When I think about the state of technology available in 1942, it is stunning what engineers could do and could not do. By 1945, our scientists and engineers produced the atomic bomb... but just 3 years earlier, they weren't providing military aviators with sufficient heat for cold weather flight or high altitudes???
More likely, the aviation engineers were directed to build cheap, easy to assemble aircraft capable of being mass produced in great haste. I imagine improvements were introduced every 60 or 90 days as time, resources and ingenuity allowed. Undoubtedly, aircraft produced near the end of WW2 were far superior to those flown in early 1942.
Many innovations and leaps in technology can trace their origins to the exigencies of war; necessity being the mother of invention.
More likely, the aviation engineers were directed to build cheap, easy to assemble aircraft capable of being mass produced in great haste. I imagine improvements were introduced every 60 or 90 days as time, resources and ingenuity allowed. Undoubtedly, aircraft produced near the end of WW2 were far superior to those flown in early 1942.
Many innovations and leaps in technology can trace their origins to the exigencies of war; necessity being the mother of invention.