Quote:
Originally Posted by aspqrz
SMGs, Machineguns, Mortars, 25 pdr artillery. Ammunition and Artillery rounds.
Oh, and sixty Bathurst class Corvettes alone were built in Australia. Six Tribal Class Destroyers were built in Australia.
And we built RR Aero engines for a variety of, yes, imported aircraft.
However, we built around 700 Beauforts locally, too, around 400 Beaufighters, 700 odd Wirraway Trainers, 250 Boomerang Fighters etc.
Yes, not much in the greater scheme of things, but much more than most people, even most Australians, realise!
And rather more than you claimed.
Phil
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Outside of small arms and munitions which almost every country in WW2 produced how much of Australia's war production was sent outside of Australia and the South West Pacific Area theatre?
I stated that Australia produced 16 escorts in WW2. I included the Tribal Class Destroyers as escorts as that is the type of warship they are; escorts to larger fleet warships such as cruisers, capitol ships and aircraft carriers; But on closer examination I overstated that figure. Between 1939 and the end of the war Australia only produced 11 escorts (2 Grimsby Class Sloops, 6 River Class Frigates and 3 Tribal Class destroyers, and one of the Tribal Class was commissioned in May 1945).
I didn't include the Bathurst Class as escorts as they were originally classed as minesweepers, later re-designated corvettes and then classed again as minesweepers depending on their deployment. Incidentally 4 ships in the class were involved in mutinous activity due to the poor working and living conditions aboard these vessels, a record for a single class I think.
The Bristol Beaufort and Beaufighter were British designs. The 700 Beaufort's license built in Australia used American engines. The 365 Beaufighters were only built from 1944, and the Wirraway and Boomerang used American engines.