Read Kansas!By the Kansas Historical Society

Read Kansas!KANSASHISTORICALSOCIETY

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Production“For good or ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power.”

– Winston Churchill

Many Kansas towns received contracts to manufacture military equipment. These contracts changed the economic framework of the state from strictly agricultural to a combination of farming and industrial production. Nowhere was this change more evident than in Wichita. From the outset of World War II airplanes proved to be a crucial component in maintaining a military advantage. This created a high demand for aircraft in the United States. Wichita, strategically located in the center of the country and with three aircraft companies already in place, became the logical center for military aircraft production. The companies Cessna and Beechcraft, both headquartered in Wichita, as well as the Wichita branch of Boeing, all received large military contracts from the government. After the war, aircraft manufacturing remained integral to Wichita’s economy.

This 1943 photograph demonstrates production of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Wichita’s Boeing plant was the primary producer of B-29s during the war and also manufactured military training aircraft and gliders for the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day.

©2011

During the war the Cessna Aircraft Company produced thousands of AT-17 Bobcats for the Allied war effort and employed several thousand workers.

This 1941 photograph shows rows of AT-11s at the Beechcraft plant in Wichita. The aircraft industry employed workers in three shifts to keep the factories operating 24 hours a day.