Boeing Played a Key Role in Winning World War II
During World War II, Boeing’s factories produced a staggering number of aircraft, ranging from B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to P-51 Mustang fighters. Thousands of men and women on the homefront kept the assembly lines humming day and night.
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These B-29 noses will soon be attached to fuselages at Boeing’s plant in Wichita, KS.
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Boeing, Douglas, McDonnell and North American Aviation employed thousands of women during World War II.
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This 1944 ad from Douglas Aircraft touted the company’s war effort. It claimed that the C-54 Skymaster cargo planes used by the U.S. Army Air Force often “flew in the men and material that so often have turned the tide of battle.”
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Boeing’s main factory in Seattle was covered with camouflage to guard against possible enemy attack. This fake neighborhood contained 53 homes, 24 garages, a gas station and three greenhouses.
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Douglas employees at its Long Beach, CA, plant prepare engines on a subassembly line.
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Between 1942 and 1945, Douglas assembled 29,385 airplanes at six factories. This plant in Tulsa, OK, massproduced B-24 bombers.
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North American Aviation engineers used process flow charts to boost productivity of the P-51 Mustang.
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One of the unsung heroes of World War II was “Rosie the Riveter,” a name proudly adopted by women who worked in aircraft factories to help build the “arsenal of democracy.” These women at Douglas Aircraft are riveting a leading edge subassembly.
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Assemblers rivet the tail fuselage of a B-17 at the Douglas plant in Long Beach, CA.
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Women rivet a wing section of a B-29 bomber atBoeing’s Renton, WA, factory.
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By the summer of 1944, Boeing’s Renton, WA, factory was producing more than 50 B-29 Superfortress bombers a month.
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Aircraft production during World War II was a staggering logistical challenge that required unprecedented plant floor organization
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Boeing assembled almost 7,000 B-17 Flying Fortresses in Seattle. Douglas also built several thousand copies of the bomber at its factories in Southern California
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Wiring harness assembly was a critical part of B-17 bomber production.
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This patriotic 1942 ad from North American Aviation saluted the U.S. Navy.
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This 1943 McDonnell Aircraft ad explained how “70 percent of the work is spread among 50 subcontractors in 8 neighboring states.”