B-17 Assembly Line 1944

[1srelluc]

The logistical chain to support that sort of activity had to be staggering when you consider the number of specialized parts involved.

 

[fncceo]

My zayde was one hell of a riveter!

 

[ReinyDays]

The need was great ...

 

[tyroneweaver]

my mom worked at an arms plant during ww2

 

[whitehall]

After Pearl Harbor the Brits were shocked that the U.S. had no national intelligence operation prior to WW2 and little in the way of military preparation. The racist attitude by the FDR administration during the 30's indicated that the Japanese were incapable of building a ship that would float or a plane that would fly and some genetic affliction prevented the Japanese from being effective pilots. Meanwhile Germany was decades ahead of the U.S. in military innovation. It would have been a recipe for disaster but for the freedoms inherent in the Constitution and the patriotism of the American worker that contributed to the industrial might of the U.S.

 

[gipper]

After Pearl Harbor the Brits were shocked that the U.S. had no national intelligence operation prior to WW2 and little in the way of military preparation. The racist attitude by the FDR administration during the 30's indicated that the Japanese were incapable of building a ship that would float or a plane that would fly and some genetic affliction prevented the Japanese from being effective pilots. Meanwhile Germany was decades ahead of the U.S. in military innovation. It would have been a recipe for disaster but for the freedoms inherent in the Constitution and the patriotism of the American worker that contributed to the industrial might of the U.S.

Its bad we can’t get rid of our massive intelligence agencies now.

 

[fncceo]

After Pearl Harbor the Brits were shocked that the U.S. had no national intelligence operation prior to WW2 and little in the way of military preparation. The racist attitude by the FDR administration during the 30's indicated that the Japanese were incapable of building a ship that would float or a plane that would fly and some genetic affliction prevented the Japanese from being effective pilots. Meanwhile Germany was decades ahead of the U.S. in military innovation. It would have been a recipe for disaster but for the freedoms inherent in the Constitution and the patriotism of the American worker that contributed to the industrial might of the U.S.

The Office of Strategic Services was created to specifically to integrate security intel from the various services, FBI, Navy and Army Intel, etc., in June of 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor. A specific code-breaking section, called ULTRA, modeled after the British GC&CS at Bletchley Park was also created around the same time. The US didn't have a single, integrated intelligence service before World War II, but we still don't. FBI, CIA, NSA, Army and Navy Intelligence still have different chains of command and their failure to communicate between them is one of the big reasons for 9-11 and the failure to be forewarned about the collapse of The Soviet Union.

It wasn't much of a stretch for any Western country to underestimate Japan at that time. A country that hadn't had any familiarity with modern technology until 1860 and where most of the population was without paved roads, running water, or electricity even in the 1930s wasn't considered by most experts as being able to develop first rate weapons technology. Of course, they were wrong. But, in many ways, Japan's military technology had no commercial equivalent. Japan's merchant fleet was archaic. Japan had almost no civil aviation. Anyone visiting Japan in the 1930s and not having access to their secret weapons development would have thought they had stepped back into a previous century.

I would also take exception to the claim that the US was "decades" behind Germany in military innovation. Radar, night fighter capability, the Norden bomb sight, were already in use or under development well before America entered World War II.

The P-51, arguably the finest air superiority fighter of the any military in the War first flew in 1940. The B-17 had been in the AAC inventory since 1938 and was far beyond the capability of any German or Japanese bomber.

 

[whitehall]

The Office of Strategic Services was created to specifically to integrate security intel from the various services, FBI, Navy and Army Intel, etc., in June of 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor. A specific code-breaking section, called ULTRA, modeled after the British GC&CS at Bletchley Park was also created around the same time. The US didn't have a single, integrated intelligence service before World War II, but we still don't. FBI, CIA, NSA, Army and Navy Intelligence still have different chains of command and their failure to communicate between them is one of the big reasons for 9-11 and the failure to be forewarned about the collapse of The Soviet Union.

It wasn't much of a stretch for any Western country to underestimate Japan at that time. A country that hadn't had any familiarity with modern technology until 1860 and where most of the population was without paved roads, running water, or electricity even in the 1930s wasn't considered by most experts as being able to develop first rate weapons technology. Of course, they were wrong. But, in many ways, Japan's military technology had no commercial equivalent. Japan's merchant fleet was archaic. Japan had almost no civil aviation. Anyone visiting Japan in the 1930s and not having access to their secret weapons development would have thought they had stepped back into a previous century.

I would also take exception to the claim that the US was "decades" behind Germany in military innovation. Radar, night fighter capability, the Norden bomb sight, were already in use or under development well before America entered World War II.

The P-51, arguably the finest air superiority fighter of the any military in the War first flew in 1940. The B-17 had been in the AAC inventory since 1938 and was far beyond the capability of any German or Japanese bomber.

It took the Supreme Court to determine which fledgling intelligence network would be the lead agency after Pearl Harbor . The Court determined that the FBI would be the lead espionage agency even though the G-Men had no experience in the field. In the meantime Wild Bill Donovan's spies continued to blunder around.