In World War II, US plants churned out nearly 300,000 military airplanes, at a cost of $45 billion. More than half-158,880-went to the Army Air Forces. The rest went to the Navy, Marine Corps, and Allies. Who built all of these aircraft? In popular imaginings, US automakers and other civilian industries converted to warrnproduction and led the way. In reality, the burden was carried by aircraft houses established in the prewar period. The top 11 such airframers (see chart) built a huge 77 percent of all airplanes. The existence of this large aircraft base was the reason US air forces could expand rapidly.
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