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The airplane had been invented in America by two bicycle mechanics, the Wright Brothers (1903). At the time of World War I, however, the United States did not have modern combst aircraft. When America entered the War (1917), it had to use British and French planes. In the inter-war period, several countries developed important aircraft industries: America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union. A key to building modern aircraft was aluminum. Thus a country's potential to build aircraft was the size of its aluminum industry. Aluminum production not only required bauxite, but vast quantities of electrical power. Some World War II planes were built with plywood (the British Mosquito and the German FW-190), but most were built with aluminum. Until the NAZI-take over in 1933, national aviation industries primarily depended on civilian demand. And here the largest civil aviation industry was in the United States. Pasenger aircraft were needed by a country the United States where as smaller countries had no great need for aircraft in domestic transport. Aircraft had played only a minor role in World War I. This was to be very different in World War II and the aviation industries of the beligerant countries had a major impact on the War. And this time the American aviation industry played a major role. The Allied aviation industries (especially America, Britain, and Canada) worked very closely. The Axis aviation industries did not coordinate efforts nor did the Germans utilize the potetial of the aviation industries of the occupied countries.
The aviation industry in the United States was a relatively small part of American industrial production before World War II. One source ranks it at only 41st in a list of major industies. The leading industry being the automobile industry. Even so, the American aviation industry was the largest in the world, in part because of demand from the growing demand for passanger aircraft. Europeans had little need for domestic aviation. America with substantial distances between cities did. President Roosevelt's decession to arm America as Europe moved toward war helped to further expand the industry. One of the results of that program was the Boeing B-17 which was designed to protect America from invasion. It proved ineffective against enemy fleets, but was along with the B-24 the mainstay of the American strategic air campaign against Germany.
The United States produced 6,000 air planes in 1939. Germany also developed a major aircraft industry as part of its rearmament program. The difference between the two countries is that America had a substantial capacity to increse airplane production. Germany had only a limited capacity to expand production. One reason America was able to expand aircraft production was its vast automotive industry. After America entered te War, a part of the automotive industry was diverted to aircraft production. American aircraft production expanded to an extent never imagined by the Germans and Japanese and to levels that surprised many Americans. And the industry produced many new many advanced aircraft types during the War. As aresult the aircraft the U.S. Air Forces were using at the end of the War were different than those at the beginning of the War. This was in sgarp contrast to the Axis air forces.
Britain at the time that Hitler seized power in Germany (1933) had the largest aviation indistry in Europe. This made commercial since given the far-flung Empire. The rapid NAZI rearmament program and Britain's desire to avoid large military expenditures enabled the NAZI to gain an advantage that nearly resulted in Britain's defeat in Woirkld War II. One Britain began to rearm, it rapidly closed the gap and by the time of the Battle of Britain, the British aviation industry was outproducing the Germans. The Royal Air Force eaked out a narrow victory in the Battle of Britain (1940). The problem for the British was not the availability of aircraft, but the fact that they did not have an adequate number of trained pilots to fly them. The British had the indistrial capacity to produce both a tactical and strategic air force. The British produced one of the great bombrs of the war--the Avro Lancaster. Royal Air Force Bomber command played a major role in the strategic air campign against Germany.
Czechoslovakia was created after World War I as part of the Allied commitment to support natioinal self determination. It was largely surrounded by unfriendly states carved out of the former Central Powers. This was why the German populated Sudetenland was trasferred to the country so that it would have defenseable borders. The country was a land-locked country. So leaders coined the motto, "Our sea is the air," meaning that Czechs could remain in contact with other countries through air connections. Several relatively small aviation industry companies were formed during the inter-War era. The Czechs, however, were no match for the much larger German aviation indusry financed by the NAZIs after they seized power. The Czechs seem ready to fight after the British and French abandoned at Munich (September 1938). It was the threat of aerial bombardment, however, that ultimately forced the Cechs to submit. The NAZIs subsequently occupied the rest of the country (March 1939). Some Czech pilots managed to escape to France, where they helped first to fight the NNAZI invasion (May 1940) and then on to Beitain where they fought with the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain and subsequent air war. Czech airmen were formed into
fighter and bomber squadrons, part of Czechoslovak army in exile. Czech fighter ace Josef František was one of the top scoring Allied fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain. Other Czech pilots managed to escape east and fight against the Germans after they invaded the Soviet Unuinn. The Germans in occupied Czechoslovakia absorbed the Czech arms industry into theGerman war industry. The Skoda complex played a major role in tank and artillery prodution, but the aviation industry was use to produce German aircraft and engines.
France was one oif the pioneers in aviation. The French Government took over the aviation industry before World War II. The French Armée de l’ Air entered World War II with high standards of training and some good aircraft, but its effectiveness was limited by illconceived tactical support doctrine and was in the middle of an expansion and requipment program when the Germans launched their Western Offensive (May 1940). France fell before the Armée de l’ Air was prepared for war. I am not sure at this time to what extent the German occpiers made use of the French aviation industry.
