Southern California's World War II Aircraft

by Cory Peyton Graff & Patrick Thomas Devine

Overview

The cities of Los Angeles and San Diego were boomtowns during World War II. California aviation companies designed many of the greatest combat aircraft of the era, and bustling armies of women and men helped quickly churn them out by the thousands. An astounding 41 percent of all US warplanes came from California drawing boards during the war. These planes saw combat service everywhere—from the deserts of North Africa to the frozen tundra of Alaska. Southern California planes were the first to bomb Japan. They turned the tide at the Battle of Midway and dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day. They flew tons of fuel, ammunition, and supplies over the treacherous Himalayan Mountains, relentlessly hounded enemy submarines and ships, and helped smash Nazi Germany's war-making industry with "thousand plane raids."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467124461
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	12/12/2016
Series:	Images of Aviation
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,093,897
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Cory Graff is the author of many military history books and is the curator at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington. Patrick Devine is a Los Angeles-based writer and aviation enthusiast. Using rare and amazing images from local museums, archives, and the US armed forces, the authors have created a vivid look at the warplanes designed and built in Southern California and their wartime exploits overseas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation 11

2 Douglas Aircraft Company Inc. 33

3 Lockheed Aircraft Corporation 61

4 North American Aviation 79

5 Vultee, Hughes, Northrop, and Ryan 107

Editorial Reviews

"While many readers know that the Southern California region was a major hub of aircraft production during World War II, few are likely to realize how significant that contribution was....
Using some 205 black-and-white photographs, authors Graff and Devine illustrate the diversity of the many types produced." The Hook

From the Publisher