B-17 & B-24 Today
B-17 & B-24 Today
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII US > WWII in the Air, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 11 Jan 2023.  
​This webpage is primarily an overview of major US aircraft and their use during WWII. 
Related Links:
Part 1 - WWII In the Air - General Information
During WWII, about 800,000 aircraft were produced worldwide, of which around 300,000 were built in the United States.

This table summarizes US WWII aircraft construction. Reminder - Click to enlarge images.
 US military aviation deaths in WWII exceeded 100,000. 
  • The USAAF suffered 52,173 deaths due to combat and 35,946 from non-combat causes. Of the 65,000 USAAF aircraft losses during WWII, a third were lost stateside during training or in other accidents, about a thousand lost in transit from the US, and the remainder lost overseas in combat or accident.
  • Naval Aviation had 12,133 deaths from all causes.​
  • ​I don't have data on Marine Corps or Coast Guard aviation deaths, but Marine aviation personnel strength at the end of the war was 116,628.

 A company which had developed an aircraft model for the War or Navy department would often contract out aircraft assembly. Some examples of these licensing arrangements:
  • Ford assembled nearly 7,000 Consolidated Aircraft Company B-24 Liberator bombers at Ford’s Willow Run factory near Detroit.
  • The Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors assembled both Grumman Wildcats and and Grumman Avengers. Eastern assembled George H. W. Bush's Avenger, which was shot down over Chichi-Jima Island, Japan on 2 September 1944.
Aircraft manufacturers and their major aircraft appear in lists later on this webpage. 

The US Army Air Force, US Navy Aviation, and US Marine Corps Aviation all used the same lower-level organizational structure:
  • A varying number of aircraft, up to 24, formed a squadron. 
  • Three or four squadrons typically formed a group, with all squadrons in a group usually sharing the same base and support services.
  • Sometimes a wing structure was used, with a wing consisting of one or more aircraft groups along with support services.

Aircraft model identifiers and serial numbers:
  • US military aircraft models during WWII, as is the case today, had a model identifier that included the aircraft function, a model identifier, and a version code. Model identifier format varied between the Army and the Navy/Marine Corps, as shown later.
  • Each aircraft purchased by the United States military in WWII had a unique serial number used to identify that individual aircraft. The serial number system also differed between the Army and the Navy.
  • For certain operations, large identifiers painted on planes were also used to facilitate visual recognition.
Part 2 - Major WWII United States Army Air Force Aircraft (training aircraft appear in Part 4)
  • The Army Air Force, AAF, was part of the Army, under control of the War Department, until 1947.
  • At its peak, the AAF had 2,400,000 personnel and around 80,000 aircraft. During WWII, the AAF lost over 65,000 aircraft to combat and accidents.
  • The AAF aircraft model identifier began with one of the type codes listed below, followed by a model number and a version code. Often this is preceded by the company holding the contract to develop that aircraft model and followed by the common name of the aircraft model. E.g., the full description of the  aircraft model on which Roy Marion Pedersen died while attempting to sink the Japanese Battleship Haruna in 1945 was Consolidated B-24J Liberator.
  • The AAF aircraft serial number began with two digits denoting the year in which the contract to build the plane was let, followed by a serial number for that year. A portion of the identifier generally appeared on the plane’s tail, and thus the identifier was called the tail number. E.g., the full identifier for the transport plane on which Virgil Anderson died while delivering supplies to besieged Bastogne was 42-100906 but the tail held the characters 2100906. 
  • Army Air Force type codes appear as a prefix:
         A – Attack, aka light, bombers
         B – Bomber (medium bombers had two engines, heavy and very heavy bombers four engines) 
         C – Cargo - goods or personnel transport
         UC - utility cargo - small transport planes
         F - Photographic (mostly used for foto-recon, i.e., photo reconnaissance)
         P – Pursuit - fighter aircraft, most single engine
         L – Liaison - small, slow, flimsy multi-purpose aircraft

Very Heavy Bombers: (four engine, long-range, built near end of WWII, used in strategic bombing of Japan) Heavy Bombers: (four engine, thousands lost in strategic bombing of Germany) Medium Bombers: (two engine, used in shorter-range strategic bombing of smaller targets) Light Bombers, also known as Attack aircraft: (two-engine, typical crew of three, used in tactical combat, partly superseded by fighters late in WWII) ​Fighters: (all single-engine with crew of one unless otherwise noted) Reconnaissance: (mostly used for photo-reconnaissance, hence the prefix of F for foto-recon) Transport: (cargo and personnel)​ Light Transport: (prefix of UC for Utility Cargo) Communications: (prefix of  L for Liaison)​ Trainers: See a later list.
Part 3 - Major WWII United States Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft
Navy and Marine Corps aircraft notes:
  • Navy/Marine type codes appear as a prefix:
          F – Fighter
          N – Trainer (see Part 4)
          O – Observation
          OS Observation Scout
          P – Patrol
          PB – Patrol Bomber
          SB – Scout Bomber
          TB –Torpedo Bomber
  • Navy/Marine manufacturer codes appear as a suffix: A - Brewster, C – Curtis, D – Douglas, F – Grumman, M – shared by Martin and Eastern, N – Naval Aircraft Factory, S – Stearman, U – Vought, V – Lockheed Vega, Y – Consolidated.
  • Starting in 1940, each plane was assigned a five or six-digit serial number called the Bureau Number, abbreviated as BuNo.
  • The scout bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters listed were all single-engine and could fly from aircraft carriers.

