Eastern Aircraft Division

The Eastern Aircraft Division was formed within the General Motors Corporation (GM) for the duration of the Second World War, to manufacture Grumman's Wildcat and Avenger carrier-based aircraft under license. The division comprised five plants on the East Coast of the United States, which, since the declaration of war in December 1941, had had to cease production of automobiles or car components.^{[note 1]}

Created in January 1942, the new organization quickly became operational. The aim was to manufacture two Grumman aircraft, so that the manufacturer could concentrate on assembling its new F6F Hellcat fighter.

The Navy^{[note 2]}assigned Eastern Aircraft the code M, so the F4F Wildcat fighter became the FM, and the TBF Avenger torpedo bomber became the TBM. ^{[note 3]}

Eastern produced its first Wildcat in September 1942 and its first Avenger in November of the same year. Production increased rapidly, and Grumman was able to cease production of both models before the end of 1943.

By the end of the war, Eastern Aircraft Division had built nearly three quarters of the total number of Wildcat and Avenger aircraft put into service during the Second World War.^{[note 4]} Around 9% of the production of both models was delivered to the British Royal Navy ^{[note 5]} This represented a quarter of the total number of carrier-based combat aircraft delivered by the USA to the Allied navies during the war.
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