This year will mark the 80th anniversary of our entry into World War II. During that war tens of thousands of people here in western New York worked at the Curtiss-Wright plants in Buffalo, making airplanes and components for the war.

But the story comes even closer, to Hammondsport, where the almost-extinct Mercury Aircraft (down to one employee in the Depression) suddenly had 850 workers!

Army planners had designated Mercury as a major subcontractor for Curtiss-Wright, inundating them with orders for mountains of components – mostly oil tanks, gas tanks, tail fins, and control surfaces – to go to Buffalo and be installed on Curtiss airplanes, and from there be taken into combat around the globe.

Which warbirds was Mercury fabricating for? One obscure type was the O-52 Curtiss Owl, which was a “heavy” observation (scouting) airplane. The Owl was a good aircraft, but maneuvers in 1941 made the army recognize that the job could be done just as well by the smaller, lighter, cheaper Piper Cub and its imitators, so the Owl didn’t see much service in combat zones.

Not the case with the Curtiss P-40, also called Hawk, Warhawk, Tomahawk, and Kittyhawk! Curtiss made 14,000 of these fighters, and they were our fourth most-produced warplane of the period. British pilots in the Sahara painted the shark’s mouth on the nose, starting a world-wide fad. Those teeth have become just as famous as the airplane itself.

A great airplane for 1940, they were becoming obsolete by 1942, but they kept on flying, for America, Britain, France, Canada, New Zealand, China, and the Soviet Union, among others. They were designed to deliver a lot of firepower, take a lot of punishment, and bring the pilot home. Two inexperienced pilots at Pearl Harbor flew almost alone against both Japanese waves, shot down seven attackers, and landed safely at the end of it. Curtiss Museum is restoring a P-40, and has a 3/4-scale reproduction on exhibit.

Another aircraft Mercury made parts for is the C-46 Commando, or R5C in navy/marine corps lingo. This was a cargo airplane, less famous than the C-47, but those who’d flown them both loved the ’46. The Commando was bigger (carrying more cargo, or more personnel) and faster (burning less fuel on faster trips). It was also pressurized, making it much more comfortable and making oxygen masks unnecessary. So it was ideal for long high flights “over the hump” of the Himalayas, keeping China in the war from bases in India. That big airplane in front of Curtiss Museum is an original C-46. The U. S. military was still using them in Vietnam, and half a dozen are still flying worldwide.

The third major warplane that Mercury supported was the SB2C Helldiver, a three-man navy dive-bomber deployed from aircraft carriers. It got off to a bad start, and angry pilots called it by many a foul name. It did have a lot of bugs that needed to be worked out, but worked out they were. Also, you had to be a GOOD pilot to get the best from the Helldiver, and even in our navy, not every pilot could handle it. By the war’s last year or so, the SB2C had replaced all other dive bombers in our fleet. The list of battles in which they fought is long, and they shared in the sinking of two Japanese battleships.

By the way, Paul A. Schweizer told me that the army was originally considering Schweizer Aircraft in Elmira, rather than Mercury, as the major subcontractor. They changed their minds, though, after watching workers lower completed glider fuselages out through the window of the knitting mill, where Schweizer had the second floor! They did buy some training gliders, though.