PB - Patrol Bombers: P - Patrol:
  • Lockheed PV-1 Ventura/PV-2 Harpoon - two-engine, land-based, crew of six, developed from Lockheed Lodestar transport, Harpoon was a major redesign of the Ventura, first flight 1941 (Ventura), 1943 (Harpoon). 
SB - Scout Bombers: (attacked the enemy as dive bombers)
  • Vought SB2U Vindicator - crew of two, first flight 1936, introduced 1937, only 260 built, last combat at Battle of Midway.
  • Douglas SBD Dauntless - crew of two, first flight 1940, introduced 1940, 4,944 built 1940-1944.
  • Curtiss SB2C Helldiver - crew of two, first flight 1940, introduced 1942, 7,140 built 1942-45; replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless.
TB - Torpedo Bombers: (in theory attacked enemy shipping horizontally carrying a large torpedo; this mission was modified after the loss of most torpedo bombers at the Battle of Midway)
  • Douglas TBD Devastator - crew of three, first flight 1935, introduced 1937, only 130 built 1937-39, last combat at the Battle of Midway.
  • Grumman/Eastern TBF/TBM Avenger - crew of three, first flight 1941, introduced 1942, 9,839 built, replaced the Douglas TBD Devastator.
F- Fighters:O - Observation: 
  • Vought OS2U/OS2N Kingfisher - amphibious, crew of two, launched by catapult from battleship or cruiser & retrieved by crane, first flight 1938, 1,519 built.
N - Trainers: See a later list.
Part 4 - Major WWII United States Training Aircraft
The Army Air Force pilot training process:
  • During World War II, the Army Air Force trained around 200,00 pilots and co-pilots and around 100,000 as navigators and bombardiers.
  • Before a pilot was combat-ready, he would go through a five-step process:
          Pre-flight training - at six schools.
          Primary flight training - provided by 56 private contract schools contracted with the Air Force.
          Basic flight training - 31 schools.
          Advanced flight training - 10 schools, two tracks - future single-engine pilots and future multi-engine tracks.
          Transition flight training.
  • Most men in the pilot training pipeline were aviation cadets, who after completing flight training were awarded their pilot's wings and commissioned Second Lieutenants.
  • Others, after completing flight training, received the rank of Flight Officer, equivalent to Staff Sergeant.
  • Many did not make it through the pilot training pipeline and were reassigned to train for service in other air crew positions, such as bombardier, navigator, or gunner.
  • Although pilot training times were reduced as WWII progressed, any pilot who completed the five-step program would have spent well over half a year in the pipeline.

The Army Air Force bombardier and navigator training process:
  • Bombardiers:
          Pre-flight training.
          Advanced training of twelve weeks or longer.
          Flexible gunnery training of six weeks.
  • Navigators:
          Preflight training.
          Advanced training of fifteen weeks or longer.
          Flexible gunnery training of six weeks.
 
Training Aircraft notes:
  • The Army Air Force and the Navy/Marine Corps generally used the same trainer models.
  • Training aircraft were used in all three phases of pilot flight school training: Primary, Basic, and Advanced. Primary training was often contracted out to civilian companies.
  • USAAF aircraft type codes: PT – Primary Trainer, BT – Basic Trainer, AT – Advanced Trainer.
  • When the US entered WWII, a pilot underwent three months of primary, three months of basic, and three months of advanced training. Each pilot had 65 flying hours of primary training and 75 flying hours of both basic and advanced training.  During the war, each phase was reduced first to 10 weeks and then to nine weeks. 
  • Two-engine advanced trainers were used for training crew members other than pilots.
  • After training with the aircraft listed below, pilots and other crew members underwent additional crew or unit-based training before leaving for the war zone.

Major US WWII Training Aircraft - Primary Trainers:Major US WWII Training Aircraft - Basic Trainers:  Major US WWII Training Aircraft - Advanced Single-engine Pilot Trainers:Major US WWII Training Aircraft - Advanced Multi-engine Pilot Trainers:Major US WWII Training Aircraft - Navigator and Bombardier Trainers:Specialized Post-Flight School Training Aircraft:
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII US > WWII In The Air webpage:
  • The header image, B-17 & B-24 Today, courtesy of pinterest.com, shows two of the few surviving and flyable WW II bombers. During WW II, over 40 Pottawattamie area men died on these bombers.