State of the Art: U.S. Fighters at the Dawn of World War II
B y Patrick J. Walsh Aviation Aftermarket Defense As the first enemy planes passed overhead at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the dry statistics of aircraft inventories and procurement proposals took on an unprecedented immediacy for service personnel stationed at the sprawling U.S. naval base below. Thoughts that turned first to the prospect of getting planes in the air would, within a few short hours, be transformed by the events of the day into plans for securing and repairing whatever aircraft — or aircraft parts — might be salvaged for later use. A Moment in Time By the time of the attack that precipitated U.S. entry into World War II, America’s military was already undergoing major expansion. However, even with the spur of war, the manufacture of massive numbers of aircraft would take time. In the interim, those fighters that were already in service assumed a vital role in the American war effort. At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Hawaiian Air...