During World War II, American factories became the engine that drove the Allied war effort.
Assembly lines once used for cars were repurposed to churn out tanks, bombers, and ammunition in massive amounts at a rapid speed. The rejuvenation of American factories lifted the country out of economic stagnation, brought a wave of women into the work force, and ultimately provided the steel and lead needed to end the largest conflict in human history.
Here’s a look inside the industrial heart of wartime America.
1
Women workers on the B-17 production line at Douglas Aviation Co., Long Beach, California
October 1942
2
Assembly line production of fighter aircraft Niagara Falls, New York
1940s
3
Three African-American workers complete the pilot's compartment of an aircraft
1942
4
Workers at a Chrysler plant assemble tanks
1942
5
Production line at the Ford Willow Run bomber plant
1942
6
Woman operating a drill press at the Honeywell plant
Minneapolis, 1945
7
Plant employees pack ammunition
1945
8
Tons of used corrugated cartons were salvaged by plant workers
1944
9
Plant employees fed brass cups into a machine that incorporated them into the cartridges
1942
10
Plant employees check cartridges before they were boxed
1942
11
Lt. Robert A. Robison, a bomber pilot at home recovering from war injuries, examined .rounds alongside his father, machinist Arthur E. Robison
1942
12
Women workers groom lines of transparent noses for deadly A-20 attack bombers
1944
13
Employees examine the weight and dimensions of each cartridge at the plant
1942
14
Factory workers paint and inspect bomb casings
Circa 1940s
15
A security guard pulled a wooden cutout of Adolf Hitler upwards to mark another day of record production at the plant
1942
16
A plant security guard beside boxes of ammunition about to be shipped
1944
17
Employees check the dimension and weight of cartridges at the plant
1944
18
Plant employees tested the ammunition using machine guns
1942
19
A plant employee checked empty casings using a mirror before they were filled with powder
1942
20
Women casing bullets alongside a conveyer belt
Circa 1940s
21
A worker inspects shell cases at the GM plant
Circa 1940s
22
Female employees of the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, later known as Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
Circa 1940s
23
Workers in a factory preparing shells
Circa 1940s
24
Inspecting a batch of M. Kb. 42(W) rifles at the Walther plant
1945
25
Workers at the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant pack .50 caliber machine-gun ammunition into cartridge boxes during World War II
1942
26
A white US Marine officer inspects the production line as two defense workers unpack boxed ammunition belts
1940
27
Women work on the production line at the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant
1945
28
The assembly line at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
Circa 1940s
29
A woman working with a fuse liner for an aerial bomb
1940
30
Delivery truck at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
1943
