WWII U.S. Aircraft Manufacturers
Factories in Production in Early 1944
By Stephen Sherman, Apr. 2001. Updated January 23, 2012.
This page differs from the other pages in this site.
Rather than summarizing what I have already learned, here I am laying out what I would like to learn and what memories I would like to help preserve. World War Two was essentially an "industrial war," a war in which the productive manufacturing capacity of the United States ultimately made the difference. Great companies like Grumman, North American, Republic, Curtiss-Wright are now gone, but in the 1940's, they constituted the backbone of America's industrial capacity.
As I gather information, I'll make separate pages for the individual plants.
If you or a relative worked in one of these plants, and have
information
to share,
please email me, Webmaster,
so that the information could be included on this site.
Sources:
Mark Reynosa, an aerospace engineer who is very familiar with the West Coast aircraft production facilities. His family has been in aerospace since World War II and has worked in a number of the West Coast facilities. He has visited nearly all West Coast aircraft production facilities and is familiar with wartime production at these sites. He is also an author with Schiffer Publishing and is in the process of writing the history of the plants in Southern California.
| Company | Plant Name | Location | State | Product(s) | Empl. | Web Links | Books | Notes | What is it Now? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell | - | Buffalo | NY | P-39 Airacobra P-63 Kingcobra |
28,000 | - | - | - | Realty Firm Buys Bell Plant |
| Bell | - | Marietta | GA | B-29 Superfortress | 28,000 | - | - | assembly | (now Lockheed Plant) is still operating building C-130s and F-22s |
| Boeing | Plant 1 | Seattle | WA | - | 50,000 | - | - | - | - |
| Boeing | Plant 2 | Seattle | WA | B-17 Flying Fortress | incl. | - | - | - | storage for Boeing historical aircraft(B-307, 707 prototype) |
| Boeing | - | Renton | WA | B-29 Superfortress | incl. | - | - | - | still operating building 737s and 757s |
| Boeing | - | Wichita | KS | B-29 Superfortress | 40,000 | Wichita B-29s | - | - | still opearting building 737 fuselages |
| Consolidated | Plant 1 | San Diego | CA | PBY Catalina | 45,000 | Journal of San Diego Hist. | - | - | demolished 1997 {vacant lot} |
| Consolidated | Plant 2 | San Diego | CA | B-24 Liberator | incl. | Journal of San Diego Hist. | - | - | U.S. Navy SPAWAR Old Town Campus |
| Consolidated | - | Fort Worth | TX | B-24 Liberator | 32,000 | - | - | - | (now Lockheed Plant) still operating building F-16s |
| Curtiss-Wright | - | Buffalo | NY | P-40 Warhawk, C-46 Commando | - | - | - | - | Buffalo Airport Center: vacant, empty and awaiting demolition |
| Curtiss-Wright | - | Columbus | OH | SB2C Helldiver | 13,000 | Ohio Hist. Soc. | - | - | Hazardous Waste Site |
| Curtiss-Wright | - | St. Louis | MO | C-46 Commando | - | - | - | - | (now Boeing Plant) is still operating building F-15s and F/A-18s |
| Curtiss-Wright | - | Louisville | KY | C-46 Commando | 80,000 in area defense industry | - | - | later IH tractors | Even later became a forge shop called Louisville Forge & Gear. The property was then taken by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority in the late 1980s, the buildings remained until 1993-94. By 1997 the property became part of the new west runway for Louisville International airport |
| Douglas | Clover Field | Santa Monica | CA | A-20 Havoc, C-54 | 40,000 | - | - | HQ, 160,000 in six plants | demolished mid 1980s (now Museum of Flying, hangars and industrial park) |
| Douglas | - | Long Beach | CA | B-17 Flying Fortress, A-26 Invader, C-47 | - | - | - | largest plant, built in '41 for military production | demolished 2002 (vacant lot) |
| Douglas | - | Tulsa | OK | B-24 Liberator, A-26 Invader, C-47 | 22,000 | - | - | - | (now Boeing Plant) is still operating |
| Douglas | - | El Segundo | CA | SBD Dauntless | - | - | - | - | (now Northrop Plant) is still operating building F/A-18s |
| Douglas | Orchard Place | Chicago | IL | C-54 | - | - | - | - | O'Hare International Airport which still carries the "ORD" initials as its designator. |
| Ford | - | Willow Run | MI | B-24 Liberator | 42,000 | Willow
Run Tour Arsenal of Democracy |
- | - | Cargo Airport |
| General Motors, Eastern Aircraft Division | - | Tarrytown, Linden, Bloomfield, Trenton, Baltimore | - | FM Wildcat, TBM Avenger | - | - | - | Avengers assembled in Trenton | Tarrytown now a condo development |
| Goodyear | - | Akron | OH | FG-1 Corsair (F4U) | - | - | - | - | - |
| Grumman | - | Bethpage | NY | F6F Hellcat | 25,000 | Newsday article | - | - | - |
| Hamilton Standard | - | East Hartford | CT | propellers | - | - | - | - | - |
| Hughes | - | Culver City | CA | HK-1 | - | - | - | - | sold in 1995, Movie Studio Sound Stage |
| Lockheed | B-1 | Burbank | CA | P-38 Lightning | 94,000 corp. | - | - | - | demolished 1993 (new shopping mall) |
| Lockheed | A-1 | Burbank | CA | B-17 Flying Fortress, PV-2 Harpoon | incl. | Lockheed's Burbank Plants | - | - | demolition 2000 (vacant lot) |
