Images from the Arsenal of Democracy (Painted Turtle Press) 0814339816, 9780814339817

Citation preview

images

from the

arsenal

of

democracy

charles k. hyde

images

from the

arsenal

of

democracy

images

from the

arsenal

of

democracy

charles k. hyde

a painted turtle book detroit , michigan

To the memory of Henry C. Hyde (1910–2001), Technical Sergeant, United States Army Signal Corps, Pacific Theater, New Guinea and the Philippine Islands, 1944–45, and for all who served.

© 2014 by wayne state university press, detroit, michigan 48201. all rights reserved. no part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. manufactured in the united states of america. 18 17 16 15 14 54321

library of congress cataloging-in-publication data library of congress control number: 2013941850 isbn: 978-0-8143-3981-7 (alk.: jacketed cloth)isbn: 978-0-8143-3982-4 (ebook)

contents

p r e f a c e ix abbreviations

xi

1. Preparing for War before Pearl Harbor 1 2. Planning Defense Production after Pearl Harbor 19 3. Aircraft Engines and Propellers 45 4. Aircraft Components and Complete Aircraft 69 5. Tanks and Other Armored Vehicles 119 6. Jeeps, Trucks, and Amphibious Vehicles 155 7. Guns, Shells, Bullets, and Other War Goods 197 8. The New Workers 233 9. Celebrating the Production Achievements 281

index

291

preface This book grew directly out of my work in researching the well-known Arsenal of Democracy story. What has inspired me and at the same time has driven me to write this book is a remarkable collection of surviving photographs portraying the wartime auto industry. The Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA)—the auto industry trade association at the time of World War II—reconstituted itself on 30 December 1941 as the Automotive Council for War Production (ACWP), with the stated goal of coordinating auto industry war work. By the end of the conflict, the ACWP had collected an enormous amount of information about how the auto industry had operated during the war. The documentation includes many thousands of photographs of war products and war production in auto plants throughout the United States. In the early 1950s the AMA donated the wartime records to the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC), part of the Detroit Public Library. I wish to thank many individuals who helped me along the way. First and foremost are the archivists and librarians who assisted my efforts with considerable skill, energy, patience, and good cheer. Paige Plant and Mark Bowden of the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC) at the Detroit Public Library were extremely helpful, as was Barbara Fronczak, who processed the collection of the Automotive Council for War Production held by the NAHC. Terry Hoover, Chief Archivist ix

at the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, helped me navigate through the war records of the Ford Motor Company. Gregory Wallace, the director of the General Motors Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Christo Datini, the archivist, were also extremely helpful. David White at the Richard P. Scharchburg Archives at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, led me to additional General Motors materials relating to war production. Randy Talbot, Command Historian at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan, made TACOM’s historical images available to me. I owe a special thanks to friends and colleagues for their assistance and encouragement. Mike Davis, the author of an earlier pictorial history of the Arsenal of Democracy and a good friend, made his extensive photographic collection available for my use and encouraged me to move forward with this book. Larry D. Lankton, longtime colleague and friend, shared research files he had compiled quite a few years ago, when he had planned to write a book similar to this one.

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preface

abbreviations ACAD ACWP AMA DPC NDAC OPM QMC SPAB WPB

The Automotive Committee for Air Defense Automotive Council for War Production Automobile Manufacturers Association Defense Plant Corporation National Defense Advisory Commission Office of Production Management Quartermaster Corps Supply, Priorities, and Allocations Board War Production Board

archival collections ACWP

BFRC CCA CKH FDRL GMCMA NAHC

Automotive Council for War Production Collection, National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library Benson Ford Research Center, The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan Chrysler Corporate Archives, Detroit, Michigan Author’s private collection Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York General Motors Corporation Media Archives National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan xi

SA/KU SM TACOM WPRL

WSK

xii

Richard P. Scharchburg Archives, Kettering University, Flint, Michigan Buick Gallery and Research Center, Sloan Museum, Flint, Michigan Tank-Automotive Command, U.S. Army, Warren, Michigan Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan William S. Knudsen Collection, National Automotive History Collection, Detroit, Michigan

abbreviations

images

from the

arsenal

of

democracy

1 preparing for war before pearl harbor Most Americans did not view war in Europe as a threat to U.S. security despite the escalating situation abroad, including Adolf Hitler’s aggressions in Eastern Europe starting in March 1938 when he annexed Austria to Germany, the official start of World War II in September 1939 after Hitler invaded Poland, and the Nazi conquest of Holland, Belgium, and France beginning in May 1940. Many U.S. citizens believed in “Fortress America,” the notion that the oceans that separated the United States from Europe and Asia would protect America from any military threat. President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed otherwise, and began a series of efforts to rebuild the country’s weak armed forces and simultaneously develop a defense industry capable of supplying an expanded military force in time of war. The U.S. Congress and the country more generally were unwilling to wholeheartedly support rearmament before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. In late May 1940, Roosevelt resurrected the National Defense Advisory Commission (NDAC), a World War I advisory body, to launch rearmament and to build a defense industry to support an enlarged military capability. He put William S. Knudsen (1879–1948), president of the General Motors Corporation, in charge of defense manufacturing. The intense Nazi bombing of British cities starting in July 1940— known as “the Battle of Britain”—brought greater urgency to Roosevelt’s efforts. In late August 1940, Roosevelt created a preparing for war before pearl harbor

11

federal agency, the Defense Plant Corporation (DPC), to build and equip new defense production facilities. With Knudsen taking the lead, the automobile industry began to move slowly toward increasing defense production. The Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the principal industry association, held their annual meeting at the WaldorfAstoria in New York City on 15 October 1941, where Knudsen called on industry leaders to produce half a billion dollars’ worth of aircraft parts and sub-assemblies. Eighty-five men met in Detroit ten days later, including representatives from the auto industry, the aircraft industry, the tool and die industry, the military services, and several executives from the NDAC. They established the Automotive Committee for Air Defense (ACAD), which aimed to match the automobile manufacturers with aircraft parts they were able and willing to make. In November, the ACAD established a display of parts needed for B-24, B-25, and B-26 bombers in a vacant auto plant in Detroit. As a result of these actions, scores of auto companies signed contracts with aircraft companies and the military services to make aircraft components, marking the start of a long and fruitful relationship among the three parties. Roosevelt delivered his inspirational “fireside chat” by radio on 29 December 1940, warning the nation of the dangers posed to the United States by the rising tide of totalitarianism in Europe and Asia. He called on America to become “the arsenal of democracy” and to materially assist our European allies in their fight to stop fascism. Roosevelt replaced the largely advisory seven-member NDAC with the Office of Production

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Management (OPM) on 7 January 1941, with Knudsen and Sidney Hillman serving as its co-directors. The passage of the Lend-Lease Act by Congress on 11 March 1941 drastically changed the landscape of the emerging defense industry. This law gave the president wide discretion to lend, lease, sell, or otherwise transfer military equipment and supplies to any nation whose defense was deemed vital to the safety of the United States. Lend-Lease placed enormous pressure on American industry to increase defense production. Over the course of the war, aid disbursed under Lend-Lease accounted for roughly one-third of American defense production, amounting to roughly $51 billion—with $22 billion going to Great Britain and $12 billion to the Soviet Union. More than thirty nations received aid under Lend-Lease.

With the start of intense bombing of British cities in July 1940, known as the “Battle of Britain,” Hitler hoped to destroy British morale before he invaded the island. This development forced President Roosevelt to urge aid for Britain and the rearmament of the American military forces. This street scene in London shows the extent of the devastation brought by German bombing. (FDRL) preparing for war before pearl harbor

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In late May 1940, President Roosevelt resurrected the National Defense Advisory Commission, a World War I body that advised the government on rearmament, to carry out the same job. He put William S. Knudsen, the president of General Motors, in charge of defense manufacturing. This undated photograph of Knudsen was taken sometime in 1940. (WSK)

› Because few American companies were willing to invest in new defense factories on their own, in August 1940 the Roosevelt administration created the Defense Plant Corporation to build the needed factories at government expense. The DPC would then lease the plants to private firms for a modest fee. These became known as government-owned, contractoroperated plants, or simply GOCO plants. An early DPC-built plant was the Chrysler Corporation Tank Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, seen here under construction in January 1941. (ACWP) 4

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The U.S. Army displayed several of its large guns at the 41st annual Chicago Automobile Show in 1940, which lasted from 26 October to 3 November. This show was billed as the 1941 show because it featured 1941 model cars and trucks. Two local beauty queens from the Chicago area show the ease of elevating a 37-mm anti-aircraft gun. (ACWP)

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› The Automotive Committee For Air Defense was established in Detroit in late October 1940 to increase automakers’ production of parts and components for military aircraft. To facilitate the cooperation of the aircraft manufacturers and the automobile companies, the ACAD created in effect a “parts warehouse” in a vacant Detroit auto plant, where aircraft manufacturers could display the components they wanted the automakers to make. The display was established in November 1940 and remained open through February 1941. This photograph shows parts for the Martin B-26 bomber on tables in the foreground in late December 1940. (ACWP)

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Front view of the fuselage of a Martin B-26 bomber, with one wing attached, on display at the ACAD exhibit in Detroit in late December 1940. (ACWP)

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View of part of the Consolidated B-24 fuselage on the left, with part of the wing on the right, also on display at the ACAD exhibit in Detroit in late December 1940. (ACWP)

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President Roosevelt delivering his radio “fireside chat” on December 29, 1940 in which he called on the United States to serve as the “arsenal of democracy” for the democracies resisting fascism around the world. (FDRL)

On 7 January 1941, shortly after his “arsenal of democracy” speech, Roosevelt replaced the largely advisory National Defense Advisory Commission with the Office of Production Management. He named William S. Knudsen and Sidney Hillman co-directors of the new and more powerful agency. This photograph shows Knudsen accepting his appointment from Roosevelt in the Oval Office in January 1941. (WSK)

› With the passage of the Lend-Lease Act by Congress on 11 March 1941, Roosevelt had the power to send vast quantities of military equipment and supplies to the nations resisting fascism. The ship shown here is fully loaded with Lend-Lease shipments—even the deck is carrying trucks, half-tracks, and automobiles. The location is likely Camden, New Jersey, as suggested by the name on the pier in the foreground. (FDRL) 10

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Many vehicles sent to allies under the Lend-Lease program were shipped fully assembled, such as this tank being loaded onto a ship at an East Coast port. (ACWP)

› A Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter being unloaded at a commercial dock at Casablanca, French Morocco. This was an airplane given to the French government. (ACWP) 12

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British soldiers examining a Lend-Lease M3 light tank they have named “Al Capone.” (FDRL)

Easily assembled Lend-Lease vehicles, especially trucks and jeeps, were often shipped partly assembled, with the recipient nation required to complete the assembly. This photograph shows crated vehicles being trucked to a French assembly line in Algeria. (ACWP) 14

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Trucks built by General Motors destined for the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease being assembled in the desert in Iran. (ACWP)

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President Roosevelt created a new agency—the Supply, Priorities, and Allocations Board—in August 1941 to clear material bottlenecks affecting the defense industry. It took over many functions of the Office of Production Management, which came under the control of SPAB. From left to right: Leon Henderson; James Forrestal, secretary of the navy; Jesse H. Jones, head of the Defense Plant Corporation; Frank Knox, secretary of war; Herbert Emmerich; Donald M. Nelson, future head of the War Production Board; John L. O’Brian; Henry A. Wallace, vice president of the United States and chair of SPAB; Robert Patterson, undersecretary of war; and William S. Knudsen. (WSK)

‹ Chinese mechanics, who had never seen a jeep, assembling one on a road in Burma. Seventy-four Chinese workers carried the jeep in sections over fifteen miles of mountain trails. (ACWP) preparing for war before pearl harbor

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2 planning defense production after pearl harbor Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the automobile companies established the Automotive Council for War Production (ACWP) in late December 1941 to improve communication and coordination between the automakers and the military services. In mid-January 1942, Roosevelt established the War Production Board (WPB) to oversee defense production. The auto industry spent much of 1942 converting from automobile production to defense work. Most automotive assembly lines and machinery were ripped out of the auto plants, but the industry was able to modify some of its old machines to serve new purposes. Auto workers learned new skills, and automobile dealerships took on new jobs as well. The WPB created by Roosevelt replaced the Office of Production Management (OPM) headed by Knudsen. In order to keep Knudsen’s expertise in production, Roosevelt appointed him a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and gave him a position as a consultant and troubleshooter working for Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson. Between February 1942 and July 1944, Knudsen visited twelve hundred defense plants in the United States and dozens of military facilities overseas. Knudsen then served as the head of the Army Air Force Materials and Service Command, based at WrightPatterson Field in Dayton, Ohio. He resigned his commission on 1 June 1945. preparing for war before pearl harbor

19 19

The American industry’s ability to rapidly expand defense production was limited by factory space, machinery, and an adequate supply of labor. The methods used to generate an increased labor supply will be considered in a later chapter. Detroit architect Albert Kahn pioneered methods to quickly design and build massive factories in large numbers, and other architectural and construction firms followed suit. The Defense Plant Corporation (DPC) financed most of the large defense facilities built during the war and took on the task of providing the machinery and machine tools needed for production.

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In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and the American declaration of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy, the Automobile Manufacturers Association reconstituted itself as the Automotive Council for War Production on 30 December 1941. The organization’s offices were in the New Center Building in Detroit. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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Industry and government leaders at an ACWP annual meeting confer at a reception at the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, 10 July 1942. More than 1,200 top-level automotive executives attended. Left to right: C. E. Wilson, president of General Motors and a director of the ACWP; Lieutenant General Knudsen; Donald M. Nelson, chief of the War Production Board; and K. T. Keller, president of the Chrysler Corporation and a director of the ACWP. (ACWP)

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Some of the leaders of the war effort attending the 29 October 1942 ACWP board of directors’ meeting. Left to right: John W. Anderson, president of the Anderson Company and secretary of the ACWP; George Romney, managing director of the ACWP; and Brigadier General A. R. Glancy, chief of the Tank and Automotive Center of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department. (ACWP)

Following Pearl Harbor, the War Production Board ordered the end of civilian car production by mid-February 1942 and civilian trucks a month later. This assembly line at the Plymouth Lynch Road plant in Detroit shows the final assembly of 1942 model Plymouths. As the war production effort increased even before Pearl Harbor, automakers voluntarily curtailed the use of chrome-plated trim and used painted trim instead, allowing chrome to be diverted to the aircraft industry. These Plymouths were likely assembled in the late summer or early fall of 1941. (NAHC) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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The last civilian Buick produced at the Flint, Michigan, Buick plant, 3 February 1942. Here, Buick used a variation of its standard sales slogan, “When Better Cars Are Built, Buick Will Build Them.” (NAHC)

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The greatest challenge faced by the automobile industry in 1942 and early 1943 was the conversion of their manufacturing and assembly plants to war production. Entire assembly lines, like this one at the General Motors assembly plant in Linden, New Jersey, had to be ripped out. This plant became part of GM’s Eastern Aircraft Division operations, making Wildcat carrier-based fighter aircraft in cooperation with the Grumman Corporation. (ACWP)

‹ Unneeded automobile production equipment like these presses from a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, were quickly moved to temporary storage outside, in this case into a parking lot behind the plant in February 1942. (ACWP)

Automotive machinery in storage, under canvas behind an unidentified auto plant. (ACWP)

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Surplus assembly-line production tools ready to be carted away in the Plymouth Lynch Road assembly plant in Detroit. (ACWP)

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Plymouth Lynch Road plant in Detroit in the midst of converting to war production. Note the empty space behind the men and machinery, where Plymouth automobile assembly lines were previously housed. (ACWP)

‹ Some machinery used in the automobile and body factories was retained for use in war production and altered for new production. This 750-ton press, originally used at a Buick body plant in Flint, Michigan, to make automobile fenders and hoods was modified to punch out 75-mm steel cartridge cases. Here, special punch dies stretch the metal a total of nine inches. (ACWP)

Often, existing machinery was also modified to do more than one narrow task. This seven-foot radial drill found in the Fisher Body Division plant in Detroit is completing work on an eight-ton crankcase for a large diesel engine for the U.S. Navy in July 1942. Note the time on the clock in this photo. By 1:47 p.m., this machine was at work on an entirely different job: boring naval anti-aircraft breech housings. In the meantime, the original fixture holding the crankcase was removed and replaced with a new cutting tool and the machine was reset for the new job. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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‹ Faced with severe shortages of specialized machinery needed for war production, many automakers took parts from existing machines and cobbled together the machines they needed. This is a specialized machine for deep-drilling holes into the crankshaft of the Invader engine made by the Hudson Motor Car Company. Hudson engineers patched together an engine lathe bed with two drill press heads to create this machine. (ACWP)

