Monday, December 19, 2022 – REPLACING MEN, WOMEN EXCELLED IN THE AVIATION ASSEMBLY PLANTS

By admin

FROM THE ARCHIVES

MONDAY,  DECEMBER 19, 2022 


THE  864th  EDITION

WOMEN AT WORK

THE WORLD WAR II AIRCRAFT FACTORY

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALFRED T. PALMER

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM 

Women at Work: The World War II Aircraft

Factory Photographs of Alfred T. Palmer

Shortly after the United States entered World War II in 1941, the nation quickly mobilized for war and
nearly all able-bodied men under the age of forty-five volunteered or were drafted into the armed forces. This left a major gap in the nation’s industrial workforce, just at the time when increased war production was desperately needed. In order to fill these ranks the government began to promote the hiring of women as industrial workers. Amid initial opposition to the idea, the Office of War Information (OWI) was created to produce promotional posters, advertisements, and news stories to gain much needed support for these and other home-front war efforts. In 1942, Alfred T. Palmer, the official photographer of the OWI, began visiting aviation production plants across the country and photographing their female workers.

Palmer’s World War II factory photographs of women aviation workers were created for the OWI between 1942 and 1943, and they comprise some of his best and most well-known work. Women at Work presents twenty-one of these photographs from the collections of the Library of Congress. These compelling, high-contrast, color prints depict their subjects as they were; focused and determined to play an important part in the production of military aircraft to win the war in the air. These images also serve to document the rapid technological advancement of war-time aviation and aircraft production, which reached an astounding total of 324,750 aircraft.

A North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell bomber is prepared for painting on the outside assembly line at the North American Aviation plant, Inglewood, California   1942
Alfred T. Palmer (1906–93)
photograph
Library of Congress
LC-USW36-240
R2012.2601.00

Workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a Douglas-built Boeing B-17F bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant, Long Beach, California  1942
Alfred T. Palmer (1906–93)
photograph
Library of Congress
LC-USW36-128
R2012.2601.002

An operator of a riveting machine joins sections of wing ribs to reinforce the inner wing assemblies of Douglas-built Boeing B-17F heavy bombers at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant Long Beach, California  1942 
Alfred T. Palmer (1906–93)
photograph
Library of Congress
LC-USW36-102
R2012.2601.009

Assembling a wing section for a North American P-51 Mustang fighter plane at the North American Aviation plant, Inglewood, California  1942
Alfred T. Palmer (1906–93)
photograph
Library of Congress
LC-USW36-249
R2012.2601.006

HOLIDAY EVENTS AND

SHOPPING

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

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WEEKEND PHOTO

Reproduction of Grand Central Terminal light fixture in RIHS Visitor Center Kiosk, mounted on our Guastavino ceiling.

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM AVIATION COLLECTION

THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.

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rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com