Scrapped planes after WWII

[Franz von Werra]

I've heard that many aircraft passed from assembly lines directly to scrapyards, due to the impossibility to stop the frantic activity of US factories all at once after the war had ended.

Is it true?

[SMF144]

No, not at all.

Where did you hear of this nonsense?

Stephen

[shooshoobaby]

Franz - This is correct. Many of them were purchased by scrap dealers for the metal and Aviation Fuel. Some were purchased at auctions for various uses. Many were scrapped in Kingman and Tucson,Arizona, Walnut Ridge ,
Arkansas , Stillwater , Oklahoma by the U.S. Government. The Navy dumped many in the ocean and others were destroyed in other countries.
Most of these were bombers and some fighters. New P -51s and F4U Corsairs were retained by Armed Forces as were B - 29s ,a few B - 17s
and new Transports.
Mike

[ArtieBob]

IMHO shoshoobaby's reply is not correct in the sense that the "franti c activity" of US factories could not be stopped all at once. Many of the aircraft at Kingman were actually flown back from the Pacific theater, for example. Since the end date of the war was unpredictable, war effort continued right up to and following V-J day. Some aircraft had been taken out of production prior to that time but many of the newer types, B-29, A-26, P-80 etc. did not shut down at all, although in most cases the rate was cut back. Understand that even in WWII, the time from the start of manufacturing, i.e.,cutting aluminum, forging blanks, etc. to final assembly was from months to nearly a year. Because of these lead times, when the stop orders came there would be components all the way from aluminum sheet stampings up to completed aircraft in the chain. IIRC, most of this material went directly to scrap dealers and local salvage companies. Thousands of aircraft were scrapped or abandoned around the world, USA, GB, German, Jap, etc. There was just very little use for combat aircraft for several years following the end of WW II, the best were kept and the rest disposed of.

Best regards,

Artie Bob

[shooshoobaby]

From biography of Bob Sturges , WW II Test Pilot for Boeing. Post WW II he delivered several B - 17s purchased from bone yards.Flew the famous B -17 to Portland , Oregon that was mounted over a Gas station.It is still there. These aircraft were brand new and the unsold ones were mostly scrapped . Many that were purchased were for the aviation fuel. The tanks were drained and the aircraft was re- sold to a scrap dealer.

[Franek Grabowski]

Many factories continued production of unnecessary tools of war just because not to dramatically increase unemployment ratio and allow economy to convert to peace terms. This is politics and I have heard a lot of complaints that it has nothing to aircraft.

[ArtieBob]

As I lived though that period in the USA, my memory is quite clear that military production was stopped very quickly. This was because in 1945 and 1946 in the USA, there was plenty of demand for automobiles , refrigerators, new houses, etc., etc.. The USA economy was very strong because it had been almost 100% employed during the war and because of rationing, cost controls, the unavailability of most consumer items there were both great demand and lots of saved up cash available. Remember the ability of the USA to produce so much military equpment so fast was that the consumer oriented industries such as automobiles, appliances and electronics was that these huge industries were able to convert completely to military production very quickly. IIRC correctly the first real slowdown here did not occur for several years, around 1948-9 and it did not last very long. If there was any "artificial" pumping of the economy it probably was the GI bill, which turned out to be one of the best investments any government has made to improve the economy.

Best regards,

Artie Bob

[shooshoobaby]

Franz - In the new March / April Warbirds Magazine there is a review of the new book " Surplus WW II Aircraft " by William Larkins. A lot of pictures and information.
Mike

[Franz von Werra]

Originally Posted by shooshoobaby

Franz - In the new March / April Warbirds Magazine there is a review of the new book " Surplus WW II Aircraft " by William Larkins. A lot of pictures and information.
Mike

Many thanks, I'll try and get it.

[Revi16]

A friend of mine was a B-24 pilot during the war. After completing his 35 missions he came back to the States as an Instructor and Ferry pilot. He told me at the end of the war he had flown brand new B-25's right from the factory to storage yards in Arizona to be scrapped.

As an example of how quick things could wind down, FG-1D Corsair production at Goodyear shutdown the second week of Sept. 45.
In May 45 the Navy excepted 302 from Vought & 195 from Goodyear, July 45 the Navy excepted 303 from Vought & 180 from Goodyear. Sept. saw 41 from Vought & 68 from Goodyear.

Regards,
Mike