Blue Skies & Tailwinds commentator Dan Patterson, a pilot and aviation photographer, invites you to learn more about the Dayton region’s aviation accomplishments from a century ago the first Friday of each month.
Well before the USA entered World War II after the Pearl Harbor attack, the US Army Air Force could see the storm clouds of war on the horizon and was taking steps to expand the air forces.
The aircraft which had been developed in the late 1930s and early 1940s were capable and effective. However, the real-time news from our allies was beneficial in how to modify them to be even better and be sure that we could compete in the sky. Once we were in the war, that kind of intelligence began to flow even more.
Wright Field was the focal point of that information and the decisions to modify and adapt our aircraft came from there. Bringing a production line at Boeing, Consolidated or North American to a halt for these adaptations made no sense at all. After all, FDR had promised and demanded that the USA produce over 50,000 aircraft in a year…