A P-38.
The total plane production of various countries. Note that the Japanese managed to increase their plane production every year, except for 1945, despite the bombing of their homeland by B-29s. The major thing to note is the difference between Japanese and American production. In 1939, the Japanese out-produced the U.S. by a better than 2:1 margin.
That was the only year (on this chart) that they were able to do so. In 1940, the U.S. outproduced Japan 1.28: 1, which is really pretty even. In 1941, the figure rose to 3.8:1. For 1942, the figure rose even higher, about 5.4:1. In 1943, the number fell a little, the U.S. outproducing Japan at a rate of 5.15:1. The number went back up to 5.4:1 for 1944. In the final year of the war, the difference was 5.6:1.
This ability to out-produce Japan was something Yamamoto and some other leaders realized, but no one listened to them.
The types of planes produced
Training pilots at Tuskegee.
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