WWII - Aircraft produced in large quantities that did not see combat - or very little

Conslaw · Apr 24, 2019

Every now and then I've seen production figures of aircraft that surprised me - The Vultee Vengeance, for example, did see some combat in the CBI theater, but not the level that you would expect for a dive bomber with 1,931 units produced. It seems that The A-36 invader saw just as much service with 500 units produced. For the SBD Dauntless, most of the critical battles fought by the type wer the -3 variant, of which 580 were produced. The -4 series saw relatively little action even though 780 units were produced. By the time the -5 Dauntless was available, the type was being phased out of front line units even though 2,955 units were produced. I have seen no indication that the 450 dash 6 models saw any combat at all. I'm posting this thread not just to discuss the aircraft above, but to discuss any aircraft that really surprised you when you find out how many were built.

michael rauls · Apr 24, 2019

Verry cool idea for a thread. I don't have any examples to add but am certainly looking forward to seeing those of others.

Greyman · Apr 24, 2019

Vickers Warwick comes to mind, though I might just be ignorant in regard to its service ...

Shortround6 · Apr 25, 2019

Brewster Buccaneer/Bermuda.

"Due to the poor performance of the SB2A, many of the completed aircraft were scrapped by the RAF and US Navy without having been flown operationally.[4] The US Navy cancelled its remaining order of the type in 1943. A total of 771 SB2As were eventually completed"

GrauGeist · Apr 25, 2019

Several come to mind:
USAAF B-32
USN SO3C

In regards to the SBD, the dash two and dash three SBDs were shot down at Pearl Harbor and in a twist of irony, it was dash twos and dash threes that ravaged the Japanese fleet at Midway.
The dash four was introduced in fall of '42 and the dash five was introduced in '43.
The dash six was introduced in '44 and was used mainly by the USMC for ground support of Marine and Army assets in the Pacific island campaign until the end of the war.

Conslaw · Apr 25, 2019

Shortround6 said:
Brewster Buccaneer/Bermuda.

"Due to the poor performance of the SB2A, many of the completed aircraft were scrapped by the RAF and US Navy without having been flown operationally.[4] The US Navy cancelled its remaining order of the type in 1943. A total of 771 SB2As were eventually completed"

Wow! 771 SB2As! Compare that to 21 B2 bombers that have been serving for going on 30 years.

Conslaw · Apr 25, 2019

Greyman said:
Vickers Warwick comes to mind, though I might just be ignorant in regard to its service ...

Vickers Warwick is a great example. I had never heard of it, but 846 were built.

Conslaw · Apr 25, 2019

Shortround6 said:
Brewster Buccaneer/Bermuda.

"Due to the poor performance of the SB2A, many of the completed aircraft were scrapped by the RAF and US Navy without having been flown operationally.[4] The US Navy cancelled its remaining order of the type in 1943. A total of 771 SB2As were eventually completed"

Per wikipedia

GrauGeist said:
Several come to mind:
USAAF B-32
USN SO3C

In regards to the SBD, the dash two and dash three SBDs were shot down at Pearl Harbor and in a twist of irony, it was dash twos and dash threes that ravaged the Japanese fleet at Midway.
The dash four was introduced in fall of '42 and the dash five was introduced in '43.
The dash six was introduced in '44 and was used mainly by the USMC for ground support of Marine and Army assets in the Pacific island campaign until the end of the war.

SO3C "seamew" 775 produced
B-32 "Dominator" 118 produced (at great cost)

Great examples

GrauGeist · Apr 25, 2019

There was also Brewster's production of the F4U, designated F3A, which was a disaster.
Brewster's SBN was a failure, but fortunately on a lesser scale.

Schweik · Apr 25, 2019

He 177

Capt. Vick · Apr 25, 2019

Didn't Brewster produce P-47 G's under contact that were only used for training due to quality issues?

GrauGeist · Apr 25, 2019

Capt. Vick said:
Didn't Brewster produce P-47 G's under contact that were only used for training due to quality issues?

Curtiss manufactured the P-47G in their Buffalo plant. Their quality was good enough, but Curtiss' production lagged so far behind, the "G" was obsolete by the time they were delivered, so they ended up as trainers.

michael rauls · Apr 25, 2019

It's starting to sound like we should have offered to have Brewster build planes for the Axis.

Schweik · Apr 25, 2019

Me 210

swampyankee · Apr 25, 2019

michael rauls said:
It's starting to sound like we should have offered to have Brewster built planes for the Axis.

Perhaps that's who they were working for.

GrauGeist · Apr 25, 2019

Schweik said:
Me 210

To be honest, the Me210 was Germany's Brewster F2A.
Just as the Finns had great success with the F2A where the Americans did not, the Hungarians used the Me210 effectively against the Allies where the Germans did not.

taly01 · Apr 26, 2019

P-63 Kingcobra, a modernised P-39 but only entered service in 1944 when P-51 and P-47.

3300 built, i don't think USAAF used it in combat and USSR seems to have not used them until August 1944, and then only 1-2 squadrons.

fubar57 · Apr 26, 2019

Depending on the source, France received between 200-300 P-63s. Sources say they were used to protect the La Harve docks in late '44 but there is no actual evidence to support this. What is known is the P-63 did see combat in the Far East during the brief but fierce fighting that took place when Russia declared war on Japan shortly after and taking advantage of the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6th, '45. This conflict became known to the Soviets as Operation Autumn Storm, very little archive information exists about these missions, but it is known that these battles extended beyond the official surrender of Japan which took place on board U.S. battleship Missouri on September 2nd 1945. It is a common misconception that some historians make stating that the last battles of World War Two were fought at Iwo Jima, whilst this might be true when referring the U.S. involvement in the war what is often overlooked was that the Russian's were still carrying out Operation Autumn Storm well after the last battles of Iwo Jima had finally ended. The P-63'C's deployed during these operations in the Kuril Islands can surely claim the last combat of World War Two undertaken by any American built aircraf

wingnuts · Apr 26, 2019

The Blackburn Botha is a good example, designed as a torpedo bomber, 580 built, underpowered and unstable, turned in a trainer and killed many students, turned into a target tug..... should have been lined up on the ground and just used as a target! (note: I am an ex Blackburn's apprentice).

buffnut453 · Apr 26, 2019

wingnuts said:
The Blackburn Botha is a good example, designed as a torpedo bomber, 580 built, underpowered and unstable, turned in a trainer and killed many students, turned into a target tug..... should have been lined up on the ground and just used as a target! (note: I am an ex Blackburn's apprentice).

Ahhhh....the Botha. Genesis of the oft-quoted (oft-paraphrased?) comment by a test pilot "Entry into the cockpit is difficult. It should be made impossible."

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