Why the Navy kept its own aircraft factory

The Naval Aircraft Factory began in 1917 because the Navy could not attract enough private production on acceptable terms. It operated through 1945, was sold in 1946, and employed about 13,000 workers at its 1943 peak. A public facility existed to meet a service need, while a private supplier had to earn a profit. When only one customer and one supplier existed, the Navy risked creating a taxpayer-funded monopoly unless it retained an internal alternative. The factory could quote real material and labor costs, test low private bids, and hold contractors to agreed prices. A Curtiss bid that came in below the factory estimate illustrates how the benchmark could also test whether a private offer was genuinely competitive.