Auto workers also needed to “convert” to new jobs. This expert Packard machinist became a surface grinder in the marine engine division of the Packard Motor Car Company factory in Detroit. (ACWP)

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The end of the production of cars for the civilian market, combined with gasoline and tire rationing, left automotive dealerships with little of their normal work to perform. Most converted their operations to war production. This Chevrolet dealer (Town Auto Company) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, converted its service area into a small machine shop making small parts for the war effort. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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‹ On 16 January 1942, Roosevelt created the War Production Board, a new agency to manage defense production. This new agency was headed by Donald M. Nelson, and the Office of Production Management, headed by William S. Knudsen, was eliminated. To keep Knudsen’s expertise in production matters, Roosevelt appointed him director of production under Robert P. Patterson, the undersecretary of war. Without consulting Congress, the president gave Knudsen, shown here, the rank of lieutenant general in the U.S. Army in February 1942. (WSK)

Lieutenant General Knudsen’s War Department identification card, issued 30 August 1944. The perforations spell out “inactive.” (WSK) 30

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Knudsen served as a consultant and troubleshooter for Patterson and the War Department from February 1942 until July 1944. Patterson put an airplane at Knudsen’s disposal to enable him to visit defense plants and other facilities at home and in the Pacific. In two and one-half years, Knudsen visited twelve hundred factories and traveled twenty-five thousand miles by air. Here, he is seen inspecting a plant of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company on 8 March 1942. (WSK)

An enthusiastic reception for Knudsen at the General Motors Malleable Iron Foundry in Saginaw, Michigan, in July 1942. Knudsen is seen saluting on the far left of the photograph, with the flag as a backdrop. Note the slogan, “We Pour More to Win the War,” referring to the work of foundries. (WSK) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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‹ Knudsen giving a young girl an autograph at the General Motors Malleable Iron Foundry in Saginaw, Michigan, during his visit in July 1942. She was a visitor to the plant, since foundries were entirely staffed by men at this stage of the war. (WSK)

Knudsen closely inspecting work at the North American Aviation Plant in Kansas City, Missouri, July 1942. (WSK) 32

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Worker at the Firestone Tire & Rubber plant in Akron, Ohio, in August 1942 demonstrating the mechanism for elevating a 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun carriage manufactured there. Looking on are Knudsen, several Firestone officials, and several factory workers. (WSK) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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Woman inspecting a rifle at the Inland Manufacturing Division of General Motors in Dayton, Ohio, April 1943, under the watchful eye of Lieutenant General Knudsen. (WSK)

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Knudsen at the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft (Convair) Corporation plant in Fort Worth, Texas, October 1943, with a young worker sporting a “Keep ’Em Flying Consolidated” T-shirt. (WSK)

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Knudsen and Patterson conferring with General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea, November 1943. The sixty-four-year-old Knudsen appears visibly fatigued in this photograph. (WSK) 36

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In July 1944, the War Department put Knudsen in charge of the Army Air Force Materiel Command, based at Wright-Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio. This was the official position he held until he resigned from the army on 1 June 1945. This photograph shows Knudsen’s farewell ceremony at Wright Field on 18 June 1945. Major General Wolfe stands in the front row next to Knudsen. (WSK) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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Parade in Detroit in honor of Knudsen, 21 June 1945. That evening, a banquet honoring him was held at Detroit’s Masonic Hall. (GMCMA) 38

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Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore, Maryland, interior of assembly building, 1938, one of Albert Kahn’s designs. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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Curtiss-Wright Corporation aircraft plant at the Buffalo, New York, airport, 1941. This is one of the last major factories completed by Kahn. (ACWP) 40

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The rapid construction of new factories during the war can be attributed to Detroit architect Albert Kahn (1869–1942). His architecture firm designed and built more than three dozen of the largest defense plants for the automobile and aircraft industries. Here we see Kahn on the left; Knudsen, still a civilian, in the middle; and Julius Kahn, a renowned American architect (not related to Albert) on the right. This unidentified image is undated, but likely from around 1940. Kahn, a Jew, substantially aided the American effort to defeat Nazi Germany through his defense work, but he did not live long enough to see the end result. He died on 8 December 1942, a year and a day after Pearl Harbor. (WSK)

Rapidly built defense plants designed by Kahn and others were of little value without the machinery and equipment needed for production. The Defense Plant Corporation, a government agency established in August 1940 and empowered to finance plant construction, quickly took on the task of providing the factories with machine tools for production. This is a New England machine tool plant assembling machines to produce screws for the war effort. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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Highly specialized, unique machine tools were often needed for war production jobs. This LeBlond lathe produced crankshafts weighing 185 pounds for the Hudson Motor Car Company’s Invader engine, which was used to power landing craft. The electrically operated and controlled lathe achieved tolerances of no more than .009 inch on the surfaces of the crankshaft. This undated photograph was taken at Hudson’s Detroit plant. (ACWP)

One result of Studebaker’s specialized production machinery: cylinder heads for Studebaker-built Wright Cyclone engines ready for final machining operations and assembly to the cylinder barrel at the Studebaker South Bend, Indiana, factory. (ACWP)

‹ This multiple-task machine was developed by the Greenlee Company of Rockford, Illinois, for the Studebaker Corporation to machine cylinder heads for aircraft engines. This was only one part of the entire machine, which was 175 feet long and had 50 operating stations. It handled 130 cylinder heads at one time and had 162 tools, including 36 drills, 35 reamers, 15 mills, 30 taps, and 46 special tools. (ACWP) p l a n n i n g dperfeepna srei npgr of do ur cwt ai or nb ea f ot re re p e a r l h a r b o r

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3 aircraft engines and propellers American industry built approximately 300,000 military aircraft in 1940–1945. These required 802,161 aircraft engines, including spares, to keep them flying. The U.S. Army Air Force bought 81 percent of the aircraft engines manufactured during this period, with the U.S. Navy purchasing most of the rest. The contributions made by the automobile industry to these impressive results are noteworthy—it accounted for 56 percent of all military aircraft engines built during the war. When overall production of aircraft engines peaked in August 1944, the automobile industry made three-quarters of the engines used in combat aircraft. The auto industry also accounted for more than one-third of the 714,000 propellers turned out by U.S. manufacturers during the war. There were only three significant manufacturers of aircraft engines before the war: the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, operating an engine plant in Patterson, New Jersey; the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corporation in East Hartford, Connecticut; and the Allison Division of General Motors Corporation, with a plant near Indianapolis, Indiana. The government decided to concentrate production on the existing (and proven) air-cooled radial engines already developed by Wright and Pratt & Whitney. Allison had developed a liquid-cooled engine that was in full production in 1940, and the Packard Motor Car Company produced liquidcooled Rolls-Royce Merlin engines a year later. The British had preparing for war before pearl harbor

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great success with the Merlin engines, but the U.S. Army Air Corps preferred air-cooled radial designs. They believed the radial engines were less vulnerable in battle, more durable, and easier to service and repair. In the early 1930s, Allison had developed a liquid-cooled, V-12 engine, which was refined by the late 1930s to generate 1,000 horsepower. With engine orders from the U.S. Army Air Force, the French government, and the British government in 1939, Allison was in full-scale production a year later. The Allison V-1710 engine went through numerous design modifications during the early part of the war, and by October 1943 it had a combat rating of 1,750 horsepower. By the end of the war, Allison produced 69,305 engines, the only Americandesigned, liquid-cooled engine used in the war. The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit agreed to make Rolls-Royce– designed, liquid-cooled Merlin engines in May 1940, after the Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Corporation declined the opportunity. The Merlin was a V-16 engine that developed 1,800 horsepower. Packard did not start large-scale production of Merlins until October 1941, but it completed 55,000 engines by the end of the war, with three-quarters of these sold to the British government and the rest to the U.S. Army Air Force. Virtually all of the radial aircraft engines produced for the war effort were manufactured by Wright Aeronautical and Pratt & Whitney or by automakers licensed by the two firms to make their engines. The two firms used contrasting production strategies during the war. Wright preferred to directly manage the production of its engines and built new plants near Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, 46

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to accomplish this. Wright licensed only two car companies to make its engines: the Studebaker Corporation and the Dodge-Chicago Division of the Chrysler Corporation. Wright engine production during the war was 223,036 units, and licensees manufactured 37 percent of the total. Although Pratt & Whitney expanded its East Hartford, Connecticut, plant and built a branch plant in Kansas City, Missouri, the firm preferred to license others to make its engines. Licensees included Ford, Buick, Chevrolet, Nash-Kelvinator, Continental Motors, and the Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company. Over the course of the war, Pratt & Whitney engine production totaled 355,985 units, with licensees making 60 percent of the total. Virtually all military aircraft were equipped with variablepitch propellers, which allowed pilots to change the angle of the propeller blades for maximum power on takeoff and landing, but lower power at cruising speed. Only three firms manufactured these propellers at the start of the war: Curtiss Electric, a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright; Hamilton Standard, a subsidiary of United Aircraft; and Aeroproducts, a division of General Motors. Curtiss Electric preferred to directly produce its propellers, while Hamilton Standard, much like its cousin Pratt & Whitney, licensed other manufacturers. American industry manufactured more than 708,000 propellers over the course of the war. Hamilton Standard produced 25 percent of the total, followed by the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, one of its licensees, with 22 percent, and Curtiss Electric with 20 percent. Two other Hamilton Standard licensees, Frigidaire (11 percent) and Remington Rand (9 percent), accounted for most of the rest.

Preparing an Allison engine for testing at the Allison plant in Indianapolis, Indiana. The man standing on the left is the inspector. (ACWP) p r e p a r ai ni rgc fr oa rf tweanr gbi enfeos raenpde pa rr ol phealrl be or rs

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William Knudsen approached the Ford Motor Company in August 1940 requesting that the company build the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine for the U.S. Army Air Force. The designation “R” indicates that this is a radial engine, and “2800” refers to the engine displacement in cubic inches. It consisted of two banks of nine cylinders configured back-to-back and developed 2,000 horsepower. Ford delivered its first Double Wasp engine to the army in August 1941. (ACWP)

The Studebaker Corporation received an Army Air Force contract to build aircraft engines in December 1940, started construction of an engine plant in South Bend, Indiana, a month later, and by fall 1941 began turning out its first engines. Wright Aeronautical licensed Studebaker to manufacture the Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engine, which developed 1,200 horsepower and was used primarily to power the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The photograph shows Studebaker technicians preparing a Cyclone engine for testing in the test cell. To the left of the engine is the test observer’s window. (ACWP)

‹ Manufacturing aircraft engines was a more challenging task for the automakers than making automobile engines. Aircraft engines were much larger and more powerful than automobile engines, and the automakers were not familiar with the radial air-cooled design used in most aircraft engines. This is an R-2800 engine assembly line at the Ford Motor Company Aircraft Engine building at its River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Note the heavy-duty overhead conveyor system to move these engines. Ford produced a total of 57,851 Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engines between August 1941 and May 1945, when production ended. (ACWP) p r e p a r ai ni rgc fr oa rf tweanr gbi enfeos raenpde pa rr ol phealrl be or rs

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In August 1940, Knudsen approached Harlow H. Curtice, president of the Buick Motor Division of General Motors, about the possibility of Buick manufacturing Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines. The government issued a contract to Buick in January 1941 for the production of Pratt & Whitney 14-cylinder Twin Wasp radial engines. The engine had two banks of seven cylinders configured back-to-back, a 1,830-cubic-inch displacement, and developed 1,200 horsepower. Buick constructed a new plant in Melrose Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. This photograph shows the dedication ceremony for the Buick Melrose Park engine factory, 14 November 1941. Curtice (center) holds a key to the city and shakes hands with an unidentified man, perhaps the mayor of Melrose Park. The key is inscribed, “Welcome to Melrose Park.” (SA/KU)

The first Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine completed at Melrose Park, 7 January 1942. Curtice is the man standing in the middle wearing a lightcolored suit. (SA/KU)

‹ These engines have completed their final test at Studebaker and will be cleaned and visually inspected before being prepared for shipping. When production ended in June 1945, Studebaker had completed 63,789 engines for the Army Air Force. For the last twenty months of the war, Studebaker was the exclusive supplier of engines for the B-17 Flying Fortress. (ACWP) p r e p a r ai ni rgc fr oa rf tweanr gbi enfeos raenpde pa rr ol phealrl be or rs

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Testing aircraft engines prior to acceptance by the air force or navy was much more thorough and demanding than testing normally done for automobile engines. Pratt & Whitney and Wright Aeronautical, in cooperation with the military services, developed a testing protocol that had to be strictly followed by their licensees. Representatives from the Army Air Force or the U.S. Navy were always present to supervise testing. The Pratt & Whitney protocol called for each engine to be tested for four hours on a dynamometer. The engine would be completely disassembled, and every part would be inspected for damaged or worn parts. The engine would then be reassembled and run through a second four-hour test before being cleaned and packed for shipment. This photograph shows engines being prepared for testing at the Buick Melrose Park plant on 12 October 1942. The test cell doors can be seen on the right. (SA/KU)

Buick supervisors celebrate the production of the fifty thousandth Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine at the Melrose Park Plant, 26 June 1944. All of these Buick-built engines went into B-24 Liberator bombers. Note the Army-Navy “E” Award Flag (for excellence in production) proudly displayed on the building. The stars on the flag indicate that the plant had won the award for a total of eighteen months at the time this photograph was taken. (SA/KU)

‹ Assembly of Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines at Melrose Park, no date. Buick also built Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines in a factory in Flint, Michigan, starting in late 1944, but the quantity produced there is not clear. By the end of the war, Buick built 74,198 Pratt & Whitney engines, and the overwhelming majority of these were the Twin Wasp engine. (SM) p r e p a r ai ni rgc fr oa rf tweanr gbi enfeos raenpde pa rr ol phealrl be or rs

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Final assembly of the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine at the Chevrolet Tonawanda, New York, factory, January 1943. The engines are positioned as they would be when installed in the aircraft. The propeller would be attached to the protruding shaft. (ACWP)

‹ All of the aircraft engine manufacturers established training schools in cooperation with the Army Air Force Technical Training Command. Schools, like this one at the Buick Melrose Park plant, were established at the factory where the engines were assembled. This allowed the mechanics to see the assembly process and allowed the manufacturer to provide the instructors. (ACWP) p r e p a r ai ni rgc fr oa rf tweanr gbi enfeos raenpde pa rr ol phealrl be or rs

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Two Army Air Force engine mechanics and two Chevrolet workers from the Tonawanda, New York, plant examining a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine installed in a Ford-built B-24, typical of the cooperation between manufacturers and the military services. (GMCMA)

In February 1942 the Army Air Force awarded Nash-Kelvinator a contract to build Pratt & Whitney 2,100-horsepower R-2800 Double Wasp engines. The original plan to build these engines in Lansing, Michigan, was dropped because of the lack of factory space and workers in Lansing. Instead, the government built a new engine plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the location of Nash-Kelvinator’s main factory. Production started in July 1942, and by the end of the war Nash-Kelvinator completed 17,012 engines. This is the final assembly line for R-2800 Double Wasp engines in the Kenosha NashKelvinator plant. (CKH)

› In the final year of the war, Chevrolet manufactured the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18-cylinder engine, along with two versions of the 14-cylinder R-1830, all on the same assembly line at their Tonawanda, New York, plant. By the end of the war, the Chevrolet Division produced 60,766 engines, the vast majority the R-1830 Twin Wasp. This photograph shows the assembly of the R-2800 engines in December 1944. (ACWP) 56

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The last major aircraft engine to come into production at an automobile company was the Wright “Cyclone” engine, produced at a sprawling government-built factory operated by the Dodge-Chicago Division of the Chrysler Corporation and located on the southwest side of Chicago. This radial engine had two sets of nine cylinders and a displacement of 3,350 cubic inches. It developed 2,200 horsepower and powered the B-29 Superfortress. This photograph, taken sometime in late 1942, shows part of the massive complex under construction. (ACWP)

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The War Production Board awarded the commission to design this massive plant to the architectural firm of Albert Kahn Associates despite complaints that Kahn’s office was already too busy with other war contracts. The WPB rejected Kahn’s initial design because it used too much steel. Kahn came back with a novel structural design that saved enormous amounts of steel. He used steel-reinforced concrete columns and ribs to support the roofs, which consisted of concrete arch rib slabs. This design used less than half the steel required for a normal steel-framed design, saving eighteen thousand tons of structural steel. Kahn also replaced the normal steel window sash with a wooden “victory sash” and designed a wooden security fence to surround the complex. This photograph shows construction under way on the Machining and Assembly Building. (ACWP)

