"John Freck" wrote in message
om...
"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...




I don't know the specifics, but I know that I don't see any great
piles of unprocessed iron ore, chromium ore, alminium ore, ect. I
don't see or smell a large crude oil to crude plasitics plant there
either. I conceptually understand that this Piper plant has finished
parts sent to it by many suppliers, and they buy many ready made
off-the-shelf products too such as screws, botls, fastners, ect. This
plant probably makes nothing from utter base raw materials. As far as
I know, Piper is a maker of aircraft engines. What is done at this
plant and what is done at their other plants and the intra-corporate
trade? I don't have the facts--it is just an assemble plant on or
near an airport.


Piper dont build engines, they do however make aircraft


All related to options that an imgained SimWWII might allow from July
1st, 1940:

1) RAF fighter strenght can be increased.
a. Bomber command can provide fuel, skilled labor, and other goods and
services to fighter command.

Fighter command wasnt short of fuel or skilled
labour. The only thing it was short of was trained
fighter pilots and experience has shown that trying
to put bomber or transport pilots into fighters is
disastrous. The skill sets are too different.

I didn't mention pilots. As far as fuel goes, I have heard interview
with folks saying other groups didn't have fuel and that is why the
didn't fighter as not to waste resources. The RAf was very resouce
aware.


There was no shortage of fuel, producing airframes when you
dont have pilots to fly them isnt terribly helpful as both the
Germans and Japanese found.



b. Bomber production can be decreased quickly by allowing
manufacturing plants of bombers to loan to fighter manufacturing
plants skilled labor, materials, and other goods and services.


One more.

You cant make Spitfire wings , a complex monocoque structure
in a factory that builds wings for Wellington bombers that have
a geodesic aluminium structure covered in fabric,

Of course, you want to discuss the difficult of Spitfire increses, and
I am discussing the ease of Hurricane increases.


Neither was easy, neither could use the engines or structure
of a Wellington bomber




You cant use the air cooled radial engines the bomber uses
in a Spitfire or Hurricane

Such a switch wouldnt produce new fighter airframes
until 1943 at the earliest


The first point a. seems to be the most controversial by just a bit.
I claimed from conceptual awareness backed by some brief statements in
interviews I have heard here and there on the USA's History Channel,
and a bit from reading--that fighter ground support can be strenghted
as to allow on *major bases* air plane manufacturing. The example
provided by Tex was the largest of 20 or so top tier maintance
facilities that manufactured a variety of new plane.

Tex said nothing of the sort, He referred to the Burtonwood
REPAIR depot. Like the Catle Bromwich site it was ordered
by the British in 1938 but wasnt fully operational until 1941.

It was handed over to the USAAF in 1942 and while it repaired and
refurbished
aircraft and rebuilt aircraft engines and assembled aircraft
shipped as kits from the USA it didnt build a single new aircraft
from scratch

Did any plant any where build a plane from acratch?

John Freck


Not after about 1910 at a guess, modern aircraft production
requires MANY plants often owned by different companies
working in partnership.

Keith