Enough aircraft makers had reported their second-quarter 1941 earnings by last week to prove one startling fact: despite the industry's terrific production pace, its first-half profits rose less than run-of-the-mill industrials. Five top-flight plane builders (Curtiss-Wright, Douglas, Martin, North American, United) netted $27,229,000 in the first six months, only 21% over 1940. But a cross section of U.S. industry (135 motors, steels, oils, etc.) was able to boost profits 30% (TIME, Aug. 11).
Taxes were most obviously to blame—chiefly the excess-profits tax, which feeds on the aircraft industry's low pre-war profits and...
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