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October 1942. "Women become skilled shop technicians after careful training in the school at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California. Planes made here include the B-17F Flying Fortress heavy bomber, A-20 assault bomber and C-47 transport." Happy Labor Day from Shorpy! 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information. View full size.
People that weren't considered smart or capable can surprise you, if you give them expectations and training. My grandmother was a parts inspector in the war, in Connecticut as well, but didn't work once her husband came home.
What a fantastic Kodachrome shot. And a beautiful blog.
Al Palmer took hundreds of these pictures for the OWI at Long Beach, mostly black and white. More here.
My mother was asked to work in a factory like this during those same years in Connecticut's Naugatuck Valley, a very industrial group of small towns. She was an inspector for clocks and gauges that went into submarines and planes. All able-bodied women were "encouraged" to do their duty to assist in the war effort. Grandma had to care for us kids as "her duty." Everybody got enlisted in one way or the other. Kids collected scrap metal and newspapers.
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