Completed Machining and Assembly Building at the Dodge-Chicago plant, April 1943. Note the wooden window sashes. This single building covered eighty-two acres and was easily the largest at this complex. Because the metals used in aircraft engines, namely magnesium, aluminum, and steel, expand at different rates with changing temperatures, all of the aircraft engine manufacturers installed air-conditioning in their final assembly areas to control temperature and humidity. Chrysler air-conditioned twenty-two acres of floor space in this building, using eighty-one airconditioning units from its own Airtemp Division. (CKH)

Some of the fifty engine test cells at the Dodge-Chicago plant. Wright Aeronautical’s test protocol for the engines built here was roughly the same as that of Pratt & Whitney. (CKH)

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‹ Office Building at the Dodge-Chicago plant. (CKH)

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‹ Final assembly line for the Wright Cyclone engines at the Dodge-Chicago plant. Chrysler’s initial supply contract with the U.S. Army Air Force came in late February 1942, with the first engines scheduled for delivery in March 1943. The start of production was delayed by countless changes in the design of the B-29 Superfortress, which continued through 1942 and into 1943. The severe shortage of machine tools nationally also slowed the equipping of this massive plant. The plant completed the first “pilot” engines in early December 1943, and quantity production finally got under way in January 1944. The Dodge-Chicago plant built several versions of the R-3350 engines, with the last one assembled on 7 September 1945. Over its production run, the plant completed 18,413 engines for the B-29 Superfortress, some 60 percent of the total built during the war. (ACWP)

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An early B-29 Superfortress equipped with a Chrysler-built engine. DodgeChicago plant general manager L. L. (Lester Lum) Colbert, aka “Tex” Colbert (far left), with unidentified U.S. government officials. Colbert went on to serve as president of the Chrysler Corporation in 1950–1961. (CKH)

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Assembly line for Hamilton Standard variable pitch propeller blades at the Nash-Kelvinator plant in Lansing, Michigan, July 1942. (ACWP)

Painting propeller blades at the Nash-Kelvinator plant in Lansing, Michigan, in July 1942. Propellers received multiple ultra-thin coats of paint, which dried with the aid of infrared lamps. (ACWP)

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‹ Completed three-blade propellers at the Lansing Nash-Kelvinator propeller plant. Note the Hamilton Standard emblem on each blade. (CKH)

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4 aircraft components and complete aircraft The automobile industry made an enormous contribution to the production of military aircraft during World War II, which was a major element of overall defense spending. American aircraft manufacturers produced a paltry 5,856 airplanes in 1939, but production peaked at 96,318 units in 1944 before falling off to 49,761 aircraft in the last year of the war. Total wartime production was slightly more than 300,000 military aircraft. The U.S. government spent $44.8 billion on aircraft between July 1940 and September 1945, some 24 percent of all spending on weapons. Over the course of the war, the automobile industry and its suppliers filled contracts for aircraft components, including engines, and for complete aircraft totaling $11.2 billion, or 38.7 percent of the total value of the auto industry’s war contracts. For the Ford Motor Company, aircraft and aircraft components contracts accounted for 61 percent of its war work; at General Motors, aircraft work made up 40 percent of its war production; and for Chrysler, the share was about 35 percent. Early in the war, the principal aircraft manufacturers— Bell, Boeing, Consolidated-Vultee, Curtiss-Wright, Douglas, Glenn Martin, Grumman, Lockheed, and North American Aviation—became assemblers of aircraft using parts and components made by automobile companies and others. Aircraft assembled by one of the mainframe aircraft companies typically included major components supplied by three to preparing for war before pearl harbor

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ten subcontractors. One auto company might make cockpits, another front fuselage sections, another wings or tail sections, and yet another might supply rear fuselage sections. All of the engines came from outside suppliers. Coordinating the work of these suppliers was a logistical challenge. Blueprints had to be consistent, and the flow of components had to be tightly scheduled. Automakers also produced significant numbers of complete aircraft. Six cases will be examined in this chapter. The first—and easily the most important—was the Ford Motor Company’s production of the B-24 Liberator bomber at its Willow Run, Michigan, factory. General Motors created a stand-alone Eastern Aircraft Division that partnered with the Grumman Aircraft Corporation to produce two carrier-based aircraft for the navy: the Wildcat fighter and the Avenger torpedo bomber. The fourth example was Ford’s production of wooden gliders in Iron Mountain, Michigan. Meanwhile, the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation built Sikorsky helicopters at its Detroit factory. Finally, although not represented pictorially within this chapter, another “automaker” to build complete airplanes was the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, part of Goodyear Rubber, which built the Chance-Vought Corsair fighter for the U.S. Navy in Akron, Ohio.

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The automobile body builders, with plants in Detroit and elsewhere, were major suppliers of aircraft components. Metal stamping presses normally used to stamp out car body panels from sheet steel were converted to making aluminum components for aircraft. The largest body companies were Briggs, Murray, and Fisher Body. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress used seventy different ducts, and the Briggs Manufacturing Company made all of them. Briggs was the first auto parts company to achieve volume production in aircraft parts. (ACWP)

Bomb bay doors built at the Briggs Manufacturing Company Conner plant in Detroit for the B-17 Flying Fortress. The doors, which have more than six hundred parts and fifty-four hundred rivets, were shipped directly to the Boeing assembly plant in Seattle, Washington. Briggs also made outer wings for Douglas and Sikorsky aircraft and wing flaps for the B-17. (ACWP)

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Final assembly of the B-17 Flying Fortress outer wing section at the Murray Corporation of America Detroit plant. Here, the outer wing tips are attached to the rest of the outer wings, which sit on dollies traveling on a drag-line conveyor. (ACWP)

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Two different bomber wing sections, one made by Murray and the other by Briggs, being delivered in this rail car to the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California. This is one of several hundred cars specially equipped with a raised roof, end doors, and racks to allow components to be shipped without crating. (ACWP)

The Hudson Motor Car Company was a major supplier of aircraft components, including fuselage tail sections for the Martin B-26 Marauder, outer wings for the Curtiss-Wright Helldiver dive bomber, armored cockpits for the Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter, and fuselage tail sections and outer wings for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. This photograph, taken in 1942 at the main Hudson plant in Detroit, shows some of the 1,891 fuselage tail sections Hudson completed for the B-26. (CKH)

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‹ Hudson workers riveting a fuselage tail section for the B-26. (ACWP)

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‹ Women workers at Hudson in Detroit constructing the bomb bay section of a Martin B-26 Marauder bomber. (ACWP)

Glenn L. Martin, the founder and president of the Glenn L. Martin Company (the civilian with the hat), inspecting the tail gunner’s compartment in the rear fuselage of a Martin B-26 bomber at the Hudson plant in Detroit. A. E. Barit, the president of Hudson, is on the far left, and next to him in civilian dress is J. W. Eskridge, the head of Hudson’s aircraft division. The man in the lower foreground is Captain Walter R. Godard, the U.S. Army Air Force resident representative at this plant. All defense plants had an army or navy officer assigned as a permanent watchdog. (ACWP)

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Fisher Body, Briggs, Hudson, and Chrysler were all major suppliers for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, easily the signature aircraft of the war. These dorsal fins made by Fisher Body and Briggs Manufacturing Company are at the Glenn Martin B-29 assembly plant in Omaha, Nebraska. (ACWP)

Stabilizers for the B-29 in a section of the Fisher Body Division Cleveland Aircraft Plant No. 2. (ACWP)

› Each B-29 has four nacelles, which attach to the wing and hold the engines, superchargers, heating and cooling systems, and major control systems. This photograph shows the ten thousandth nacelle completed at the Fisher Body Cleveland Plant No. 1. By the end of the war Fisher Body completed 13,772 nacelles, enough for 3,443 B-29s, nearly 90 percent of those built. Fisher Body also built outer wing sections and complete tail sections for the B-29 in Cleveland. (ACWP)

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‹ The Hudson Motor Car Company was also a major supplier of B-29 components, mainly 802 fuselage tail sections. The photograph shows Hudson workers riveting a B-29 bulkhead at the Hudson plant in Detroit in July 1944. (ACWP)

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A pair of workers driving rivets for a B-29 tail gunner’s cabin at the Hudson plant in Detroit. (ACWP)

B-29 Hudson-built tail gunner’s cabins being prepared for splicing to the tails of B-29s at the Glenn Martin plant in Omaha, Nebraska. (ACWP)

‹ B-29 rear fuselage assembly at the Detroit Hudson plant in 1945. (ACWP) a i r c r pa rf et pca or m i npgo nf eo nr tws aarn bd ecf oo m r ep lpeetaer al i hr ac rr ba of rt

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The Ford Motor Company’s bestknown defense work was the building of Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers at its Willow Run plant, located near Ypsilanti, Michigan. In January 1941, Ford officials met with the top officials at Consolidated Aircraft Company in San Diego to discuss building the B-24 bomber. On 18 April 1942, Ford began construction of an enormous factory to assemble B-24s several weeks before receiving official permission to proceed. This photograph shows Henry Ford at the plant construction site, 30 July 1941. (BFRC)

Chrysler workers assembling B-29 engine cowlings. (ACWP)

‹ The Chrysler Corporation built cockpits, engine cowlings, and leading wing edges for the B-29. This photograph shows the cockpits at the end of the assembly line at a Chrysler plant in Detroit. Note that the cockpits sit on rolling dollies that move down an assembly line. (ACWP) a i r c r pa rf et pca or m i npgo nf eo nr tws aarn bd ecf oo m r ep lpeetaer al i hr ac rr ba of rt

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‹ Detroit architect Albert Kahn, who had designed Ford’s Highland Park and River Rouge plants, designed the Willow Run plant as well. The sprawling single-story factory enclosed 4.7 million square feet of space, making it the largest factory in the world under one roof. The L-shaped plant, shown in the center of this photograph, required a set of runways sufficiently long for launching and landing B-24s. The system of access roads allowing workers to come to the plant by car or bus is shown clearly in this image, along with the parking lots that flanked the plant. (NAHC)

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Production of B-24s at Willow Run began at an extremely slow pace, earning the plant the nickname “Willit Run?” Ford’s efforts were hampered by many problems, including a shortage of workers with manufacturing skills. Peak employment reached 42,331 in June 1943, but the plant suffered from massive labor turnovers. Ford built the plant in a rural area twenty-four miles west of Detroit where there was an extreme shortage of housing, contributing to the instability in the plant’s workforce. Thousands of workers lived in tents or shacks near the plant. The man in this photograph enjoyed relatively posh housing in the form of a small trailer. Note the elevated walkway made from cinder blocks. (WPRL)

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Henry Ford, local officials, real estate agents, local home builders, and the federal government resisted building public housing for Willow Run workers in the early years of the plant’s operation. “Willow Lodge,” a public housing project for single workers, opened its doors in February 1943, and government housing for married workers opened in December 1943. A later project, dubbed “Willow Village,” is seen in this photograph. (WPRL)

One solution to the housing shortage was the construction of an expressway system from the Willow Run plant to the western outskirts of Detroit, allowing workers to commute. Work began on the first part of this system, the Willow Run Expressway, in October 1941. The official dedication ceremony took place on 12 September 1942. As this photograph taken on 31 July 1942 clearly shows, the expressway was fully operational by then. To the left, one can see the Willow Run plant in the background. (NAHC)

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‹ Although the Ford Motor Company had approval to build B-24s as early as May 1941, a full year passed before Ford produced its first complete bomber under an Educational Order. The first production version of the B-24 did not roll out of the plant until 10 September 1942. Besides the problems Ford faced in building and equipping the plant and in finding and training a labor force, the company faced enormous challenges in moving from the blueprints provided by Consolidated into mass production. Ford sent two hundred men to Consolidated-Vultee San Diego facilities to copy more than thirty thousand blueprints (drawings) needed to make every part of the B-24. Ford adopted a process known as “lofting” to create full-size drawings of the frame and all the exterior surfaces. The company covered its huge lofting tables, the largest sixteen-by-sixty-four feet with steel plates that had been painted white. Draftsmen drew directly on the steel plates, creating master templates which could be used for tracings. This photograph shows the master loft in the Willow Run Engineering Department, with draftsmen at work on the master templates. Photograph taken on 6 October 1942. (BFRC)

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‹ Slow progress at Willow Run brought a rash of inspection tours from various government officials. Here, Senator Harry S. Truman, the chair of the Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, is finishing a tour of the plant on 13 April 1942. Truman is in the center of the B-24 cockpit with a child, and Charles Sorensen is to the right of Truman, hatless in a light-colored coat. The plant had produced no aircraft at this point, so the B-24 seen here probably came from Consolidated’s San Diego plant. (WPRL)

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‹ The first Educational Order B-24 was completed at Willow Run on 15 May 1942 but was not “officially” delivered to the hanger until 11 June 1942, when this photograph was taken. The taller army officer in the front row under the engine on the left is Lieutenant General Knudsen. To the right stands Edsel B. Ford, with Sorensen to the right of Edsel. The remaining unidentified civilians are presumably Ford Motor Company or federal officials. (ACWP)

Lieutenant General Knudsen’s visit to the Willow Run plant in August 1942. Sorensen is on the left of Knudsen, and Edsel B. Ford is on the right. (WSK)

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‹ The most famous visitor to the Willow Run plant was President Roosevelt, who visited on 18 September 1942 after touring the Chrysler Tank Arsenal earlier that day. His party arrived by train and then transferred into cars that crossed the Willow Run Airport on the way into the plant. The lead parade car carrying FDR and part of his Secret Service protection was a Lincoln convertible known as the “Sunshine Special.” This car was modified by Brunn & Company to serve as Roosevelt’s official state car. For long trips, the Sunshine Special traveled with the president in its own special railroad car. (BFRC)

Inside the plant in the Sunshine Special, Henry Ford is sandwiched uncomfortably between President Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, two people he despised. Sorensen is seated in front of the president. (BFRC)

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‹ Components of the B-24 Liberator were built in various areas of the Willow Run plant and then brought together on the main assembly line running the length of the building. This photograph shows the assembly of the outer wing section in a special fixture that holds the wing section in a vertical position. Spars are laid along the base and top of the fixture, with the bulkheads fastened between them in parallel rows. Later, the aluminum skin surfaces were riveted to the bulkheads. (ACWP)

Henry Ford observing workers riveting the aluminum skin on the center wing section of a B-24 on 21 December 1942. (BFRC)

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‹ Women riveting on the center wing section of the B-24, 23 August 1944. They are wearing typical “Rosie the Riveter” work clothes: slacks, shortsleeve shirts, and head scarves. (BFRC)

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‹ The most impressive part of the work completed for the B-24 was the building of the fifty-five-foot wide (not including wing tips) center wing section. Ford assembled the center wings in thirty-five special fixtures that held the wing in a vertical position while the frame and outer skin sections were assembled. The assembled center wing was inserted into a giant Ingersoll Milling machine, shown in this photograph taken on 13 October 1944. The Ingersoll machine completed forty-two machining operations on the center wing before it was mated with the fuselage sections. This single Ingersoll machine cost Ford $168,000 and could machine all the wing sections coming from the five vertical wing fixtures. (BFRC)

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‹ This photograph, taken on 20 May 1943, shows the 2 1/4-ton center wing section being moved by crane from the Ingersoll machine to a final assembly area where the wing will be furnished with a landing gear, engine mounts, gas tanks, and other equipment. (BFRC)

In the middle part of the assembly line, the fuselage nose sections have already had center wings attached. The B-24s are still without tail sections and engines. (NAHC)

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‹ Farther along the assembly line, this photograph, taken on 12 November 1942, shows the fuselage tail sections in place. The wing also has its wing tips and flaps. (NAHC)

B-24s near the end of the assembly line in November 1942. At the east end of the Willow Run plant, the assembly line makes a ninety-degree turn to avoid extending into adjoining Wayne County and its higher taxes. The planes now have their engines and landing gears installed and are ready to leave the assembly building. (NAHC)

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‹ Completed B-24 Liberators sitting on the Willow Run airfield awaiting test flights. (WPRL)

B-24s in the air, Fifteenth Air Force, Italian theater, 1944. (BFRC)

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B-24 bombers, December 1943. The photograph shows the changing nose turret armament over time. The plane on the left has a single manually operated machine gun, the middle B-24 has four manually operated machine guns, and the one on the right has a powered turret with twin .50-caliber machine guns. (ACWP)

