Ivan Kozhedub is both the top Soviet ace with 64 kills and the most successful Allied fighter pilot of World War II. However, Kozhudub's first air battle could have been his last. His La-5 fighter suffered damage during a dogfight with a German Messerschmitt Bf-109.
With 16,769 fighters completed by Soviet factories, it became the biggest Soviet mass-produced fighter of WWII. Among them were fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance, courier and special purpose aircraft. Most of the Yak-9 aircraft were armed with 20 mm ShVAK cannon with 120 rounds and a 12.7mm machine gun.
Single-engined, single-seat monoplane fighters and fighter bombers
| Name of aircraft | Year in service | Country of origin |
|---|
| Focke-Wulf Ta 152 | 1945 | Germany |
| Fokker D.XXI | 1936 | Netherlands |
| Grumman F4F/FM Wildcat/Martlet | 1940 | US |
| Grumman F6F Hellcat/Gannet | 1943 | US |
By the end of the war, Soviet annual aircraft production had risen sharply, reaching 40,241 in 1944. Some 157,261 machines were produced during the Great Patriotic War, 125,655 being of combat types.
Another popular Allied propeller plane used during WWII was the P-51 Mustang. This fighter was capable of flying at around 400 mph, with its maximum speed clocked at about 440mph.
In 1948, the designation P-51 (P for pursuit) was changed to F-51 (F for fighter) and the existing F designator for photographic reconnaissance aircraft was dropped because of a new designation scheme throughout the USAF.
The four-engine aircraft was notorious among aircrews. Officially designated the "Liberator," the square shaped B-24 could easily turn into a death trap. It was hard to fly with its stiff and heavy controls, and so earned its name by its crews as the "Flying Coffin."
The last peacetime automobile rolled out of Ford's massive River Rouge plant in 1941, and focus shifted to the wartime production of aircraft engines and military vehicles. The Rouge manufactured M-4 tanks through 1943 and continued producing M-4 engines and armor plates until war's end.
In 1941, more than three million cars were manufactured in the United States. Only 139 more were made during the entire war. Instead, Chrysler made fuselages. America launched more vessels in 1941 than Japan did in the entire war.
The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $43 billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war.
In time the B-24 would boast a long, tapered wing atop its fuselage, which allowed impressive long-range cruising capabilities. A B-24 could reach 290 miles per hour and carry a 5,000-pound bomb load for 1,700 miles, giving it a longer range, greater speed, and a bigger payload than its B-17 cousin.
Every American automaker turned its workforce and facilities to military production during World War II. But no project captured the public's imagination like Willow Run, where Ford Motor Company built one B-24 Liberator airplane every 63 minutes.
Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, constructed by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber.
During World War II, Ford Motor Company of Canada produced some 335,000 vehicles for defence. Some were cars, station wagons and trucks similar to civilian models. Ford built a large number of trucks known as CMP's (Canadian Military Pattern). Bodies conformed to a military design, but used Ford running gear.
Zero, also called Mitsubishi A6M or Navy Type 0, fighter aircraft, a single-seat, low-wing monoplane used with great effect by the Japanese during World War II.
There is contentious debate among scholars about why Japan surrendered in World War II. Some believe the Aug. 15, 1945, declaration was the result of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This strategy was affirmed in June 1945 as the gruesome and bloody Battle of Okinawa was winding down.
The world's aircraft fleet is expected to increase from 25,900 to 48,400 aircraft between 2019 and 2039.
Total production
| Pre-war | Total |
|---|
| Panzer II | 1,223 | 3,404 |
| Panzer 38(t) | 78 | 6,627 |
| Panzer III | 98 | 15,747 |
| Panzer IV | 210 | 13,522 |
A merica's response to World War II was the most extraordinary mobilization of an idle economy in the history of the world. During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96 percent, and corporate profits after taxes doubled.
Its workers built 122 ships in four years, and although none saw service before the end of the war, many carried supplies during World War II. At Hog Island, the United States learned how to build large ships quickly on a grand scale from prefabricated parts. Ships, ships, and more ships is the call of the hour
The gross national product of the U.S., as measured in constant dollars, grew from $88.6 billion in 1939 — while the country was still suffering from the depression — to $135 billion in 1944. War-related production skyrocketed from just two percent of GNP to 40 percent in 1943 (Milward, 63).
Raw steel production, basic to defense, peaked at 90 million tons in 1944, re- fined copper peaked at 1.5 million tons in 1943, and aluminum peaked at 1.0 million tons also in 1943.
American factories were retooled to produce goods to support the war effort and almost overnight the unemployment rate dropped to around 10%. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines.
A total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $575 billion in 2019) worth of supplies was shipped, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U.S. In all, $31.4 billion went to the United Kingdom, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to the other
