachnws 291
Kellogg Switchboard 3S3 Exhaust Manifolds 293
Link Trainer IJ5 Making Aluminum Alloy Ex-
Lockheed trusions 292
Assembly Sikorsky
C-69 Constellation Assembly Line 294, 295
P-38L Lightning Helicopter 168
Production . Simmonds Weather Instrument. 368
Lodwick School of Aeronautics ISI Stewart Technical School 147
Martin Surface Combustion Heaters J74
Assembly 269 Chance Vought
Inside a Mariner 197 Corsair . · · · · · · · 72
Corsair Jet-Assisted Take-OfT . 290
Mars ... 106, 123
PBM Mariner 209 F4U Corsairs . 167
Meat Flies to A Iaska . . . 177 F4U-rD Corsair 205
National Advisory Committee for OS2U-3 Kingfishers 173
Aeronautics Waco .
Altitude Wind Tm1nl'l ISS CG-13 Superghder 179
Wind Tunnel 154 CG-rsA Glider · · . · · . 300
Navy Carrier Task Foree 21 Western Electric M-IO Electrical
North American Director · · 381
AT-6 Texan ISO Wright Assembly Line 309
ILLt;STRATIU~S lX
AIRCRAFT 3-VIEW DRAWINGS
PAGF.
PAGE
Beech Eastern Aircraft
Model 18 215 Grumman Avenger 255
Personnel Transport 216 Grumman \Vildcat • 2.-,:5-,6-
Fairchild C-82 Packet
Bell
P-39 Airacobra 221 Grumman
F6F-3 Hellcat 259
P-63 Kingcobra 222
Grey Goose 261
Boeing
Widgeon 26o
B-17G Flying Fortress 227
Lockheed
B-29 Superfortress 232
Constellation
C~7 . 2JI
P-JSL Lightning·.
Consoliclate<l Vultee Coronado 238
Martin
Curtiss-\\! right B-26 Marauder 273
Commando Mars 270
Helldiver PBM-3 Mariner 272
\\·arhawk North American
Douglas B-25H Mitchell
A-26 Invader 250 P-51D :Mustang
C-47 Skytrain 251 Northrop P-61 Black Widow
C-54 Skymaster 248 Republic P-47 Thunderbolt .
DB-7B-Boston 252 Chance Vought Corsair .
SBD-J and A-24 2!'3 \Vaco CG-13 Army Cargo Glider
j