Germany did not have Europe's dominant aviation industry before the NAZI takeover (1933). The three major European powers (France, Germany, and Britain) all had small and roughly comparable aircraft industries. Germany was restricted by the Versailles Treaty from having military aircraft. The Gernans evaded the restrictions partially through contracts in other countrues, esprecially the Netherlnds. With the NAZI take over, huge expenditures began for military aircraft. This was first done in secret, but Göring and Hitler made the new Luftwaffe public in 1935. Luftwaffe planners had to make a major decesion at an early stage. Germany's limited industrial capacity meant that they could not build a sizeable tactical and strategic air force. The Luftwaffe planners, mostly officers frawn from the Wehrmacht, decided to build a tactical force to support ground operations. The massive expenditures enabled NAZI Germany to get a major lead on France and Britain by the tome World War II broke out (1939). Many of most important Luftwaffe aircraft types were developed prior to the War (Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, the Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber, and the Heinkel He 111 medium bomber, Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined heavy fighter and the Junkers Ju 88. The German aircraft industry proved much less successful in introducing improved types. Two exceptions were the FW-190 fighter and the innovative Me-262 jet fighter. The German aircraft industry's failure was in part due to its limited capacity, but also due to the Luftwaffe's mismanagement. They sponsored so many projects that they squandered scarce resources and delayed the introduction of new aircraft types. Hitler personally delayed the production of jet aircraft so that the Me-262 arrived to late to affect the outcome of the air war.
Italy had some inovative aeronautical engineers, but the country's aviation industry was limited by the small demand for civil aviation and the country's overal limited industrial capacity. Itly exported aircraft and technology to severl European countries during the pre-World War II era, including several countries that would join the Axis. Many of these countries wanted German aircraft, but the German Air Ministry was primarily interested in finding a market for obsolete aircraft type than preparing future allies for war. [Corum] The Italian Regia Aeronautica was reasonably trained, but forced to fight the war with obsolescent equipment.
The German military after the NAZIs seized power sw Fascist Italy as a potential ally in any future war. Senior German officers met with Italian officers to discuss the benefits of standardizing equipment (1933-34). The Italians showed little interest and the German military did not persue the possibility of such cooperation [Corum]
Italy despite entering ito the Axis alliance had made no effort to coordinate military operations or kndustry and scientific research with the Germans. When Italy etered the War (June 1940) Italian militry equipment incliding aircraft and communication were incompatible with the German equipment and communications systems. [Corum] Given that Italy was NAZI Germany's principal ally, this lack of coordiation in the pre-War era is difficult go understand.
The Japanese through the 1920s equipped both the Imperal Army and Navy with largely obsolescent foreign aircraft. Some were purchased abroad and imported. Others were built in Japan under manufacturing licenses. The Japanese aviation industry largely developed through constructing foreign-designedaircradt types under license. The industry was almost entirely military oriented as the country had a very small civiln aviation industry. Japanese aircraft designers began designing their own aircradt in the early 1930s. This shift as it was for military airctaft was done in secret and was not well preceived in Europe abd the United States. Thus the effectiveness of Japanese aircraft such as the Mitsubishi Zero came as a shock to the United States and Britain in the ealy months of the war. The Zero was an orignal Japanese design. Interestingly many sources continue to claim even today the Japanese copied it. The Japanese Army and Navy at the beginning of the War were superbly trained, but fought the War after the first year with increaingly outdated planes. Japan's industrial base did not have the capacity to produce aircraft in the numbers needed for a protracted war with the United states or to build improved aircraft types. The effectiveness of the Zero and Oscar fighters was largely premissed on their light weight. Thus spectacular performance could be gained by relatively small engines, in the case of the Zero 900 HP. The planes were light weight largely because of dispensing with defensive armor. Building heavier planes with higher-powered engines would have required a greater indistrial capacity. The Japanese approached worked well in 1942, but proved disatrous in 1943 when more modern aircraft types reached the American pilots. The Corsair for exanple had 3,600 HP. Not only did Japan begin to lose aircraft in large numbers, but they also lost many of their trained pilots.
The Soviet Union under Stalin developed a major aviation industry. From the beginning it was oriented toward military aviation. And as a result, at the beginning of World War II it had the world's largest airforce. The question that needs to be asked is why the Soviet's had aircraft that were largely obselete when the NAZIs invaded (1941). We suspect that the answer to this is related to why Soviet industry proved so inefficent in comparison to Westen industry. Another factor was Stalin's purges which desimated the leadership of the Red Air Force.
The above countries are the ones with the major aviation industries. Other countries had smaller industries, a few of which played a limited role in the War. We have bery limited information on these countrie, but will add details as it becomes available. Notably Canada, a country with only a minimal aviation industry before the War, produced 10,000 modern aircraft to support the Allied war effort. In contrast Germany brought almost al of Europe under its sway, either through alliances or conquest. Even so, the considerable industrial capacity of German dominated Europe, does not seem to have been mobilized to supprt the Luftwaffe and German air war. Some of the countries involved (France and Italy) had substantial aviation industries. Other countries had smaller indistries, but combined the industrial potential of the Axis and occupied countries was substantial.
Corum, James S. "The Luftwaffe and its Allied Air Forces in World War II: Parallel War and the Failure of Strategic and Economic Cooperation," Air Power History (June 22, 2004). Corum argues that "the actual and potential force of Germany's allies was ignored or misused by the Luftwaffe throughout the war. Indeed, one of the primary causes for German defeat, and specifically Germany's defeat in the air, was due to the Third Reich's inability to effectively lead a coalition war."
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