The last B-24 Liberator bomber made at the Willow Run plant, 28 June 1945. After a long and painful start-up, the Willow Run plant turned out nearly one B-24 per hour in April 1944 and a total of nearly 5,000 planes that year. By the end of production, Willow Run built 1,894 “knockdown” planes, which were shipped to assembly plants in Oklahoma and Texas, and 6,792 “flyaway” planes, for a total of 8,686 B-24 Liberators. Willow Run accounted for 46 percent of the B-24s built by all manufacturers during the war. This photograph shows the twenty-eight-year-old Henry Ford II, still three months away from replacing his grandfather as the president of the Ford Motor Company, driving the tug pulling the last B-24 out of the plant. (WPRL)

› Ford workers gathered around the last B-24 from Willow Run, 28 June 1945. By the end of the day, thousands of employees had signed the fuselage of this plane. (WPRL) 110

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Ford Motor Company’s second aircraft job was the production of several types of gliders for the U.S. Army Air Force. In late April 1942, Ford received a “letter of intent” from the army providing for the manufacture of one thousand gliders. Ford was to build gliders under license from the Waco Aircraft Company of Troy, Ohio, which had designed several gliders. The first glider Ford built was designated the CG-4A, with “CG” standing for “Cargo Glider.” It was designed to carry either fifteen men, a 75-mm howitzer, or a jeep. Ford hand-assembled its first CG-4A glider at a former aircraft factory building at the Ford Airport in Dearborn. This photograph shows that first glider at the start of its initial test flight on 16 September 1942. With two army pilots at the controls and two Ford engineers onboard, the successful test began at an elevation of eighty-five hundred feet and lasted forty-five minutes. (NAHC)

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Assembly line for CG-4A gliders at the Ford Motor Company plant in Iron Mountain, Michigan. These gliders had a steel frame, but the fuselage and wings consisted of hundreds of pieces of Sitka spruce from the Pacific Northwest glued together. The outer surfaces of these gliders, except for the windows, were covered with cotton fabric. The glider was fifty feet long, had a wingspan of eighty-four feet, and weighed eighty-four hundred pounds fully loaded. Ford began assembly at Iron Mountain in December 1942 and finished its first twelve gliders in January 1943. When production ended at Iron Mountain in August 1945, Ford had produced 4,202 CG-4A gliders, or 30 percent of the total number built during the war. (ACWP)

In June 1943 the U.S. Army Air Force asked Ford to design a larger glider, the CG-13A, which could carry thirty men, a jeep and a howitzer, or two jeeps. The large glider was the same length as the earlier model, but it had a wingspan nearly two feet longer and weighed fifteen thousand pounds fully loaded. By the end of the war, Ford completed only eighty-seven of these larger gliders but accounted for three-quarters of those build nationally. (NAHC)

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‹ One of the more interesting partnerships that emerged during the war involved General Motors and the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which had factories on Long Island, New York. In January 1942, the U.S. Navy asked General Motors to build naval aircraft under license from Grumman, and GM created a separate operating unit, the Eastern Aircraft Division, to use its plants in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland for this purpose. The navy issued contracts to Eastern Aircraft in March 1942 to build the Grumman Wildcat carrier-based fighter and the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, also carrier-based. The first Wildcat came off the production line at GM’s Linden, New Jersey, plant, shown in this photograph. It is worth noting that the three assembly lines on the right are building Wildcats, but the one on the far left is assembling TBF Avengers. (GMCMA).

Assembly of Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers at the GM Trenton, New Jersey, plant. To free up factory space to produce the more advanced Hellcat fighter, Grumman shifted all Wildcat production to Eastern Aircraft in January 1943 and all Avenger production in December of the same year. By the end of the war, Eastern Aircraft had built 5,920 Wildcats and 7,546 Avengers for the navy, for a total of 13,466 aircraft, nearly a many as Grumman, which built 17,487. (ACWP)

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On 28 June 1943, the U.S. Army Air Force authorized Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to build eight hundred Sikorsky Model R-6 helicopters under license from the Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation. This photograph shows helicopter body construction at the Nash-Kelvinator plant on Plymouth Road in Detroit. (CKH)

Building this helicopter was delayed by thousands of changes made to the blueprints. Nash-Kelvinator was not able to test its first production helicopter until 15 September 1944. This photograph shows the test conducted from a tiny airfield behind the company’s Plymouth Road plant in Detroit. (ACWP)

› When the U.S. Army Air Force canceled the helicopter contract in August 1945, Nash-Kelvinator had completed 262 units. This is the final inspection area at the Nash-Kelvinator plant in December 1944. (CKH) 116

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5 tanks and other armored vehicles In the late 1930s, the U.S. Army was not using tanks in any combat capacity. There were no facilities in the United States to manufacture tanks—not even in small quantities. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department awarded its first contracts for tanks in 1939 to manufacturers of railroad locomotives and railroad cars. They mistakenly believed that railroad locomotive manufacturers were best suited for making tanks because of their experience in handling large castings in their shops. Locomotives, however, were typically custom-made for each railroad, so these firms were not capable of large-scale production. As late as July 1940, the Ordnance Department issued only three contracts to build tanks: one to the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), another to the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and the last to the Chrysler Corporation. Railroad equipment makers built substantial numbers of tanks throughout the war, but the Ordnance Department soon turned to the auto industry as its major source of tanks. By the end of the war, American industry produced 88,410 tanks, with the auto industry accounting for 49,676 of these, or 56 percent of the total. The major automotive producers of tanks were the Chrysler Corporation (22,234 medium and heavy tanks); General Motors’ Fisher Body Division (13,137 medium and heavy tanks); the Cadillac Division of General Motors (10,142 light tanks); and Ford (1,690 medium tanks). The most significant railroad equipment companies making tanks preparing for war before pearl harbor

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included the American Car and Foundry Company (15,524 light tanks); the Pressed Steel Car Company of Chicago (8,648 medium tanks); the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company (3,926 medium tanks); ALCO (2,985 medium tanks); Baldwin Locomotive (2,515 medium and heavy tanks); and Lima Locomotive (1,655 medium tanks). Taken together, the railroad equipment manufacturers accounted for 41 percent of total tank production during the war. The mix of tanks coming from America’s factories changed during the course of the war. Most of the 28,919 light tanks were made in 1940–1943, while the small production of heavy tanks (2,464 units) came in 1944 and 1945. The medium tanks (the M3 General Grant and the M4 General Sherman) were the “bread and butter” of the tank factories, which spit out 57,027 of them before war’s end. The Buick Division of General Motors also produced a “tank-like” vehicle, the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. With thin armor and no turret top, it weighed only 19 tons and could achieve a top speed of 55 mph. The Hellcat had a long-range gun that enabled it to knock out German tanks. Buick made 2,507 Hellcats over an eighteenmonth period. Most of this chapter will focus on the principal automotive producers of tanks: Chrysler, Fisher Body, Cadillac, and Ford. One of the main challenges the automakers and the Ordnance Department faced was finding adequate supplies of large engines to power these tanks. For this reason, Cadillac, Ford, and Chrysler all became significant producers of tank engines in addition to assembling tanks.

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The U.S. Mark VIII tank, built at the U.S. Army Rock Island Arsenal in 1919–1920. This was a joint U.S.–British project, and Rock Island completed one hundred of these behemoths. The tank weighed forty-four tons, had a crew of eight, was powered by a V-12 340-horsepower Liberty Engine, and had two six-pound British Naval Guns and five .30-caliber machine guns as its weaponry. (ACWP)

Groundbreaking for the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, 11 September 1940. Chrysler president K. T. Keller at the controls on the right, with Chrysler vice president for engineering Fred Zeder on the left. (CKH)

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Chrysler Tank Arsenal nearing completion, March 1941. (ACWP)

› Once roughly one-third of the windows in the Chrysler Tank Arsenal were installed, Chrysler wanted to heat the building so it could pour the concrete floors. The heating plant for the tank arsenal was months away from completion, so Chrysler brought a steam railroad locomotive into the plant to provide heat. This photograph was taken in late January 1941. Note the concrete mixer on the left, behind the scaffolding. (ACWP) 122

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Machinery protected by canvas sits on the tank arsenal floor, waiting to be installed. This photograph was taken from behind the locomotive shown in the previous image. (ACWP)

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Wooden mock-up of the M3 tank, probably in late 1940 in one of Chrysler’s engineering buildings. (ACWP)

Final inspection of the first Pilot M3 tank at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 21 April 1941. It was officially delivered to the U.S. Army three days later. (TACOM)

First Pilot M3 tank smashing a telephone pole during a demonstration on Presentation Day, 24 April 1941. Note the Chrysler officials on the stage and the Chrysler workers on the roof. (ACWP)

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‹ Chassis of M3 General Grant tanks on three parallel assembly lines at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal. (ACWP)

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‹ M3 General Grant tanks nearly finished, with main gun not yet installed, Chrysler Tank Arsenal. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department viewed the M3 as an inadequate design from the start. With its main gun located on the left side of the turret in a rotating sponson, the General Grant had a limited “field of fire” even when entirely mobile. If it became immobile because of the loss of power or the loss of one of its treads, it could not defend itself. Its riveted turret and hull also weakened its armament and was a serious hazard to the crew and nearby infantry if it suffered a direct artillery hit. (ACWP)

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Part of a day’s production of tanks covered with tarpaulins, ready to be shipped by rail. The Chrysler Tank Arsenal boasted that it “made tanks by the trainload.” (ACWP)

Production of large engines to power tanks was an ongoing bottleneck for the Army Ordnance Department for much of the war. Chrysler initially used a 9-cylinder radial aircraft engine made by Continental Motors in Detroit to power the M3 tank. With those engines needed for aircraft, the Ordnance Department challenged Chrysler to develop its own tank engine. The automaker developed a new engine in a matter of months by using one of its existing car engines in a unique design. Chrysler combined five 85-horsepower 6-cylinder in-line engines, linked together to a single driveshaft. The resulting power source, known as the “multibank engine” by Chrysler, but derisively called “the eggbeater” by critics, developed 425 horsepower. Here, you can see the ends of the five engines arranged in a circle around a central crankshaft. The multibank engine went into the M3 tank from spring 1942 until the end of its production run in August 1942. (CKH) 130

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The Chrysler multibank engine was assembled on a special fixture shown here. Four of the five engines are already in place, and the fifth will fit into the groove shown at the top of the fixture. (ACWP)

President Roosevelt made a secret twelve-day cross-country tour of defense plants by rail, with the Chrysler Tank Arsenal the first stop of his tour. He arrived at the plant on 18 September 1942 at 1:30 p.m., and enjoyed the tour from the back seat of a seven-passenger Chrysler parade car. He observed gear-cutting, an engine and transmission being dropped into a tank chassis, and several tanks running around the adjacent test track. Left to right, sitting in the car: FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, Michigan governor Murray D. Van Wagoner, K. T. Keller (president of Chrysler), and Donald M. Nelson (head of the War Production Board). (CKH) p r e p atrainnkgs faonrd woatrh be er faorrmeopreeadr vl ehhaircbl oe rs

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In late July 1942, Chrysler began production of a new tank, the M4 General Sherman medium tank, a replacement for the M3. Near the end of the M4 General Sherman assembly line at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, workers add the front drive sprockets, which will drive the tracks. The welded hull, combined with a cast steel turret, offered much greater protection for the crew and nearby soldiers than the riveted M3 tank. (ACWP)

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M4 tanks being rolled onto their tracks at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal. Once the tracks are connected, the tank can drive off on its own power. (ACWP)

Final assembly of M4 Sherman tanks at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal. This was in June 1944, when the plant reached its peak production. Note the five parallel assembly lines. The tanks in the line on the right are in the process of receiving their treads, thus the stockpile of treads in the middle. The two tanks in the foreground are likely undergoing repairs. The 75-mm gun mounted on the main turret gave the M4 Sherman tank a “field of fire” of 360 degrees. (ACWP)

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K. T. Keller with his grandson on a Sherman tank at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, Family Day, 1944. (CKH)

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U.S. Fifth Army Sherman tanks preparing for an attack on German positions in northern Italy in October 1944. (ACWP)

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‹ The M4 Sherman tanks were no match for the improved heavy tank models the Germans introduced in battle in 1943, namely the Tiger (Panzer IV) and the Panther. The German tanks had larger guns and heavier armor than the Shermans, but the army was reluctant to push for a heavy tank. In June 1944, the Ordnance Department received approval to build a new heavy tank, the M26 General Pershing, which weighed fortysix tons. The Chrysler Tank Arsenal and the Fisher Tank Arsenal in Grand Blanc, Michigan, built only 2,374 Pershings between them, all in 1945. Few of these saw combat. This photograph shows an M26 Pershing turret, with its 90-mm gun, being lowered onto the hull at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal. (ACWP)

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‹ M26 Pershing assembly line at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in 1945. Note the female inspectors at the end of the line. Although the plant employed many African Americans, the final assembly line appears to be segregated. The overwhelming majority of black workers in this image are seen in the assembly line on the far left. The line on the right also appears to have a number of African Americans working on it, and it looks as though an African American woman and a white woman are working together in the middle line. (ACWP)

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‹ M26 Pershing tank being lowered onto a railroad flatcar for shipping, Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 1945. (ACWP)

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The second major automotive producer of tanks for the army was the Fisher Body Division of General Motors. The Army Ordnance Department issued a “letter of intent” to Fisher Body in February 1942 for M4 Sherman tanks. Before the Defense Plant Corporation could complete a tank arsenal for Fisher in Grand Blanc, Michigan, south of Flint, the first tanks rolled out of a Buick plant in April 1942, a full year after Chrysler had begun production. This photograph shows a special turnover fixture Fisher developed for welding parts of the hull of the tank. The fixture allowed welders to always weld downward, which resulted in less fatigue and better quality welds. (ACWP)

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M26 Pershing tank assembly line at the Fisher Body Tank Arsenal in Grand Blanc, Michigan, 1945. (ACWP)

The Cadillac Division of General Motors built more than ten thousand light tanks at its plant in Detroit. Cadillac produced the M5 General Stuart light tank starting in April 1942. It weighed seventeen tons and was equipped with a 37-mm main gun. Two years later Cadillac produced its first M24 Chaffee light tank, which weighed twenty tons and had a 75-mm main gun. This photograph shows the ten thousandth light tank made at the Cadillac factory, an M24 Chaffee. (ACWP)

Ford Motor Company briefly manufactured M4 Sherman tanks from June 1942 through August 1943. Ford built 1,690 units and assembled them at its Highland Park plant in Michigan. (ACWP)

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In June 1943, the Buick Motor Division of General Motors started production of a track-laying, tank-like vehicle known as the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. Because the Hellcat had armor only one inch thick and no turret top, it weighed only nineteen tons, in contrast to the M4, which weighed thirty-four tons. The Hellcat could reach speeds of 55 mph and came equipped with a 76-mm rifled main gun, giving it a longer range than the German tanks it targeted. Buick built 2,507 Hellcats in Flint over the course of the war. Here we see a Hellcat being rolled onto the laid-out track. Once this was completed, the lugs were hooked to the drive sprocket and the Hellcat was backed up until the connection was completed. (ACWP)

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Hellcat final assembly line at the Buick plant in Flint. (ACWP)

Hellcats lined up outside of the Buick plant in Flint, ready for delivery to combat battalions. (ACWP)

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‹ The Ordnance Department faced a shortage of tank engines for the duration of the war. Six different engines from many manufacturers were used on the M4 Sherman alone. Chrysler built 7,499 of the multibank engines discussed earlier. The largest single engine manufacturer was Continental Motors Corporation, which built 54,104 R-975 Wright aircooled engines. Most tank engines used gasoline, but diesel fuel was also employed. General Motors designed a twin diesel engine consisting of two 6-cylinder engines linked by a common transfer case. Production was under way by May 1942, and GM diesels went into 11,124 M4 Shermans. This photograph shows the assembly line at the Detroit Diesel plant in Detroit. (ACWP)

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‹ The Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors also produced V-8 tank engines. The M24 Chaffee light tank, which went into production in April 1944, was equipped with a pair of these Cadillac V-8 power plants. Cadillac and Massey-Harris combined to build 4,731 Chaffee light tanks over the course of the war. This photograph shows V-8 engines undergoing dynamometer testing at the Cadillac plant in Detroit. (ACWP)

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‹ Ford Motor Company developed a brand-new V-8 tank engine for the army in the early months of 1942 and went into quantity production in May. Ford used aluminum castings to reduce the weight of their engine. Rated at 450 horsepower, the Ford engine had the best power-to-weight ratio of all tank engines. It was seen by army personnel as reliable and easy to maintain. It may have become the standard power source for medium tanks if Ford had greater production capacity. Ford built 26,954 of these engines on its assembly line at the Ford Rouge plant, seen in this illustration. (ACWP)