| Lockheed | B-6 | Burbank | CA | C-69 Constellation | incl. | - | - | - | demolition 1993-1998 (vacant lot) |
| Martin | - | Middle River | MD | B-26 Marauder | 53,000 | - | - | - | - |
| Martin | - | Omaha | NE | B-29 Superfortress | 14,000 | Martin-Built B-29s | - | assembly | - |
| N.A.F. | - | Philadelphia | PA | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Northrop | - | Hawthorne | CA | P-61 Black Widow | - | - | - | - | (now Vought Plant) is still operating building 747 fuselages |
| North American | - | Inglewood | CA | AT-6 Texan, P-51 Mustang B-25 Mitchell |
- | - | - | HQ | demolition mid 1980’s (LAX Air Cargo facility) |
| North American | Fairfax, NAA-K |
Kansas City | KS |
B-25 Mitchell | - | - | - |
postwar GM Buick production |
vacant land |
| North American | - | Dallas/Grand Prairie | TX | B-24 Liberator | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pratt & Whitney | - | East Hartford | CT | engines | - | - | - | My Dad worked there. | still operating |
| Pratt & Whitney | - | Kansas City | MO | Double Wasp engines | - | - | - | - | Honeywell nuclear weapons plant |
| Republic | - | Farmingdale | NY | P-47 Thunderbolt | 24,000 | Newsday article | - | - | - |
| Vought | - | Stratford | CT | F4U Corsair | - | Link | - | - | - |
| Vultee | - | Downey | CA | BT-13 Valiant | - | - | - | - | - |
| Vultee | - | Nashville | TN | A-31 Vengence | - | - | - | - | - |
| Co | plant | city | ST | Prod | empl | Link | books | notes | Now |
Links:
Lockheed's
Burbank
Plants - by Mark Reynosa
Aerofiles - excellent
aviation reference site
Lockheed Martin corporate site
Wright Brothers National Memorial
- National Park Service
Boeing - bombers
Douglas Aircraft - bombers and DC-3
Northrop - P-61 night fighter
Brewster - F2A Buffalo
More on the Kansas City Plant, from Brett Lovett:
Many sources including Boeing (ultimate successor to North American) incorrectly locate the plant in Kansas City, Missouri. The plant was actually located in the Fairfax Industrial District of Kansas City, Kansas. The plant was often referred to as "NAA-K" (K for Kansas) and a sunflower was incorporated into the NAA logo to designate the Kansas plant. This was a government built and owned plant provided to North American Aviation. Only B-25D and B-25J models were produced in Kansas City. Plans for North American to build B-29s and P-80s in this plant were abandoned.After WWII the plant became the Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac manufacturing plant for General Motors. For a short time General Motors, under government contract, built Republic F-84Fs in this plant alongside the automobiles they were producing. General Motors abandoned this factory in the late 1980's for a newer facility built
on top of the former Fairfax Airport that adjoined the old factory site. The old factory was damaged by fire and demolished sometime in the late 1980s or early 90s. The land it occupied sits vacant today.
For detailed info on the Kansas City plant, find a copy of the book "Fairfax Ghosts: The Bomber Builders and Others Who Made a Difference". The book is out of print, but should be available by interlibrary loan. Used copies can also be found for sale.
The NAA Dallas plant is now headquarters for Vought Aircraft. I believe it was referred to as "NAA-T".
America's Hundred Thousand, by Francis H. Dean
This book covers in
detail the eleven U.S. fighter aircraft types planes
produced just before and during World War II - with a combined
production
total of just over 100,000 aircraft. Covered are the Army Lockheed P-38
Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt,
North
American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, and the Navy F2A -
Buffalo,
F4F - Wildcat, F4U - Corsair, and F6F - Hellcat fighters. The text is
supplemented
by more than 650 photographs, and 200 tables and graphs. Fighter
production
figures are also included.
After an introduction of each type, a heavily illustrated overview of earlier inter-war production from 1920-on, along with a discussion and illustration of wartime experimental types, is provided. A lengthy section considering several technical factors affecting fighter performance follows. These include engine models, supercharger types, propellers, aerodynamic thrust, lift and drag, aircraft weight, balance, stability and control, and armament.
America's Hundred Thousand also provides details of each U.S. World War II production fighter in terms of models and changes, numbers planes produced, and major engine and aircraft performance aspects - in tabular and graphical form - details of weights, discussion of handling qualities and general comments, along with detailed descriptions containing many illustrations of aircraft structures and systems showing the technology of that time. In addition a comprehensive week-to-week and month-to-month chronology of development and wartime combat operational life for each fighter is provided, including many photos. This study concludes with comparisons of the eleven types in terms of program milestones, aircraft drag, power available at various altitudes, speed, climb, rolling and turning, acceleration, and diving performance, as well as general evaluations by World War II pilots.