Shortround6
Major General
At what point after May 1942 was the USN ever shoirt of F4Fs. At what point did the Avenger become an effective torpedo bomber. The latter was a very effective aircraft but it was not effective in its allotted role until well after 1943. There were no shortages of F4Fs after Coral Sea that I know of. The factory was NOT essential to the American war effort, or at least, not as essential as securing a better supply of carriers.
Its not my explanation either. You are arguing with the author of a pretty solid reference. good luck with that. I notice not a shred of evidence to support your claims incidentally. funny that....
Maybe it wasn't short of F4Fs because Grumman was making 90 or more a month in that factory you claim wasn't needed?
Factory had it's opening day ceremony Dec 7 1941, Prior peak F4F production was 47 planes back in April of 1941. Production topped only 30 planes a month in 3 other months until Jan 1942.
It may have taken a while for the Avenger to become an effective torpedo bomber but what was the alternative in the summer/fall/winter of 1942?
and by alternative the Devasator had been out of production for a couple of years so there are NO REPLACEMENTS and NO NEW AIRCRAFT to equip squadrons with.
Your idea is now to use LOTS of carriers with F4Fs and Dauntless's and nothing else? It may have taken a while for the Avenger to become effective in it's "allotted role" but that is more of a problem with the torpedo than the aircraft isn't it?
What kind of proof do you want?
Some production figures are from Grumman Aircraft since 1929 by Rene Francillon (dates for production by Grumman and Eastern Aircraft)
Some are from America's Hundred Thousand.
Some are from here, Exhibit 6.
Funny that, but I guess they are not good enough for you.