Francis Dean in America's Hundred Thousand has a table of the 8
main WWII fighter types, by numbers produced and I am wondering
about the differences he has with the USAAF Statistical digest.

The big difference is the P-40 production June to August 1942,
Dean says 560 the Digest says 1,158. As a result mainly of
this Dean's P-40 production grand total is around 600 less than
other references at 13,143, versus 13,738 in the digest for
example.

For the P-39 the period July to November 1942 Dean says 835
produced the digest says 784. Overall Dean says 9,547 P-39s
built, the digest says 9,588.

Normally Dean's figures track the digest's very well, even down to
the monthly totals.

What I am after is any information about the P-39 and P-40 lines
in the above time periods and also a monthly breakdown of the
Grumman production (factory acceptances) from, ideally, April
1944 when F7F Tigercat deliveries started through to December
1945. A breakdown of Wildcat production by month in 1945
would useful as would similar figures for the F4U-4.

The rest is for those who are interested in a detailed comparison
between the various production figures, including more detail
on the P-39 and P-40.

P-38, Dean includes the production of F-4 and F-5 (unarmed
reconnaissance versions of the P-38) under P-38. His monthly
figures are identical to the digests except for August 1944 when
he is 2 less. He also has the 1945 yearly total include 3 aircraft
not accounted for in the monthly totals. There were 500 F-4 and
F-5 produced, plus other P-38s were converted.

P-47, identical, with Dean giving the September to December
1945 production figures, the digest stops in August 1945.

P-51, as with the P-38 the reconnaissance version of the P-51,
the F-6 is included in the totals, but not the A-36 variant. The two
sources are identical to the end of 1944. Dean gives the total
production for 1945, the digest until the end of August. The
digest says 299 F-6 were produced to end August 1945.

Wildcat, the digest gives only yearly totals, and they are consistent
with Dean as are the Hellcat figures, once you know the 1942 Hellcat
(10) and 1943 Wildcat (100) production at Grumman.

P-40, until June 1942 the figures are close to identical (difference
of 2 in January 1941, 1 in May 1942, out of around 4,770 built to
end May 1942). Then comes the upheaval, table is date, Dean, Digest,

6/42 / 282 / 347
7/42 / 135 / 421
8/42 / 143 / 390
Totals / 560 / 1158

Normal service then resumes in September, with Dean being 1 less
than the digest, same total in October, Dean 3 more in November,
same total in December 1942. The figures are then identical until
deliveries end in November 1944.

Which are correct?

P-39, until July 1942 the figures are close to identical (difference of
1 in April 1942 out of around 1,425 built to end April 1942). Then
comes the upheaval, table is date, Dean, Digest,

7/42 / 255 / 170
8/42 / 309 / 60
9/42 / 0 / 132
10/42 / 3 / 145
11/42 / 268 / 277
Totals / 835 / 784

Normal service resumes in December, Dean being 3 less. The figures
are then identical until deliveries end in August 1944.

Which are correct?

Corsair, apart from the Statistical Digest's yearly figures Barrett Tillman
in The F4U in World War II and Korea gives monthly figures until December
1945, Dean gives monthly figures until December 1944. It is interesting
that the figures he gives in the table are not consistent, the monthly figures
do not always add up to the yearly totals, the yearly figures are also different
from those in the Corsair chapter.

Dean's yearly totals from 1940 to 1945 in the table are given as,

1, 0, 178, 2293, 5380, 3578

If I punch the monthly numbers into a spreadsheet the totals are

1, 0, 178, 2287, 5440, 3578 (there is only a yearly total for 1945)

Go to the Corsair chapter and the numbers are

1, 0, 178, 2298, 5372, 3578.

Barrett Tillman's figures are

0, 0, 178, 2298, 5372, 3567 (3385 January to August 1945)
(so he misses the 1940 delivery of the prototype).

The USAAF digest's figures are

0, 0, 178, 2293, 5380, 3387 (to end August) so around 3569 for 1945,
Using Tillman's figures for September to December 1945.

Following my analysis, detailed below, I make the figures as

1, 0, 2293, 5380, 3385 (to 8/45) or 3567 for all of 1945 with the note
the 1945 figures are the least certain and Dean claims another 11
Corsairs were built in 1945.

So the overall totals are Dean table grand total 11,484, me adding
up the table's yearly figures 11,430, me adding up the monthly
figures 11,484, but a typo of 60 aircraft reduces this to 11,424,
Tillman 11,415, Digest 11,420 using the Tillman figures for the
final 4 months of 1945. I think the total is around 11,419 using my
choice of production figures.

Differences between Dean, Tillman and my ideas on them,

10/42 Dean 1 more
11/42 Dean 1 less, so leave these two months alone.
8/43 Dean 6 less, assume Dean in error, as this means the totals then
add up to the Digest total Naval fighters figure for the month. It also
means the Dean yearly total for 1943 equals the sum of the monthly
totals instead of being 6 more.

1/44 Dean 1 more, assumed correct as the numbers then add up to
the Digest total.

2/44 Dean 60 more, this appears to be a typo, the Hellcat production
figure copied into the Corsair column, using the Tillman figure means
the totals then add up to the Digest figure.

4/44 Tigercat production starts so from now on there is the uncertainty
of how many F7Fs in a given month. I have no F7F production figures.

10/44 Dean 2 more, 12/44 Dean 5 more. I use the larger figures since
this means the difference between the Digest total for Naval fighters
for 1944 and my spreadsheet is then 71. Which would be the 67 non
F6Fs from Grumman, 3 Ryan Fireballs and 1 XF14C-2. The Grummans
would probably be all F7Fs and I assume the total includes the 2
prototypes, with the possibility the total includes one or more F8F
prototypes.

Dean's monthly figures stop in December 1944. F8F Bearcat deliveries
start in February 1945.

The difference between the figures for the Corsair (Tillman), Wildcat
and Hellcat (both from Dean) and the Statistical Digest Naval fighters
total for the time period January to August 1945 is 377. Non F6F
production from Grumman is 336, then add 39 Ryan Fireballs, total 375.
Good enough when you consider the possible errors, perhaps the
delivery of the XF15C-1 prototype plus the possibility that Tillman has
underestimated 1945 Corsair production, being 11 less than the Dean figure.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.