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

[jetcal1]

We seem to have 3 categories. Perhaps Conslaw can give us some guidance in what he intended?

3. Planes that were ordered in large numbers, either before the fighting started or after that turned out to be not what was promised/desired once the realities of combat had sunk in. (Polite way of saying dud) and were shuffled off to secondary duties (or parked) as soon as possible.

Funny thing though, the BA.88 I listed would have been literally two weeks production for 1943 North America, but were a sizable quantity for Breda and Italy. Do we consider industrial capacity as well?

 

[Shortround6]

I am sure allowances can be made. They did make 149 (?) of the things so it certainly got passed prototype or combat trial stages.

 

[Conslaw]

I'd have to add the Bearcat, P-51H and Tempest II which were all too late for service.

Even if they were too late to see combat, it would be interesting to know how many were actually built before the ware was over.

 

[Conslaw]

I tried to find some figures of how many P-38L models were never shipped to combat units. I have an unconfirmed hunch that it was the majority of them. Almost 4,000 P-38Ls were built. (I find that kind of ironic, because for most of the war, the front-line commanders were screaming they couldn't get enough P-38s, and when the best P-38 of all became available, in a lot of cases, there was no place for them.) If somebody could find figures either backing this up or refuting it, that would be great.

 

[taly01]

I tried to find some figures of how many P-38L models were never shipped to combat units.

Interesting question and an excuse to use the USAAF statistical digest 1945 again

USAF STATISTICS

P-38 on hand for AAF, May 1945 = 2,752

P-38 theatres vs Germany, May 1945 = 555
P-38 Theatres vs Japan, May 1945 = 978

 

[Conslaw]

Funny thing though, the BA.88 I listed would have been literally two weeks production for 1943 North America, but were a sizable quantity for Breda and Italy. Do we consider industrial capacity as well?

I was deliberately vague - if it is interesting, talk about it.

 

[Denniss]

In 5/1945 they had 1932 P-38 on hand overseas and 821 on hand in continental US

 

[taly01]

Another thing I noticed in USAAF statistics is that the P-40 seems to have been the main type used for fighter pilot training in 1944/45, which explains where alot of the 5,000 P-40N's went.

But IMHO this thread is for planes that failed to make it as a combat plane. The Italian Ba88 as mentioned already was a spectacular failure, although I can't understand why a plane that set speed records with 1000kg loads, would become an unusable plane by wartime.

 

[jetcal1]

I'd imagine the combination of added weight, sand filters, and lack of reserve growth for engines killed it.

 

[Fighterguy]

So, what about the North American T-6 Texan? 15,495 produced, and saw limited combat use after WWII.

 

[michael rauls]

So, what about the North American T-6 Texan? 15,495 produced, and saw limited combat use after WWII.

Even saw limited( verry limited) combat use during ww2. New Zealand I believe.

 

[wingnuts]

As an ex apprentice, would you happen to have any scale drawings or photos that might be of use for us model builders?

If so, would like to hear from you.
Skye

Sorry, I left Blackburn's in 1962 to join the RAF. I don't have anything from those days.

 

[Hairog]

Don't mean to get off subject, but the Soviet operation mentioned by Fubar57 back in post #18 was named Operation August Storm not Autumn Storm in case anyone tries to do further research. A very good academic study was done on this fascinating and little known, massive operation that achieve total surprise.

HERE

Some historians contend that the loss of the entire Japanese Kwantung Army and its Manchukuoan and Inner Mongolian auxiliaries was the most probable reason the Japanese surrendered and not the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In World War Two the majority of combatants surrendered only after their field armies were destroyed. The loss of their cities and large numbers of their citizens being killed was not what seems to have caused them to surrender. It could be argued that the French, Germans, Italians, and Japanese surrendered only after they had no viable ground troops left.

The Soviets destroyed the last field army of the Japanese in Operation August Storm.

 

[MiTasol]

The Curtiss-Wright CW-22 wasn't a bad aircraft to be honest and the KNIL CW-22s that were captured in the East Indies were operated by the Japanese.

And a fair few made it to Australia direct from the USA but I have never seen any use of them in Aus or the Pacific after the fall of Java

 

[Conslaw]

Funny thing though, the BA.88 I listed would have been literally two weeks production for 1943 North America, but were a sizable quantity for Breda and Italy. Do we consider industrial capacity as well?

I think so. Remember, the purpose of this forum is to spread tidbits of information that aviation enthusiasts find interesting. Most of us want as much info as we can get our hands on.

 

[Conslaw]

And a fair few made it to Australia direct from the USA but I have never seen any use of them in Aus or the Pacific after the fall of Java

Given the small number of CW-22 built, a fair number of them made it to combat.

 

[Barrett]

Our Dauntless actually was an A-24B 42-54582 of 1943 vintage but I do not know date of delivery. That'd be interesting to learn. For whatever reason it's displayed at Wright-Pat with 115736 on the tail. Anyway, the A-24B was an SBD-5, and that type saw extensive combat.

 

[Bigmerle]

North American only built 555 P-51H of the roughly 2500 contracted.

 

[Conslaw]

North American only built 555 P-51H of the roughly 2500 contracted.

555 is a lot of aircraft though. That's more than the total number of Brewster Buffalo, for example (509)

 

[Reluctant Poster]

The champion waste of resources has to be the B-24E. Willow Run produced 801 of them (including knock down kits for final assembly by Consolidated and Douglas). Because Willow Run was so slow in getting up and running (Will It Run) and because Fords production methods were so inflexible, they were obsolete before they left the factory. As such none of them saw combat. This was in late 1942 and early 1943 when there was a massive shortage of heavy bombers with, for example, RAF Coastal Command having to use inferior aircraft in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The expenditure on 800 four engine bombers is far more significant than on any of the other aircraft named so far.