ww2 adverts

[guru_1071]

got a book recently that has some nice ww2 adverts, ive scanned a few







the book is called 'aircraft of the fighting powers' and is like a top trumps fact book about every craft used by all side in ww2, its also got detailed (ish) plans of many so that they could be made by kids.

a guy at work gave it to me, he found it when he cleared his dads house out.

the book was printed during the war, so im sure that much of the performance figures are either made up or improved, but it makes good reading

there are some very obscure planes in it!

[Barletta]

Nice one

[Simpo Two]

In the same vein I have 'All The World's Fighting Fleets', an impulse buy from eBay. It has all the details on all the world's naval ships. Two interesting points - the Graf Spee is absent and Bismarck has not yet been launched, dating it to 1940/41. Also the navy of GREAT Britain is FIRST in the book and occupies HALF of it

[Total loss]

Is that Vol. 1 or 2? So now you have another 5 or 6 (I can't remember how many there are, 6 or 7) volumes to collect. The last (?)Vol. '45 or '46 has some very interesting aircraft in it that were being developed at the end of the war, but were then canceled.

[williamp]

Interesting but...why did they need to advertise?

The puiblic, or industry had no need for a Merlin, or a Frazer-Nash turret, an the specific industry would be done direct or through the war office?

I cant imagine some (lets say Barnes Wallace) reading an advert and then specifying it for his Wellington, or did he?

[Total loss]

williamp said:

Interesting but...why did they need to advertise?

The puiblic, or industry had no need for a Merlin, or a Frazer-Nash turret, an the specific industry would be done direct or through the war office?

I cant imagine some (lets say Barnes Wallace) reading an advert and then specifying it for his Wellington, or did he?

I find it hard to believe, but know it to be true that although we were at total war, the companies were all still competing against each other. The companies lobbied politicians, spread rumors of bad things about competing companies products just to gain an advantage in getting a contract. So adverts were just a part of it.

[anonymous-user]

Yep, there were companies fighting over every spec released by the government. The industrial base may never have been so live, and will almost certainly not be again.

I like the adverts promoting the use of aluminium. It's interesting to see the need to introduce the population to ally, when today it is taken for granted (like wood was then) and we are doing the same with carbon composites.