Sunday 4 August 2013

German Efficiency

The stereotype of super-efficient Germans is prevalent in popular culture, but WWII era Germany was anything but efficient.

CAMD RF 15-977444-124

"In 1943, after several years of manufacturing Ju-88 and He-129 airplanes, the factory was suggested to switch over to Ju-188 airplanes instead of Ju-88. When the company was ready to for mass production, the ministry of aviation cancelled the Ju-188. 
It was suggested that the Henschel factory concentrate all efforts on producing the Me-410 airplane. After an 8-month preparation process, when the company was ready for large scale production, all prepared tools were scrapped.
The ministry of aviation suggested that the company produce equipment for Ju-388 type airplanes, but whe 50-60% of the equipment was ready, the program was annulled. As a result, Henschel produced Ju-88s with wings from Ju-188s."

3 comments:

  1. AFAIK serious historians tend to characterise Nazi Germany more as a mess of squabbling quasi-feudal chiefdoms of diverse power players and interest groups, but it has to be noted all the odd vacillating back and forth with the aircraft was particularly dumb given the lenghts of the "priduction cycles" involved (about a year from bauxite ore to finished plane IIRC).

    But then again they also managed to screw up the developement of a whole generation of planes that were supposed to replace the somewhat elderly mid-Thirties stuff they started the war with and thus had to keep using.

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  2. Not a german source...

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