Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Women Workers & World War II Aircraft Production





These two WWII era linen postcards are as close as I can come with postcards to the theme of the Sepia Saturday 80 image from the Library of Congress Photo collection. That photo's description says "Women are trained as engine mechanics in thorough Douglas training methods, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif." Its topics are listed as follows:
* Douglas Aircraft Company
* airplane industry
* Women--Employment
* World War, 1939-1945
* engines
* Assembly-line methods
* United States--California--Long Beach
My first postcard says to "Keep 'em Flying" and shows a variety of airplanes. Many of the workers employed in aircraft production during WWII were women. The second postcard is "A Busy Worker's Correspondence Card." Women are prominent among the workers pictured on the card. The idea behind this type of postcard was that a busy person could just check the appropriate message, saving the time and trouble of writing. The message options with particular relevance to wartime workers are those in the second (blue) group. These include spaces to fill in the hours worked, and choices of "buying war bonds" and "finding scrap."

The two photos below are also from the Library of Congress and show women involved in airplane production. I chose these because I like their graphic quality. Both of these photos show woman workers at the Long Beach, California, plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. In the second photo the women are installing fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F Bomber.





I found the number of airplanes produced in the early 1940s mind boggling. Here are some figures from an article on The American Aerospace Industry During World War II:
During 1939-1945, the industry became the largest single industry in the world and rose from 41st place to first among industries in the United States. From 1939, when fewer than 6,000 planes a year were being produced, the industry doubled production in 1940 and doubled it again in 1941 and 1942. In the first half of 1941, it produced 7,433 aircraft, more than had been produced in all of 1940. From January 1, 1940, until V-J Day on August 14, 1945, more than 300,000 military aircraft were produced for the U.S. military and the Allies.

This table on United States aircraft production during World War II is from Wikipedia:



For a humorous look at WWII Aircraft Production, see Production Line's Gettin' Too Fast on my Postcard Funnies blog.


Visit Sepia Saturday for More Vintage Photos




17 comments:

  1. Both of those cards are fabulous and classic.Thanks for all the background information too.

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  2. Very appropriate postcards, and I like the visual impact of the Library of Congress photographs too.

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  3. How appropriate - and linen postcards? I’ve never heard of that. The colours are wonderful.

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  4. I love both of those cards, but the "large letter" format on the first one is really interesting. Good stuff!

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  5. Great postcards. What an astonishing amount of aircraft produced for the war effort.

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  6. Great photos and informative article, I just love black and white pictures, for some reason, it helps a person concentrate on what is important in a picture.

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  7. Stunning cards! Really love them.

    And isn't it fascinating to think what this country used to be able to do, especially during war time? You think of how fast they built planes and in comparison how long it took for them to build something decent to replace the junky unsafe Hummers. Today it's all about profit.

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  8. Wonderful postcards. I find these sort of war time motivational posters and cards really fascinating.

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  9. Classic cards and great photos of wartime effort.

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  10. Ah, A Wonderful Bit Of Social History.The Moment&Time When Women Workers Were Truly Appreciated For The First Time.

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  11. That first postcard is stunning, what great colors and font. Awesome information as well...great themer!

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  12. The last picture looks like a metal spider's web...

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  13. Great entry. Airplanes have a fascinating story for sure and it is still on going.
    QMM

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  14. I do love the "check the box" type cards. I still see modern variations from time to time.

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  15. Those are excellent photos....many years ago in CA my Business Women's association rented the local movie theater and hosted a showing of a documentary on Rosie the Riveter; one of our long time members in her 80's at the time spoke about working as a Rosie. Your first two cards reminded me of that. I've never heard of linen cards either

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  16. How did the WWII coveralls image change women's fashion? Women worked in WWI too but I think this factory-wear was more revolutionary for society's acceptance of women in trousers.

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  17. Great postcards- especially the "busy worker" one- I've only ever seen one of those before.

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