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‹ The U.S. Army Ordnance Department needed to modify most tanks after they left the assembly line at the various tank arsenals. Most needed additional equipment, such as radios, which were the responsibility of the army to install. Tanks going overseas under Lend-Lease, especially to Great Britain or the Soviet Union, also required special equipment. Design modifications ordered after tanks had already been assembled needed to be done away from the factory. As a result, Ordnance quickly created “tank modification centers,” also commonly known as “tank depots.” Ordnance created tank depots in Toledo, Ohio, and then in Lima, Ohio. Ford created a tank depot in a vacant assembly plant in Richmond, California, shown in this photograph taken on 12 July 1943. (ACWP)

Tank passing through an infrared drying oven at a second Ford Motor Company tank depot in Chester, Pennsylvania. (ACWP)

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6 jeeps, trucks, and amphibious vehicles The American Expeditionary Force operating in France in World War I used motorized vehicles only haphazardly and put trucks from scores of U.S. and European manufacturers in the field. In June 1940, the Quartermaster Corps, with the approval of Congress, adopted standardized truck designs and ended competitive bidding on truck supply contracts. Over the course of the war, Willys and Ford were the exclusive manufacturers of jeeps, while the Truck and Coach Division of General Motors and the Dodge Division of the Chrysler Corporation made the overwhelming majority of trucks larger than jeeps. The Studebaker Corporation, REO Motors, and International Harvester Company also built trucks under license from General Motors. World War II brought a substantial change in the use of trucks compared to World War I. Trucks became the primary way of moving troops and supplies by land. The American automobile industry supplied the U.S. military and others with 630,111 jeeps and 2,382,311 trucks. A substantial number of jeeps and trucks (836,772), some 28 percent of the total produced, were delivered through the Lend-Lease program to America’s allies, mainly to the Soviet Union and Great Britain. The automobile industry and the military services jointly developed several brand-new vehicles for World War II: the jeep and several amphibious vehicles namely the Seep, the DUKW (or “Duck”), and the Weasel. preparing for war before pearl harbor

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In the late 1930s, the army wanted a lightweight four-wheel-drive truck that could be used as a command or reconnaissance vehicle. The American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania, was the first automaker to develop a vehicle which met the army’s needs. In July 1939, the army asked Bantam, the Willys-Overland Company of Toledo, Ohio, and the Ford Motor Company to develop prototype models of a quarter-ton 4 X 4 truck with an 80-inch wheelbase. Ford initially declined this project, but by November 1940 the three companies delivered pilot models to the Quartermaster Corps testing facility at Camp Holabird, Maryland, near Baltimore. Bantam called its prototype the BRC (Bantam Reconnaissance Car), but the military referred to it as a GPV (general purpose vehicle), one possible origin of the name “jeep.” This photograph shows a Bantam prototype undergoing testing at Camp Holabird in September 1940. (NAHC)

The first Willys pilot model reconnaissance vehicle, photographed on 11 November 1940, when Willys delivered it to the Quartermaster Corps. It was very similar in appearance to the Bantam version, but had headlights in a different location. After extensive testing of pilot models from all three companies, the QMC adopted a modified version of the Willys jeep as the standard design. In July 1941, the QMC asked Bantam, Willys, and Ford to submit proposals to build sixteen thousand jeeps. Willys had the lowest bid and received the initial contract, leaving Bantam and Ford out in the cold. The QMC, however, awarded Ford a contract to build jeeps in October 1941. (NAHC)

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Ford delivered its first prototype jeep, also called the “Pygmy” and the “Peep,” to the QMC in late November 1940. This version, with a squared-off front end and welded slat brush guards, closely resembled the familiar jeep design. The license plates reads, “Holabird 2 Tester.” (NAHC)

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Edsel Ford driving the first of seventy pilot model jeeps off the assembly line at the Ford Rouge Plant on 28 February 1941. Ford also referred to the jeep as the “blitz buggy” or simply the “GP.” By the end of 1941, Ford had contracts to build 103,146 jeeps, which were to be identical to the Willys jeep design. Willys provided Ford with complete sets of blueprints, specifications, and parts lists to guarantee uniformity. (CKH)

Jeeps served as one of the common means of transportation during the war for powerful leaders and humble foot soldiers alike. Here, President Roosevelt is seen in the front seat of a jeep reviewing troops during the Casablanca (Morocco) Conference with Winston Churchill in January 1943. Joseph Stalin was preoccupied with the defense of Stalingrad and was unable to attend. Secret Service protection is evident. (CKH)

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Sitting in the front seat, passenger side of this jeep is British Major General F. W. Festing, the commander of the British Thirty-sixth Division in Burma. He and his party are traveling by “jeep train,” where a jeep fitted with railroad wheels could use the railroad lines as “highways.” Note the railroad boxcar they are pulling behind them. (ACWP)

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Jeeps were famous for their ability to “go where no other vehicles could go”: through water, mud, or snow. Here, men of an Army Signal Corps unit are floating a jeep across the Hogaung River near the town of Kamaing, Burma, 20 June 1944. Note the cable line guiding them across the river. The tarps prevent the engine compartment and the jeep itself from flooding. (ACWP)

Soldiers of the U.S. Fifth Army pushing a jeep bogged down in mud, Gabbiano area, Italy, 10 October 1944. (ACWP)

A jeep traveling along a rain-soaked muddy road in France, 17 October 1944. The warning sign was hardly necessary. (ACWP)

Soldiers assisting a jeep in the snow during the Battle of the Bulge, along the Belgian-German border, December 1944. (CKH) pj re e p as r, itnrgu cf ko sr, w an a rd ba emfpohri eb ipoeuasr vl ehhaircbl oe rs

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‹ American soldiers delivering supplies in the jungles of New Guinea, 13 November 1944. They drove through rough trails cut through the jungle. (ACWP)

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The Dodge Division of the Chrysler Corporation was one of the major producers of trucks for the army. Dodge built 1/2-ton trucks in 4 X 2 and 4 X 4 versions; a 3/4-ton 4 X 4 model; and a 1 1/2-ton 6 X 6 truck used mainly as a personnel carrier. The company built a total of 372,245 units, all at its Mound Road plant in Warren, Michigan. The 1/2-ton 4 X 4s came in a variety of body styles, including open- and closed-cab cargo trucks, panel trucks, ambulances, and command reconnaissance cars, like the one shown in this photograph. Here, a U.S. infantry unit is using the truck as a mobile radio station. (ACWP)

U.S. Army Catholic chaplain using the hood of a jeep as an altar during Mass, somewhere in France. (ACWP)

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Dodge 3/4-ton 4 X 4 weapons carrier. (CKH)

Dodge 1 1/2-ton 6 X 6 personnel carrier. (CKH)

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‹ Assembly lines at the Dodge truck plant on Mound Road in Warren, Michigan. Half-ton models can be seen on the right line, 3/4-ton 4 X 4 weapons carriers in the center, and 1 1/2-ton 6 X 6 trucks in the left line. (NAHC)

A group of 3/4-ton 4 X 4 ambulances ready for shipping, outside of the Dodge Mound Road truck plant. (ACWP)

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Three workers from the Dodge truck plant in Warren, Michigan, proudly standing next to the fruits of their labor and flashing the “V for victory” sign. All three are American citizens with roots in the nations under Nazi attack: the man on the left is Dutch-American, the man in the middle is EnglishAmerican, and the worker on the right is Russian-American. (ACWP)

Chevrolet was another substantial supplier of trucks to the military, building roughly 165,000 of the 1 1/2-ton 4 X 4 versions. The model seen in this photograph, with a canvas-covered truck bed, could transport cargo or troops. (TACOM)

› Chevrolet 1 1/2-ton 4 X 4 truck chassis stockpiled outside the Chevrolet plant in Kansas City, Missouri. These may be the tractor versions of this truck, designed to pull lightweight trailers. These chassis are possibly waiting for the installation of the stationary fifth wheel. (SA/KU) 168

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The 2 1/2-ton cargo truck was perhaps the most important vehicle of the war. These came in a 6 X 4 version (117,759 were built) and a 6 X 6 version (676,433 units). The 6 X 6 version became known as “the workhorse of the army.” The Yellow Truck and Coach Division of General Motors (later GMC Truck and Coach) received substantial orders for the 6 X 6 version from the Quartermaster Corps in 1940 and 1941. This photograph shows the standard 6 X 6 version produced in the early part of the war, with a rounded, closed cab. (NAHC)

After July 1943, the GMC 2 1/2-ton 6 X 6 trucks had open cabs, a canvas top, side curtains, and a windshield that folded down. Note the power winch mounted on the front, which enabled the truck to pull itself or other vehicles out of trouble. (NAHC)

› GMC 2 1/2-ton 6 X 6 open cargo trucks awaiting shipment outside the GMC Truck and Coach plant in Pontiac, Michigan. This is likely one day’s production. General Motors assembled 528,829 of the 6 X 6 models (78 percent of the total number built), mostly at its Pontiac plant. General Motors operated a second assembly plant for these trucks in St. Louis starting in September 1942. (NAHC) 170

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‹ The last GM-built 6 X 6 truck produced at the Pontiac, Michigan, GM Truck and Coach plant, summer 1945. Note the woman worker at the wheel and the large number of women workers in this picture. (NAHC)

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‹ When Yellow Truck and Coach could not keep up with the demand for 2 1/2-ton trucks, the Quartermaster Corps turned to other manufacturers, which built these trucks under license from Yellow Truck and Coach. The most important producer was the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, which built 87,742 of the 6 X 4 models and 105,917 of the 6 X 6 models. The Studebaker 2 1/2-ton trucks were not identical to the Yellow Truck versions because Studebaker used a different engine. This variation did not create maintenance problems in the field because all the Studebaker-built trucks went to Lend-Lease countries, mainly the Soviet Union. This photograph shows part of one day’s production ready for shipment. (ACWP)

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Other manufacturers of 2 1/2-ton trucks included International Harvester, which built roughly 30,000 of the 6 X 6 models, and REO Motors of Lansing, Michigan, which assembled 22,204. This photograph shows a REO-built 6 X 6. (ACWP)

› The Quartermaster Corps purchased close to one hundred thousand “heavy-heavy” trucks, rated at 4 tons and above. The principal manufacturers were Autocar, Brockway, Diamond T, Federal Truck, International Harvester, Mack, and REO. This photograph shows 4-ton 6 X 6 trucks made by Diamond T outside the factory ready for shipment. 176

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A 6-ton 6 X 6 truck built by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

A 7 1/2-ton 6 X 6 Prime Mover built by Mack. (ACWP)

› This 10-ton 4 X 6 cargo truck built by the White Motor Company was used to transport troops and materials. (ACWP) 178

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Trucks were the principal means for transporting troops and supplies by land in all theaters of the war. One example is the famed “Red Ball Express” gasoline convoy pictured here in France in 1944. (ACWP)

‹ The Quartermaster Corps shipped many trucks in pieces, to be assembled close to where they were to be used. This photograph shows a group of American soldiers and French civilians assembling 2 1/2-ton trucks at an ordnance depot in Normandy, France, on 16 September 1944. (ACWP) pj re e p as r, itnrgu cf ko sr, w an a rd ba emfpohri eb ipoeuasr vl ehhaircbl oe rs

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Trucks of the Eleventh Armored Division, U.S. Third Army, crossing a river near Kirn, Germany, on 30 March 1945. The heavier truck fords the river while the lighter truck uses the available bridge, which might have collapsed under the weight of the larger truck. (ACWP)

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This photograph includes the three most important trucks of World War II: a jeep is being transferred from an amphibious truck (known as the DUKW) to the bed of a 2 1/2-ton GMC 6 X 6 truck. (ACWP)

In late April 1942, the Quartermaster Corps asked the Yellow Truck and Coach Company to develop an amphibious cargo carrier based on the 2 1/2-ton 6 X 6 truck the company was already building. The truck company delivered a pilot model on 2 June 1942 and, following extensive testing and design modifications, built its first production vehicle on 10 November 1942. “DUKW” was the manufacturing code Yellow Truck and Coach assigned to the new vehicle: D stood for 1942, U for “utility,” K for front-wheel drive, and W for two rear driving axles. The official designation “DUKW” quickly turned into “Duck.” This phantom view shows how a boat hull serves as the body for a 2 1/2-ton 6 X 6 truck chassis. (NAHC)

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DUKWs operated with ease on water as well as on land. This prototype DUKW is undergoing testing in the ship basin at the Ford River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. It was not uncommon for rival automakers to share test facilities during the war. (NAHC)

A DUKW during field maneuvers on a beach. (ACWP)

‹ Yellow Truck and Coach was the exclusive supplier of DUKWs, and delivered a total of 21,147 units to the army over the course of the war. They built almost all of the DUKWs at its Pontiac, Michigan, plant, shown here with a flock of DUKWs ready for delivery. General Motors opened a second assembly plant for this amphibian in 1944 in St. Louis. (NAHC) pj re e p as r, itnrgu cf ko sr, w an a rd ba emfpohri eb ipoeuasr vl ehhaircbl oe rs

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DUKWs performed an invaluable service as cargo carriers, moving supplies and vehicles from ship to shore where there were no established harbors or docks. Here, a load of gasoline in cans is lowered from a Liberty ship in the harbor of Le Havre, France, into an awaiting DUKW. (ACWP)

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This 2 1/2-ton 6 X 6 truck was lowered onto two DUKWs lashed together with a platform between them. (NAHC)

A White Motor Company half-track armored personnel carrier, which weighed about nine tons, astride two DUKWs chained together. (ACWP)

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‹ DUKWs in a row lined up for fuel at an unidentified beach. (ACWP)

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‹ The versatile DUKW was especially useful in carrying troops and supplies across rivers. This image shows a U.S. Third Army unit crossing the Danube River near a wrecked bridge in April 1945. (ACWP)

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The second significant amphibious vehicle built by the automobile industry was the amphibious jeep, called the “Seep,” a contraction of “Sea jeep.” In early January 1942, the Quartermaster Corps awarded the Ford Motor Company a contract to build three pilot models based on Ford’s standard jeep, which Ford completed in April 1942. Ford went into full production in September 1942, and in time built 12,781 Seeps, all assembled at the Ford Rouge plant. Here is a Seep emerging from the water during field maneuvers, showing its amphibious capabilities. (ACWP)

‹ Wounded First Division Marine on Peleliu Island lifted aboard a DUKW for transfer to a hospital ship in the harbor. (ACWP) pj re e p as r, itnrgu cf ko sr, w an a rd ba emfpohri eb ipoeuasr vl ehhaircbl oe rs

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A group of Seeps performing field maneuvers in the Detroit area, with soldiers from Fort Wayne in Detroit in full combat dress, 23 March 1943. The controls for land operations are identical to those of the jeep. The steering wheel was linked to the Seep’s rudder though a series of cables, allowing the driver to “steer” in water as he would on land. These Seeps appear to be quite seaworthy. (ACWP)

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The final vehicle considered in this chapter is the “Weasel,” a track-laying vehicle designed to carry personnel or cargo over deep snow and ice. The Studebaker Corporation secretly developed the vehicle at the request of the Army Ordnance Department in early 1942 and was making them in quantity by October 1942. This photograph shows an early Studebaker production line for the Weasel, designated as the M28 and M29. These early Weasels were not amphibious. (ACWP)

M29 Weasel operating in winter conditions, with white and black camouflage providing excellent concealment in the snowy woods. Photograph is dated 28 July 1944, suggesting the unidentified location was at a high elevation in a northern location. (ACWP)

The Army Ordnance Department and Studebaker produced an amphibious version of the Weasel, designated the M29C. The track provided propulsion through the water. The amphibious Weasel performed much better than DUKWs or Seeps when climbing steep river banks and when moving through snow. By the end of the war, Studebaker produced 4,476 M29s and 10,647 of the amphibious M29Cs. (ACWP)

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7 guns, shells, bullets, and other war goods The American automobile industry produced a wide range of weapons, ammunition, and other war products that it had no experience or expertise with when the war began. Chrysler manufactured the Swedish-designed Bofors 40-mm antiaircraft gun after redesigning it to U.S. standards. Chrysler turned out 30,095 army version (single-barrel) Bofors guns, or 90 percent of the army’s needs. In addition, the company manufactured 14,442 navy versions (two-barrel) of the same gun. The auto industry also made a substantial number of Oerlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft guns for the navy. The Hudson Motor Car Company built 33,201 Oerlikons, and the Pontiac Division of General Motors was the second major supplier. Several General Motors divisions turned out other types of guns. Oldsmobile made more than 10,000 cannon, mainly for tank and tank destroyers. Four General Motors divisions (Saginaw Steering Gear, AC Spark Plug, Frigidaire, and Guide Lamp) produced.30-mm and .50-mm machine guns. Combined, they accounted for 70 percent of the machine guns made during the war. Chrysler manufactured incendiary bombs and various artillery shells, but its major contribution was the production of small-arms ammunition at its Evansville, Indiana, munitions factory. There, Chrysler produced 2,768,688,000 cartridges for .45-caliber carbines (68 percent of Ordnance Department purchases) and another 484,463 cartridges for .30-caliber carbines. preparing for war before pearl harbor

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The auto industry also produced an almost bewildering smorgasbord of other products for the war effort. Chrysler and General Motors made gyrocompasses in large numbers. Chrysler built portable radar units and equipment used to collect U-235 for the atomic bomb. The industry also made marine engines used to power ships of all sizes. The Packard Motor Car Company specialized in marine engines during the war and made little else other than aircraft engines. Other substantial makers of marine engines included Chrysler, Hudson, and the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors.

