Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot?Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more!
Learn more about post-war aviation with these cool and interesting facts.
Number of U.S. civilian pilots, 1939: 33,706
Year WWII ended: 1945
Number of U.S. military personnel at war’s end: 12 million
Number stationed abroad: 7.6 million
Number in the Army Air Forces: 2.4 million
Number in AAF by mid-1947: 306, 000
Date of G.I. Bill signing: June 22, 1944
Number of G.I.s who took advantage of it: More than 5 million
One big G.I. Bill benefit: Flight training
Number of pilots demobilized after WWII: Approximately 2 million
Airliners in U.S. during the war: 360
Number of them requisitioned by the military: 200
Post-WWII airline pilot opportunities: Few
Reasons: Unions, a glut of pilots and too-few positions
Rule that resulted: Mandatory age 60 retirement
Most popular airliner pre- and immediately post-WWII: Douglas DC-3
Number of airplanes built in U.S. in 1939: 921
Number in 1944: 96,318
Number of civil planes built in U.S. 1947-1950: Almost 30,000
Year Aeronca Champ and Chief introduced: 1945
Number built 1945-1950: About 10,000
Year Aeronca ceased aircraft production: 1951
Year Globe Swift introduced: 1946
Production first six months: 833
Sales first six months: Unknown, estimated at less than 500
First bankruptcy: 1947
Purchaser: TEMCO
Number built by TEMCO: Approximately 650
Total number Swifts built 1946-1950: About 1,500
Year TEMCO went out of business: 1950
First Beech Bonanza: 1947
Number produced 1947-1948: 1,500
Years in production: 1947-present, 71 years and counting
Piper Super Cub introduced: 1949
Number built 1949-1982, 1988-1994: Around 9,000
Number of planes built in 1947: 15,594
Next year of 10,000-plus planes: 1965
Number built in 1951: 2,302
First supersonic flight: 1947, Bell X-1 Rocket plane
Number of U.S. civilian pilots, 1949: 525,194