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In late 1940, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy decided to use the Swedishdesigned Bofors 40-mm anti-aircraft gun. The army opted for a single-barrel air-cooled version, while the navy preferred a two-barrel water-cooled design. In January 1941, the navy awarded the Chrysler Corporation a contract to redesign the Bofors gun for mass production, with interchangeable parts, converting the specifications from meters to inches and replacing European metallurgical standards with American standards. Chrysler completed its first mass-produced Bofors gun on 5 February 1942. This photo shows a worker inspecting the breech rings at a Chrysler plant. (ACWP)

Chrysler worker inspecting Bofors gun barrels. (ACWP)

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‹ By the end of the war, Chrysler produced 30,095 single-mount Bofors guns, 90 percent of which were bought by the U.S. Army Ordnance Department. Chrysler also completed 14,442 pairs for the navy, for a total combined production equivalent to 58,979 single guns, all assembled at the Plymouth Lynch Road plant in Detroit. In addition, the automaker built roughly 60,000 extra barrels. This photograph shows the assembly of single-barrel Bofors gun mechanisms. (ACWP).

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‹ Soldiers on alert with a U.S. Army Bofors gun in New Guinea, undated. (ACWP)

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‹ U.S. Navy Bofors gun in standard mount shipboard. (CKH)

Bofors guns aboard a navy warship, part of an Essex-class aircraft carrier task force operating in the Pacific Ocean and bound for Wake Island. Note the two aircraft carriers below the Bofors guns and the two sailors catching naps. This photograph was released by the navy on 14 December 1943. (ACWP) preparing for war before pearl harbor

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The second anti-aircraft gun produced in quantity by the auto industry was the Swiss-designed Oerlikon 20-mm automatic cannon. The navy awarded a contract to the Hudson Motor Car Company in January 1941 to make parts for guns in a new plant to be built in Center Line, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The navy then gave Hudson a large contract for the complete gun in July 1941, and the first Oerlikon guns came off the Hudson assembly line in January 1942. This undated photo shows the gift of an Oerlikon gun to the navy from the Hudson employees. The man on the left is Clifford Ray, representing the Hudson employees; the two men in the middle are U.S. Navy officers; and the man on the right is A. E. Barit, president of Hudson. (ACWP)

› Oerlikon guns on their pedestal mounts at the Hudson Naval Ordnance factory in Center Line, Michigan, in 1942. By the end of October 1943, Hudson produced 33,201 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns for the navy. In early October 1943, the navy abruptly canceled its contract with Hudson and awarded the work as well as the Center Line plant to the Westinghouse Corporation. The navy offered no specific reason for the cancellation. (CKH) 206

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A U.S. Navy ensign test-firing an Oerlikon gun in a specially designed test building at the Naval Ordnance plant in Center Line, Michigan. The officer is checking the rate of fire with a stopwatch. The gun is laid on its side in testing to duplicate conditions of firing overhead in actual combat. (ACWP)

In spring 1941, the U.S. Navy contracted with the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors to build Oerlikon guns for use by the U.S. Merchant Marine. Here, Pontiac workers are performing delicate grinding operations by hand on Oerlikon gun barrels. Note the irregular shape of the bench top, designed to make the work easier to perform. (ACWP)

› The Fisher Body Division of General Motors built 4.7-inch anti-aircraft guns at its plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These guns, shown here on the final assembly line, could hit bombers flying roughly seven miles high, or about thirty-five thousand feet. Photograph is dated January 1943. (ACWP) 208

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Four General Motors divisions made machine guns during the war: Saginaw Steering, AC Spark Plug, Frigidaire, and Guide Lamp. In this photograph, Browning .30-caliber machine guns are lined up for testing in the firing range at the Saginaw Steering Division plant in Saginaw, Michigan. (ACWP) 210

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Assembly of the Colt .50-caliber machine gun at the AC Spark Plug plant in Flint, Michigan. (ACWP)

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Chrysler built a variety of artillery shells, rockets, and bombs for the war effort. Here is one of more than one hundred thousand incendiary bombs (fire bombs) Chrysler produced at its Evansville, Indiana, plant. These were dropped on Japanese cities. (ACWP)

› A torpedo designed to be dropped by U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft leaves the assembly line at a Pontiac Motor Division plant. (ACWP) 212

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General Motors was easily the largest producer of artillery shells among the auto companies, with a wartime production of 119,562,000 shells, or 13 percent of all artillery and mortar shells purchased by the U.S. Army Ordnance Department. Here, workers at the Grand Rapids Stamping plant of the Fisher Body Division are putting finishing touches on 155-mm artillery shells. (ACWP)

› Women inspecting 155-mm artillery shells at the Fisher Body Grand Rapids Stamping plant. (ACWP) 214

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‹ Worker at the Fisher Body Grand Rapids Stamping plant preparing a freight car load of 155-mm artillery shells for shipping. He is hammering one of many braces in place to provide stability for this freight car. (ACWP)

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‹ The first drawing of shell casings at Chrysler Corporation’s Evansville, Indiana, munitions plant. (ACWP)

Workers at Chrysler’s Evansville munitions plant performing the first visual inspection of .45-caliber cartridge cases after the cases have received their first trim. (ACWP) g u n sp, rsehpealrli sn,gb fuol rl ewt as r, abne df oorteh pe er awr al rh ga o r bo od rs

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‹ In February 1942, the U.S. Bureau of Ships asked the Chrysler Corporation to produce gyrocompasses under license from the Sperry Gyroscope Company. Chrysler agreed to make these delicate instruments, which guided large ships. Chrysler delivered the first gyrocompass on 11 September 1942 and produced fifty-five hundred by the end of the war, all at Chrysler’s Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck, Michigan. This photograph shows the assembly of auxiliary indicators for the gyrocompass. This and other images from the Dodge plant show a predominantly female workforce. (ACWP)

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‹ Sperry gyrocompass final assembly, Dodge Main plant. (ACWP)

The Chrysler Corporation designed and built a curious hybrid tugboat, a marine tractor more commonly called the “sea mule,” shown in this photograph in the Detroit River behind Chrysler’s Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit. Chrysler built 8,229 of these between October 1942 and the end of the war. Chrysler also built 21,131 marine engines and nearly 120,000 industrial engines used in various applications. (CKH)

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‹ The Hudson Motor Car Company built 4,004 “Invader” gasoline engines for landing craft under license from the Hall-Scott Motor Company. This is the first Hudson Invader engine delivered to the navy undergoing tests at the Hudson plant in Detroit. This undated photograph shows various U.S. Navy and Hudson officials inspecting the engine. (ACWP)

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‹ The Packard Motor Car Company specialized in producing aircraft and marine engines during the war. The company’s work on the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine was discussed earlier in this book. Packard also manufactured more than twelve thousand engines for marine use during the war. This V-12 engine provided power for the navy’s PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats. (ACWP)

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Packard’s V-12 engine was liquid-cooled and had a displacement of twenty-five hundred cubic inches. It was rated at 1,100 horsepower initially, but by the end of the war, the engine was rated at 1,500 horsepower. All of the nearly eight hundred PT boats built during the war were each powered by three Packard V-12 engines. (ACWP) 228

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General Motors Cleveland Diesel Engine Division built giant diesel engines for U.S. Navy vessels. This engine block is undergoing testing. (ACWP)

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‹ A navy inspector checks the hardness of this giant diesel engine crankshaft, which was produced by the General Motors Cleveland Diesel Engine Division for use in a U.S. Navy vessel. Note the blueprint draped over the end of the crankshaft. (ACWP).

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8 the new workers The Great Depression’s effect on employment was still evident in 1940, when 14.6 percent of the civilian labor force was unemployed. However, due to the growth of defense production beginning in 1941 and its increase in 1942–1943, as well as the military absorption of millions of civilian workers, unemployment dropped dramatically from 9.9 percent in 1941 to 4.7 percent in 1942, and then to 1.9 percent in 1943. All defense industries, including the automobile industry, faced severe shortages of labor in 1943. The automakers “solved” these shortages by employing large numbers of workers, in particular African Americans and women, previously employed in only very limited ways. African Americans made up only 4 percent of the workforce in the auto industry in 1940, with 70 percent of these workers employed in the Detroit area at a handful of plants operated by Ford, Dodge, General Motors, and Briggs, which made auto bodies. Ford was easily the largest employer of black workers, with an average of roughly eleven thousand black employees in 1937–1941, or 10 percent of its workforce. African Americans typically had the dirtiest, most dangerous, and most difficult jobs in the auto industry but received lower wages than their white counterparts. Black workers often worked in foundries, paint shops, and in heat treatment plants. They were employed as general laborers, sweepers, janitors, or hand truck operators. When labor shortages became severe in 1943, however, black preparing for war before pearl harbor

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workers were given jobs in assembly and other mainstream areas, and their arrival often touched off “hate strikes” by white workers. In time, white resistance declined and black workers became more common in defense plants. By April 1945, African Americans made up 14.7 percent of the workforce in the automobile industry. The scarcity of images of African Americans working in the defense industry in this section of the book reflects the shortage of images in the photograph collections which form the basis of this volume, especially the photographs preserved by the Automotive Council for War Production. This lack of images probably reflects multiple forces at work: the prevalence of racism at the time, for example, and the fact that black workers frequently held unappealing jobs, which limited the public relations potential of such photographs. Women working in defense plants were a curiosity and often the subject of newspaper and magazine articles, but black men were not. A significant number of women worked in the automobile industry before war production began but in a limited number of “women’s jobs.” Women operated sewing machines in the upholstery and trim manufacturing departments, and often held jobs either fabricating or assembling small parts because they were thought to have better manual dexterity than men. Building electrical wiring harnesses was usually an exclusively female job, and women often worked as inspectors. They faced widespread discrimination in pay as well as unwritten rules about their employment. Many employers would not hire married women, for example, and would fire women who became pregnant. 234

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The war changed the number of women in the auto industry and the work they performed. In mid-1940, women made up 7.6 percent of those employed in the auto industry, including suppliers. As late as April 1942, women made up only 5.7 percent of the workforce in the automobile industry, but by November 1943 their share leaped to 26 percent, where it remained with some slight variation through April 1945. However, African American women faced particularly harsh barriers to working in the automotive defense industry. In July 1942, defense plants in the auto industry employed 24,540 women, but only 115 were black. By September 1943, when female employment had substantially increased, black women made up only 15 percent of all women employed. The jobs women held during the war were typically jobs that did not exist in the auto industry before the war, with two exceptions: sewing and the assembly of wiring harnesses. Light manufacturing work, especially riveting aircraft components, was the most common work performed by women during the war. They also worked on precise, delicate assembly work, such as building gyrocompasses. In addition, women served as machine operators on lathes, drill presses, grinding machines, and the like. They frequently appear in photographs performing inspection work as well. Finally, women held a wide range of other positions, including plant security guard, truck driver, and crane operator. When the war drew to an end, the auto industry reverted back to making civilian vehicles, and most of the jobs held by women were taken by returning veterans.

These were some of the 135 Chinese workers employed in the Hudson Motor Car Company plant in Detroit. They are assembling wings for the U.S. Navy Curtiss-Wright Helldiver dive bomber, which was used against the Japanese in the Pacific theater. Thirty Yee cousins worked in the plant, and four of them are included in this group. These workers would not have been employed at Hudson before the war. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Little people were another group of workers who found jobs in the defense industry following the onset of war, especially in aircraft plants. Their small stature permitted them to work in confined spaces such as inside aircraft wing sections. This photograph shows Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, World War I flying ace and adviser to the Ford Motor Company, greeting some of these workers at the Willow Run Bomber plant on 22 January 1943. (BFRC)

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A little person installing control wires inside the fuselage of a Valiant basic trainer, location unknown. (ACWP)

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Two African American workers moving heavy tarp material for the woman in the center to sew. Location is unknown. (ACWP) 238

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A lone man working with women employees at the Murray Corporation plant in Detroit, assembling wing tips for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Lieutenant General Knudsen visiting a Wright Aeronautical Company plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 1944. The African American man in the photograph is inspecting cylinder heads and is clearly a skilled worker. (ACWP) 240

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Photographs of African American women in war production are extremely uncommon. This is the packaging line at the Chrysler Corporation Evansville, Indiana, munitions plant, where .45-caliber ammunition are placed into waxed cardboard boxes. There is a lone white male wearing a tie, presumably a manager, in the upper part of this photograph. All of the workers on the line are African American. (ACWP)

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Given the skepticism that most male managers had about the potential of women workers for war production jobs, women faced more testing of their skills and aptitudes than their male counterparts. The caption for this image reads, “Skill in turning the peg a full turn helps select those girls with better manual dexterity.” Note the male examiner’s stopwatch. (ACWP)

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Women had the benefit of extensive job training for war work, especially for complex or delicate work. This photograph shows a college student learning to use delicate inspection instruments at an Eastern Aircraft plant of General Motors. (ACWP)

The Hudson Motor Car Company was one of the first defense contractors to establish special schools to teach women workers new skills. This image shows women learning to read blueprints and to handle precision instruments such as micrometers and calipers, probably to be used in inspection work. (ACWP)

Defense contractors sometimes modified machines to better enable women to operate them. This image shows drill presses with fixtures reduced in weight by about 50 percent (to thirty-five pounds or less). The men in the foreground are examining one such fixture that has been lightened. This particular plant is not identified. (ACWP)

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Women workers with young children faced the challenge of finding a nursery or day care for their kids, particularly if there were no relatives or neighbors willing to take on the responsibility. Often, the automakers turned war contractors had to find child care for their workers. In this photograph, a Packard Motor Car Company counselor (left) informs a Packard screw machine operator (right) that Packard has arranged for child care for her preschool-age youngster in a neighborhood nursery. (ACWP)

These children are enjoying themselves at a Working War Mothers Nursery School in Detroit. The photograph was provided by the Murray Corporation of America. (ACWP)

› Children at lunch under adult supervision at a Detroit-area wartime nursery school. (ACWP) 244

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Many women working in defense production in the automotive industry performed work they had done while working in automobile or supplier industries: sewing and assembling wiring harnesses. In this image, two women are hand-sewing fabric on to the right rudder fin of a North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell bomber. (ACWP) › Three women employees of Willys-Overland Motors in a Toledo, Ohio, plant arranging wiring harnesses for jeeps. (ACWP) 246

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Worker at the Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, preparing wiring harnesses for military trucks. (ACWP)

Hudson worker attaching telephone plug tips to telephone wiring used in the B-29 Superfortress. (ACWP)

› Hudson Motor Car Company worker in Detroit hanging and sorting wires that will make up wiring harnesses for three B-29 Superfortress fuselage sections built by Hudson. The B-29 requires about thirty miles of wiring, and Hudson assembled 146 different wire harnesses for the airplane. Note the use of tags for identification. (ACWP) 248 cc hh aa pp tt ee rr 18 248

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Hudson workers building a wiring harness for a B-29 Superfortress. They are weaving together the 186 wires for this particular wire harness using a special wooden board designed for each of the 146 wire harnesses Hudson assembled. Once the wires were woven together, fittings and plugs were attached to the individual wires. (ACWP) 250

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Female electrician at Hudson completing the installation of a wire harness in one of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress fuselage sections built by the Detroit automaker. (ACWP)

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‹ The belief that women were ideally suited for delicate and precise assembly work because they had better manual dexterity, patience, and smaller hands than men led to their placement in jobs working with small parts. Here, women are assembling parts for binoculars at the NashKelvinator Ranco plant in Columbus, Ohio. The white work clothes and a well-lit workspace suggest an effort to minimize dirt and dust. (CKH)

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A worker at a Fisher Body Division Ternstedt plant in Detroit operating a bank of four lapping machines that polish the rotor pivots used in aircraft gyroscopes. (ACWP) 254

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Women at an AC Spark Plug plant calibrating bomb sights before final inspection. (ACWP)

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As women took jobs at war production plants, many became machine operators, jobs typically held by men before the war. This worker at a Chevrolet aircraft engine plant is riveting air deflectors, which control air flow to the air-cooled cylinder heads of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines. (ACWP)

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Thirty percent of Packard war workers were women. This worker operating a lathe is contributing to the production of Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Woman using a burring tool to remove excess stock from parts used in the manufacture of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines at a Chevrolet plant in Tonawanda, New York. (ACWP) 258

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A row of machines that trimmed steel cartridges, operated by an all female workforce, Chrysler Corporation Evansville, Indiana, munitions plant. (ACWP)

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Woman operating a pneumatic drill to manufacture buzz bombs, Willys-Overland plant in Toledo, Ohio. This is almost certainly a public relations photograph using a woman “borrowed” from the office. She is clearly dressed for office work, not for the dirty, gritty work of the factory floor. (ACWP)

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Much of the light manufacturing work done by women in the automotive defense industry involved aircraft components. In this photograph, women are preparing B-29 Superfortress elevators and rudders for the paint spray booth seen in the background at a Fisher Body plant in Lansing, Michigan. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Women finishing the assembly of wing tips for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress at a Murray Corporation plant in Detroit. The workers remain in place while the wing tips move along a “merry-go-round” monorail. From here, the wing tip goes on to be fitted to its wing. (ACWP) 262

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Workers assembling wing flaps for the B-29 Superfortress at the Fisher Body Cleveland Aircraft Plant No. 2. Notice the giant fixtures holding the enormous wing flap. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Riveters working on a Martin B-26 Marauder fuselage section in the DeSoto plant in Detroit. With their lightweight guns, these aircraft workers were the typical “Rosie the Riveter” in the arsenal of democracy and not the muscular shipyard Rosie portrayed by Norman Rockwell. (ACWP)

› Workers building the center wing sections for the Curtiss-Wright Helldiver dive bomber at the Desoto plant in Detroit. (ACWP) 264

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Assembly work on armored cabins for the Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter at the Hudson Motor Car Company factory in Detroit. One woman operates the riveting gun while the second woman holds the bucking bar, which serves to deform (spread out) one end of the rivet, giving the rivet a second head, thus creating a fastener. (ACWP)

› Skilled workers installing miles of wiring into the fuselage sections of the Martin B-26 Marauder at a Hudson plant in Detroit. (ACWP) 266

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‹ A female duo riveting a bulkhead for a Martin B-26 Marauder at a Hudson plant in Detroit. The woman on the left is holding the bucking bar, while the one on the right operates the riveting gun. (ACWP)

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Woman riveting a pressurized bulkhead for a B-29 Superfortress at a Hudson factory in Detroit. Because the B-29 flew at high altitudes, the areas in the plane where men worked had to be pressurized for them to survive. The smaller round openings were part of the “man tunnels,” which allowed the crew to move from one pressurized part of the aircraft to another. Note the tags on each section of the bulkhead frame. (ACWP) 270

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One of the most common types of work women performed in war plants was that of inspection. One can only speculate that management chose women for this work because they were seen as more careful, thorough, and perhaps more honest than their male counterparts. They were usually new to the factory, so they would have few ties to the workers whose products they inspected. This woman is testing the “run-out” of the impellers used in Rolls-Royce Merlin engines built by Packard. “Run-out” is a measurement of the location of a circular part like an impeller relative to its axis, in this case the shaft carrying the impeller. Precision checking helped to ensure even wear over time. (ACWP)

Rocket motor inspection at the Nash-Kelvinator plant in Detroit. (CKH)

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Final inspection of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine pistons, Buick aircraft plant in Melrose Park, Illinois. These pistons were subject to eight distinct inspections. (ACWP)

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Aircraft engine cylinder head inspection for dimensions, unknown location. (ACWP)

Inspection of the balance for gyroscope rotors used in aircraft direction and horizon indicators built at a General Motors Ternstedt Division plant. This woman is testing the balance using a strobometer. (ACWP)

A worker at the Melrose Park Buick aircraft engine plant weigh-counting aircraft engine hold-down nuts for B-24 Liberator bomber engines. (The original photograph caption reads: “Any resemblance to a grandmother measuring ingredients for a cake recipe is purely coincidental.”) (ACWP)

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Women had a wide variety of other types of jobs in the defense industry. Early in the war, the Hudson Motor Car Company replaced its male plant protection force with women. Here, a female guard receives instruction on the use of a pistol from a veteran of the force. (ACWP)

Part of a dozen uniformed policewomen who guarded the Studebaker aircraft engine plant in South Bend, Indiana, during the war. The sergeant taking the roll has a patch on his sleeve indicating that he was an Auxiliary Military Police officer, which was the case for these female officers as well. The board in the background lists “Our Boys in the Service.” (ACWP)

‹ Worker inspecting the surface finish on pistons used in Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, unknown location. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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Women clerks working in the parts department of the White Motor Company branch in Chicago. They replaced men who were serving in the armed forces. Note the roller skates, which helped speed the delivery of parts to customers. (ACWP) 276

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Crane operator at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, lifting an M4 Sherman tank, probably to load it onto the railroad flatcars seen in the background. (ACWP) p r e p a r i n g f o r w a r b e f ot rhee pneeawr lw ho ar rk be or rs

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‹ Female crane operator at the Murray Corporation plant in Detroit, January 1943. (ACWP)

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9 celebrating the production achievements The enormous production of weapons and munitions by American industry, especially the automobile industry, contributed mightily to the eventual victory of the Allies over the Axis powers. American production dwarfed that of our principal allies, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. In 1942–1944, the principal years of America serving as the “arsenal of democracy,” American industry accounted for 46 percent of Allied tank production, 51 percent of the combat aircraft built, and 55 percent of machine gun manufacturing. The size and efficiency of American industry, especially the auto industry, gave the Allies an enormous advantage over the Axis in terms of weapons and munitions. In 1942, the first year of full American industrial mobilization for war production, the Allied economies produced nearly three times the number of rifles and carbines than did the Axis economies, more than three times the number of machines guns, more than four times the number of tanks, and more than two-and-a-half times the combat aircraft. To encourage production efficiency and to boost the morale of workers and managers alike, the military services instituted a program for recognizing production excellence. The U.S. Navy had instituted an “E” award to recognize superior service by naval vessels during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, but later extended the award to civilian war production plants. To avoid an “alphabet soup” of overlapping awards from the preparing for war before pearl harbor

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military services, the War and Navy Departments agreed to a single Army-Navy “E” Award to recognize outstanding performance in war production. The criteria for selection included not only the quantity and quality of production but also the absence of work stoppages, the health and safety record, and other such standards. The selection method laid out in July 1942 specified that nominations for the award could come from army or navy procurement officers or inspectors assigned to defense plants. Each of the two armed services had its own review board, and both had to concur before the award was made. A defense plant that won the award would receive a pennant (flag) which it could fly for six months only. Each employee would also receive an Army-Navy “E” Award pin to wear. If the plant kept its excellent record of performance after six months, it would be given a white star to add to its “E” flag. The military services upheld high standards in giving out the Army-Navy “E” Award. Military officials nominated only 15 percent of defense plants nationally, and only one-third of those nominated received the award. The first was the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, which received the ArmyNavy “E” Award on 28 July 1942. By the end of the war, a total of 4,283 plants received this recognition. Many defense plants had a consistent record of excellence. More than 700 plants received either one, two, or three star awards; 820 received four star awards; 206 received five; and 8 plants received six star awards. War contractors and the military also launched plant- and company-wide programs to encourage, recognize, and reward outstanding production achievements by individual workers. 282

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The Packard Motor Car Company, for example, had a very successful “Work to Win” program at its plants. Plant visits by high-ranking military officers, including Knudsen, were intended to boost war worker morale. Active-duty officers also visited war plants as a way of reminding workers how their products were used.

The Die and Machine Unit of the Fisher Body Division of General Motors was the first plant in the automobile industry to receive the Navy “E” Award with two white stars. Photograph taken on 11 November 1942. (ACWP)

The Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors was the first automobile manufacturer to earn the Navy “E” Award. The automaker received this recognition on 30 January 1942 for its work on the Oerlikon .20-mm anti-aircraft gun at its plant in Pontiac, Michigan, pictured here. (ACWP)

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Army-Navy “E” Award ceremony at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, on 10 August 1942. (ACWP)

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The Chevrolet Gear and Axle plant in Detroit receiving an Army-Navy “E” Award, no date given. (ACWP)

Army-Navy “E” Flag presented to the Nash-Kelvinator plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1943. (ACWP)

Sign outside of the Packard Motor Car Company plant in Detroit promoting the “All-Out” Pledge. The worker is wearing a Packard “Work to Win” badge. The slogan under the man is a play on words of the famous Packard advertising slogan, “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” (ACWP)

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This inspector of Packard marine engine parts used in PT boat engines was recognized on 3 September 1943 for her production ingenuity by the War Production Board. She was the only woman among seventy-eight Packard employees to receive this recognition. (ACWP)

This Packard milling machine operator won a weekly slogan contest as part of Packard’s “Work to Win” program. He proudly displays his winning slogan, “Let’s start the Second Front at YOUR machine!” (ACWP)

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D. J. Hutchins, regional director of the War Production Board (WPB), presenting national WPB awards for production “shortcuts” to nine Packard workers. This was the largest group recognized by the WPB, the first in Detroit, and the first in the automobile industry. (ACWP) c e l pe rb er pa at ri ni ng gt fhoe rp w r oa dr ubcetfioorne apcehairelv eh m a re bnot rs

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A navy PT boat lieutenant commander returned from a ten-month tour of duty in the Pacific to visit Packard workers involved in making PT boat engines. This female milling machine operator explains her work in turning out precision parts for these engines. (ACWP) 288

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Robert F. Black, president of the White Motor Company, recognizing the winner of White’s War Bond Popularity Contest. Her award was a $100 war bond and the title of “Miss Half-Track.” (ACWP) c e l pe rb er pa at ri ni ng gt fhoe rp w r oa dr ubcetfioorne apcehairelv eh m a re bnot rs

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index Aeroproducts Division of General Motors, 46 African American women workers, 234, 241 African American workers, 238–40: discrimination of, 233, 234; and “hate strikes,” 234; jobs, 233; numbers of, 233, 234 aircraft: Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter, 73, 266; Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 49, 51, 71, 72, 239, 262; Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 58, 63, 64, 73, 81, 83, 85, 248, 250, 251, 263, 266, 270; CG-13A glider, 113; CG-4A glider, 112; Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 9, 53, 56, 85, 91, 97, 101, 109, 273; Consolidated B-24 Liberator, last one assembled at the Ford Willow Run bomber plant, 110; CurtissWright Helldiver dive bomber, 235, 264; Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, 115; Grumman Wildcat fighter, 115; Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter, 12; Martin B-26 Marauder, 6, 8, 73, 75, 77, 264, 266, 269; North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell, 246; Sikorsky Model R-6 helicopter, 116 aircraft and aircraft component contracts, as a share of automakers’ war work, 69 aircraft engine production record:

Allison Division, General Motors, 46; Buick Motor Division, General Motors, 53; Chevrolet Division, General Motors, 56; Dodge-Chicago plant, 63; Ford Motor Company production, 49; Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, 56; Packard Motor Car Company, 46; Studebaker Corporation, 51 aircraft engines: Allison V-1710 liquidcooled engine, 46; Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 78; mechanic training schools, 55; Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, 51, 53, 55, 56; Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, 49, 53, 56; Pratt & Whitney testing protocol, 53; Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, 45, 46, 257, 271; testing, 47, 49, 51, 53; testing, Wright Aeronautical testing protocol, 59; Wright R-1820 Cyclone, 49; Wright R-3350 Cyclone, 58, 63 Aircraft production record: aircraft and auto industry combined, 69; Eastern Aircraft Division, General Motors, 115; Ford Motor Company, Iron Mountain, Michigan, glider plant, 112, 113; Ford Willow Run Bomber plant, 110; Nash-Kelvinator Corporation helicopter plant, Detroit, 116

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American Bantam Car Company: Bantam Reconnaissance Car (BRC), 157; contracts to build jeeps, 157; developed the first jeep, 157 amphibious jeep. See “Seep” Anderson, John W., 22 anti-aircraft guns: 37-mm anti-aircraft, 6; 4.7-inch guns built by the Fisher Body Division, General Motors, 208. See also Bofors 40-mm anti-aircraft gun; Oerlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft gun Army-Navy “E” Award, 53, 282, 284, 285; Chevrolet Gear and Axle plant, Detroit, 284; Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 284; Nash-Kelvinator plant, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 285 artillery shells, 155-mm: Fisher Body Division, General Motors, 214–17 artillery shells and mortars: General Motors Corporation production record, 214 automobile industry: conversion to war production, 22-29; dealers converting to war production, 29 Automobile Manufacturers' Association, 2, 21 Automotive Committee for Air Defense (ADAD), 2, 6; display of aircraft components in Detroit, 2, 6, 8, 9 Automotive Council for War Production (ACWP): established, 19, 21; meetings in Detroit in 1942, 22 Barit, A. E., 77, 206 “Battle of Britain,” 1, 3 Battle of the Bulge, 161 Black, Robert F., 289

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“Blitz buggy.” See Ford pilot model jeep Bofors 40-mm anti–aircraft gun, 199–205; in use in New Guinea, 203; in use near Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean, 205; production record by Chrysler Corporation, 197, 201; purchases by the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, 201; redesign by the Chrysler Corporation, 199; U.S. Navy contract awarded to Chrysler Corporation, 199 Bofors 40-mm anti-aircraft gun carriage, 33 Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit, 22 Briggs Manufacturing Company, 78; maker of aircraft components, 71 Browning .30-caliber machine gun: assembled by the Saginaw Steering Division, General Motors, 210 Buick assembly plant, Flint, Michigan, 24 Buick body plant, Flint, Michigan, 27 Buick Motor Division, General Motors, 51; M18 (Hellcat) tank destroyer built at plant in Flint, Michigan, 144; manufacturer of M18 (Hellcat) tank destroyers, 120 Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors, 143 Camp Holabird, Maryland, 157 cannon production record: by Oldsmobile Division, General Motors, 197 Casablanca, French Morocco, 12 Chevrolet Division, General Motors: truck models built, 168 Chevrolet factory, Flint, Michigan, 25

Chicago Automobile Show: 1941 show, 6 Chinese workers at Hudson Motor Car Company Detroit plant, 235 Chrysler Corporation, 22, 64, 85; Airtemp Division, 59 Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 4, 121–34, 136–41; construction, 122, 124; Family Day, 1944, 134; groundbreaking, September 1940, 121 Churchill, Winston, 159 Cincinnati Milling Machine Company, 30 civilian car and truck production: stopped in early 1942, 23, 24 Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, General Motors: manufacturer of diesel engines for U.S. Navy vessels, 229, 231 Colbert, L. L. (Lester Lum), aka “Tex,” 64 Colt .50-caliber machine gun: assembled by AC Spark Plug Division, General Motors, 211 Consolidated Aircraft Company, 85. See also Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft (Convair) plant Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft (Convair) plant, Fort Worth, Texas, 35 Curtice, Harlow H., 51 Curtiss Electric Company, 46 Curtiss-Wright Corporation, 40 Dayton, Ohio, 19, 37 Defense Plant Corporation (DPC), 2, 4, 20, 41, 58, 142 defense plants, 49, 241, 275: AC Spark Plug Division plant, Flint, Michigan, 211; Allison Division

plant, Indianapolis, Indiana, 45, 47; Briggs Manufacturing, Conner plant, Detroit, 71; Buick engine plant, Melrose Park, Illinois, 51, 53, 55, 272, 273; Buick Motor Division plant, Flint, Michigan, 144, 145; Cadillac V-8 engine plant, Detroit, 149; Chevrolet Division aircraft engine plant, Tonawanda, New York, 55, 56, 258; Chevrolet truck plant, Kansas City, Missouri, 168; Chrysler Corporation DeSoto plant, Detroit, 264; Chrysler Corporation Detroit plant, 85; Chrysler Corporation Dodge Main plant, Detroit, 221, 223, 248; Chrysler Corporation Jefferson Avenue plant, Detroit, 223; Chrysler Corporation plant, Evansville, Indiana, 211, 219, 241, 254; Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 277; Chrysler Tank Arsenal (see Chrysler Tank Arsenal); Consolidated-Vultee San Diego plant, 91, 93; Diesel Engine Division plant, Cleveland, 229, 231; Dodge-Chicago aircraft engine plant, 58–61; Dodge truck plant, Warren, Michigan, 164, 167, 168; Fisher Body Division Cleveland Aircraft Plant No. 2, 78, 263; Fisher Body Division Cleveland plant No. 1, 78; Fisher Body Division plant, Detroit, 27; Fisher Body Division plant, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 208, 214, 217; Fisher Body Division plant, Lansing, Michigan, 261; Fisher Body Division Tank Arsenal, Grand Blanc, Michigan (see Fisher Body Tank Arsenal); Fisher Body Division Ternstedt plant, Detroit, 254; Ford

Motor Company Aircraft Engine Building, Ford Rouge plant, Dearborn, Michigan, 49; Ford Motor Company Highland Park plant, 143; Ford Motor Company Iron Mountain, Michigan glider plant, 112; Ford Motor Company River Rouge plant, Dearborn, Michigan, 185; General Motors Malleable Iron Foundry, Saginaw, Michigan, 31, 32; General Motors plant, Linden, New Jersey, 24, 115; General Motors plant, Trenton, New Jersey, 115; General Motors Ternstedt Division plant, 273; Glenn Martin B-29 assembly plant, Omaha, Nebraska, 78, 83; GMC Truck and Coach plant, Pontiac, Michigan, 170, 173, 185; GMC Truck and Coach plant, St. Louis, Missouri, 185; Hudson Motor Car Company Detroit plant, 43, 73, 77, 81, 83, 235, 266, 269, 270; Hudson Naval Ordnance plant, Center Line, Michigan, 206, 208; Inland Manufacturing Division plant, Dayton, Ohio, 34; Murray Corporation Detroit plant, 72, 239, 262, 279; Nash-Kelvinator Detroit plant, 271; Nash-Kelvinator engine plant, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 56; Nash-Kelvinator propeller plant, Lansing, Michigan, 65, 67; Nash-Kelvinator Ranco plant, Columbus, Ohio, 253; Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit plant, 285; Plymouth Lynch Road plant, Detroit, 201; Pontiac Motor

Division, 212; Pratt & Whitney plant, East Hartford, Connecticut, 45, 46; Pratt & Whitney plant, Kansas City, Missouri, 46; Saginaw Steering Division plant, Saginaw, Michigan, 210; Studebaker aircraft engine plant, South Bend, Indiana, 43, 49, 275; Willys-Overland Company plant, Toledo, Ohio, 246, 260; Wright Aeronautical plant, Cincinnati, Ohio, 46, 240; Wright Aeronautical plant, WoodRidge, New Jersey, 46; Wright Aeronautical plant, Patterson, New Jersey, 45; Yellow Truck and Coach plant, Pontiac, Michigan, 185. See also Ford Motor Company Willow Run bomber plant; Chrysler Tank Arsenal Diamond T: 4-ton 6X6 truck, 176 Dodge-Chicago aircraft engine plant: Machining and Assembly Building, 58, 59; office building, 61; test cells, 59 Dodge-Chicago Division, Chrysler Corporation, 58 Dodge Division Chrysler Corporation, truck models built, 164–68 Douglas Aircraft Company plant, Long Beach, California, receiving bomber wing sections from Detroit body companies, 73 “Duck.” See DUKW DUKW, 182–192; crossing the Danube River, 187; phantom view, 183; production record, 185; undergoing testing at the Ford

Eastern Aircraft Division, General Motors, 70, 115 Educational Order Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 91, 95 Emmerich, Herbert, 17 Engines: Invader engine for landing craft, 28, 43. See also aircraft engines; marine engines Eskridge, J. W., 77

Richmond, California and Chester, Pennsylvania, 153 Ford Motor Company Willow Run bomber plant, 85–111: employment levels, 88; Engineering Department, 91; housing shortages, 88; “lofting” process for blueprints, 91 Ford pilot model jeep, 158 Ford prototype jeep, 158 Forrestal, James, 17 "Fortress America,” 1

factories. See defense plants Festing, Major General F. W., 160 Firestone Tire & Rubber plant, Akron, Ohio, 33 Fisher Body Cleveland plant No. 1: production record for nacelles for Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 78, 79 Fisher Body Division of General Motors, 78 Fisher Body Division Tank Arsenal, 137, 142 Ford Airport, Dearborn, Michigan: testing of Ford-built gliders, 112, 113 Ford, Edsel B., 95, 158 Ford, Henry; observing workers at the Ford Willow Run bomber plant, 97; at the Willow Run bomber plant construction site, July 1941, 85 Ford, Henry II, 110 Ford Motor Company, 49, 85, 91, 110: contracts to build Seeps, 193; glider contracts, 112, 113; jeep contracts, 157, 158; "tank depots" in

Gabbiano, Italy, 161 General Motors Corporation, 1, 4, 22: Eastern Aircraft Division, 24, 115 General Motors Inland Manufacturing Division, 34. See also Inland Manufacturing Division General Motors Truck and Coach Division. See GMC Truck and Coach Glancy, General A. R., 22 Glenn L. Martin Company, 39, 77 GMC Truck and Coach: truck models built, 170 GMC Truck and Coach Division licensees: International Harvester Company, 155, 176; REO Motors, 155, 176; Studebaker Corporation, 155, 175 Godard, Captain Walter R., 77 Government-Owned, ContractorOperated (GOCO) plants, 4 “GP.” See Ford pilot model jeep Greenlee Company, Rockford, Illinois, 43

Rouge plant, 185; used to move cargo, 186, 187

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Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, 24, 115 guns. See anti-aircraft guns; cannon; machine guns gyrocompass: production record by the Chrysler Corporation, 221 Hall-Scott Motor Company: “Invader" engines made by Hudson Motor Car Company under license, 225 Hamilton Standard Company, 46 Hamilton Standard Company licensees: Frigidaire Division of General Motors, 46; Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, 46; Remington Rand Company, 46 Hamilton Standard variable-pitch propellers, 64, 67 “Hate strikes,” 234 Hellcat tank destroyer. See tanks, M18 Henderson, Leon, 17 Hillman, Sidney, 2, 10 Hitler, Adolph, 1, 3 Hogaung River, Burma, 160 Holabird, 157. See also Camp Holabird Hudson Motor Car Company, 28, 43, 77, 81, 275; maker of aircraft components, 73 Hutchins, D. J., 287 incendiary bombs built by Chrysler Corporation, 212 industrial engines production record, Chrysler Corporation, 223 Ingersoll milling machine used to finish B-24 center wing sections, 103, 105 “Invader” engines for landing craft: Hudson Motor Car Company, 225;

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production record, Hudson Motor Car Company, 225 jeep, 157–64 jeep manufacturers. See American Bantam Car Company; WillysOverland Company; Ford Motor Company “jeep train,” 160 Jones, Jesse H., 17 Kahn, Albert, 20, 41 Kahn, Albert, factory designs: Chrysler Tank Arsenal, Warren, Michigan, 122; Curtiss-Wright Corporation plant, Buffalo, New York, 40; Dodge-Chicago aircraft engine plant, 58; Ford Motor Company Willow Run bomber plant, 87; Glenn L. Martin Company plant, Baltimore, Maryland, 39 Kahn, Julius, 41 Keller, K. T. (Kaufman Thuma), 22, 121, 134 Knox, Frank, 17 Knudsen, William S., 1, 2, 4, 10, 17, 22, 30, 36, 37, 41, 49, 51, 95, 240; inspection of defense plants, 30–35; parade in Detroit honoring him, 38 LeBlond lathe, 43 Le Havre, France: DUKWs delivering cargo, 186 Lend-Lease Act, 2, 10 Lend-Lease aid, 12: General Motors trucks assembled in Iran, 15; to Great Britain, 2; jeeps assembled in Burma, 17; to the Soviet Union, 2

Lend-Lease program, 153: deliveries of trucks and jeeps to America’s allies, 155 Little people at work in defense industry, 23, 237 M18 (Hellcat) tank destroyer production record, 120 M28 and M29 “Weasel,” 194 M28, M29, and M29C Weasel contracts awarded to Studebaker Corporation, 194, 195 M29C amphibious Weasel, 195 M29 “Weasel,” 195 MacArthur, General Douglas, 36 machine guns: automobile industry share of total production, 197; production by General Motors divisions, 197. See also Browning; Colt Mack Truck: 7 1/2-ton 6X6 truck, 178 marine engine manufacturers, 198 marine engines, 223; manufactured by the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, General Motors, 229, 231; production record, Chrysler Corporation, 223; production record, Packard Motor Car Company, 227 marine tractor (“sea mule”): manufactured by the Chrysler Corporation, 223; production record, Chrysler Corporation, 223 Martin, Glenn L., 77 Masonic Hall in Detroit, 38 Murray Corporation of America: maker of aircraft components, 72 National Defense Advisory Commission (NDAC), 2, 4, 10

Nelson, Donald M., 17, 22, 30; visit to the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 131 New Center Building, Detroit, 21 New Guinea, 36, 163 North American Aviation plant, Kansas City, Missouri, 32 O'Brian, John L., 17 Oerlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, 206–8; production record by Hudson Motor Car Company and Pontiac Motor Division, General Motors, 197, 206; U.S. Navy contract awarded to Hudson Motor Car Company, 206; U.S. Navy contract awarded to Pontiac Motor Division, General Motors, 208; U.S. Navy contract awarded to Westinghouse Corporation, 206 Office of Production Management (OPM), 2, 10, 17, 19 Packard Motor Car Company, 28, 45, 46; “All-Out” Pledge, 285; marine engines for use in Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats, 227; "Work to Win" program, 282, 285, 286 Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats: powered by Packard Motor Car Company V-12 engines, 228, 288 Patterson, Robert P., 17, 19, 30, 36 Pearl Harbor: Japanese attack on, 1, 19, 23 “Peep.” See Ford prototype jeep Plymouth Lynch Road plant, Detroit, 24, 26 Pratt & Whitney: inspection of engine pistons, 272, 275

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corporation. See Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney licensees: Buick Motor Division, General Motors, 46, 51; Chevrolet Division, General Motors, 46; Continental Motors, 46; Ford Motor Company, 46, 49; Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company, 46; NashKelvinator Corporation, 46 Propeller production record: automobile industry share of total, 45; by manufacturer, 46 Propellers, variable-pitch, 46, 65–67 “Pygmy.” See Ford prototype jeep Ray, Clifford, 206 Red Ball Express’ gasoline convoy, 181 Rickenbacker, Captain Eddie: greeting little people at the Ford Willow Run Bomber plant, 236 Rockwell, Norman: “Rosie the Riveter,” 264 Romney, George, 22 Roosevelt Administration, 4 Roosevelt, Eleanor: visit to the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 131; visit to the Ford Willow Run bomber plant, 97 Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 1, 3, 4, 17, 19, 30; appointment of Knudsen as a lieutenant general, 19; “arsenal of democracy” fireside chat, 2, 10; at Casablanca (Morocco) Conference, 159; visit to the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 97, 131; visit to the Ford Willow Run bomber plant, 97 “Rosie the Riveter”: aircraft workers, 264; typical work clothes, 101

“Seep,” 193–94: production record, 193 Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program (Truman Committee), 93 small arms ammunition production record: by Chrysler Corporation, 197 Sorenson, Charles, 93, 95 specialized production machinery used for war production, 43 Sperry Gyroscope Company: licensed Chrysler to manufacture gyrocompasses, 221 Stalin, Joseph, 159 Studebaker Corporation: trucks delivered to the Soviet Union, 175 “Sunshine Special” (Franklin Roosevelt’s parade car), 97 Supplies, Priorities, and Allocations Board (SPAB), 17 tank depots, 153 tank engine production records: by manufacturer, 147, 151 tank engines: built by Continental Motors Corporation, 147; built by Detroit Diesel Division of General Motors, 147; Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors V-8 engine, 149; Chrysler “multibank” engine, 130, 131. 147; Continental Motors 9-cylinder Wright R-975 radial engine, 130, 147; Ford Motor Company V-8 engine, 151; General Motors twin diesel engine, 147 tank production record: by manufacturer, 119, 120; by size of tank, 120; M4 (General Sherman)

by Ford, 143; M5 (General Stuart) by Cadillac, 143M18 (Hellcat) tank destroyer by Buick, 144; M24 (General Chaffee) by Cadillac, 143; M26 (General Pershing) in 1945, 137 tanks: U.S. Mark VIII, 121 tanks, M3 (General Grant): design flaws, 129; first pilot version, 125; production at Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 127–30; tanks engines used, 130; wooden mockup, 124 tanks, M4 (General Sherman), 277: in battle in Northern Italy, 135; inferiority to German Tiger and Panther tanks, 137; production at Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 132–34; production at Fisher Body Tank Arsenal, 142; production by Ford Motor Company, 143 tanks, M5 (General Stuart): built by Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors, 143 tanks, M18 (Hellcat) tank destroyer, 144, 145 tanks, M24 (General Chafee): built by Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors, 143; tanks, M26 (General Pershing): production at Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 136–41; production at Fisher Body Tank Arsenal, 137, 142 torpedo dropped from aircraft: built by Pontiac Motor Division, General Motors, 212 Town Auto Company, Allentown, Pennsylvania: conversion to war production, 29

truck production record: Dodge Division, Chrysler Corporation, 164; Studebaker Corporation, 175; from U.S. automobile industry, 155 trucks crossing a river near Kirn, Germany, 182 Truman, Senator Harry S.: tour of Willow Run plant on 13 April 1942, 93 U.S. Army Air Force: Material Command, 37; Materials and Service Command, 19; Technical Training Command, 55 U.S. Army Catholic chaplain: use of a jeep hood as an altar, 164 U.S. Army-Navy “E” Award. See ArmyNavy "E" Award U.S. Army Ordnance Department, 129, 130; creation of “tank modification centers” (“tank depots”), 153; Tank and Automotive Center, 22; tank contracts issued to railroad equipment manufacturers, 119, 120 U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps: adoption of standardized truck designs, 155; purchases of “heavyheavy” trucks, 176 U.S. Army Rock Island, Illinois Arsenal, 121 U.S. Bureau of Ships: awards contract to Chrysler Corporation to make gyrocompasses, 221 U.S. Congress, 1, 10 U.S. Fifteenth Air Force: flying B-24s in the Italian Theater, 109 U.S. Merchant Marine: Oerlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, 208

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U.S. Navy “E” Award, 281, 283; Die and Machine Unit of Fisher Body, 283; Pontiac Motor Division, General Motors, 283 U.S. Quartermaster Corps: awards contracts to Ford Motor Company for Seeps, 193; development of the DUKW, 183; testing facility at Camp Holabird, Maryland, 157; trucks assembled in Normandy, France, 181; trucks shipped in pieces to be assembled overseas, 181 Van Wagoner, Governor Murray D.: visit to the Chrysler Tank Arsenal, 131 Waco Aircraft Company, Troy, Ohio: designed of gliders, 112 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 2

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Wallace, Henry A., 17 Warren, Michigan, 4 War Production Board (WPB), 17, 19, 22, 30, 131: orders end of civilian car and truck production, 23; production awards to Packard workers, 286, 287 wartime industry: overall achievements, 281 Wayne County, Michigan, 107 White Motor Company: 10-ton 4X6 truck, 178; 6-ton 6X6 truck, 178; Chicago branch facility, 276; halftrack armored personnel carrier, 187; “Miss Half-Track,” 289; War Bond Popularity Contest, 289 Willow Lodge, 88 Willow Run bomber plant. See Ford Motor Company Willow Run bomber plant

Willow Run Expressway, 89 Willow Village, 88 Willys-Overland Company: jeep contracts, 157 Willys-Overland pilot model jeep, 157 Wilson, Charles E., 22 Wolfe, Major General, 37 women workers, 241–79; and child care, 244, 245; discrimination of, 234; as inspectors, 34, 139, 215, 219, 271–73, 275; jobs, 234; job training, 242, 243; numbers of, 234 Working War Mothers Nursery School in Detroit, 244 World War I: 1; use of trucks by the American Expeditionary Force in France, 155 World War II, 1 Wright Aeronautical, 45

Wright Aeronautical Corporation. See Wright Aeronautical Wright Aeronautical engine licensees: Dodge-Chicago Division of the Chrysler Corporation, 46; Studebaker Corporation, 46, 49 Wright Cyclone engines, 43 Wright-Patterson Field, 19, 37 Yellow Truck and Coach Division, General Motors, development and testing of DUKW prototypes, 183 Yellow Truck and Coach Division, General Motors. See also GMC Truck and Coach Ypsilanti, Michigan, 85 Zeder, Fred, 121