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Stunning Color Photos of Women in the Workforce during World War II

During World War II, the number of women entering the workforce increased dramatically, as widespread male enlistment left a huge gap in industrial employment. The female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent between 1940 and 1945, and by 1945, nearly a quarter of married women worked outside the home. The U.S. aircraft industry employed more than 310,000 women in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce (compared with just 1 percent in pre-war years).

Newly created training courses taught the basics of riveting to women who had never worked outside the home and single girls fresh out of high school. The railing was often the first job women were offered. Women were likely successful at riveting because it was similar to sewing (assembling and sewing a garment together). Women learned and mastered many jobs as the aviation industry developed, including riveting. Some women chose more traditional female jobs, such as sewing aircraft upholstery or painting radium into tiny measurements on instrument panels so that pilots could see them in the dark. Perhaps more adventurous, several others chose to run hydraulic presses that cut metal parts, while others used cranes to move bulky plane parts from one end of the factory. Even women inspectors were involved to ensure any necessary adjustments were made before the planes were flown out to war, often by female pilots. They primarily built large bombers and small fighters. Women were also in the metal, steel, shipbuilding, and automobile industries. Additionally, women worked in the factories that made bombs, weapons, and aircraft.

Most women left factory jobs after the war as men returned to work. Although their role in supporting the war effort was not forgotten, nor was their contribution to women’s advancement. Below are some stunning color photos of women working in aircraft manufacturing plants by photographer Alfred T. Palmer.

#1 An electronics technician at the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation in Akron, Ohio, 1941.

#2 Inspectors examine wing parts of C-47 transport planes at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#3 Workers assemble an airplane motor at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#4 A worker assembles part of the cowling for a B-25 bomber motor at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#5 A worker irons at a factory for self-sealing gas tanks owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio, 1941.

#6 Riveters work on the cockpit shell of a B-25 bomber at the North American Aviation Company plant in Inglewood, California, 1942..

#7 A Douglas Aircraft Company employee does delicate electrical work on a plane at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#8 Douglas Aircraft Company employees work on the belly of a bomber at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#9 A Douglas Aircraft Company worker rivets an A-20 bomber at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#10 Workers assemble a wing section for a P-51 fighter at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#11 Workers feed sections of sheet metal through a pneumatic numbering machine at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#12 A North American Aviation employee places metal parts on masonite before sliding them under a hydraulic press at the plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#13 A North American Aviation employee assembles a section of the leading edge for the horizontal stabilizer of a plane at the plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#14 A worker assembles switch boxes on the firewall of a B-25 bomber at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#15 A machinist at work at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#16 Douglas Aircraft Company employees work an airplane motor at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#17 An employee of Douglas Aircraft Company works with electrical wiring at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#18 A North American Aviation employee works on the landing gear mechanism of a P-51 fighter at the plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#19 Douglas Aircraft Company employees work on an airplane motor at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#20 Two assembly workers take a lunch break next to heavy bomber nacelle parts at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#21 A Douglas Aircraft Company employee on her lunch break at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#22 A Douglas Aircraft Company employee on her lunch break at the plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#24 A worker makes adjustments to an airplane motor at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, 1942.

#25 Workers punch rivet holes in a frame member for a B-25 bomber at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#26 A worker adjusts an airplane motor at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, 1942.

#27 A worker uses a power drill on an A-31 “Vengeance” dive bomber at the Vultee factory in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

#28 A Vultee Aircraft worker makes adjustments to the wheel well of a “Vengeance” dive bomber before installation of the landing gear at the plant in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

#29 A Vultee employee works on the horizontal stabilizer for an A-31 “Vengeance” dive bomber at the plant in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

#30 Workers cap and inspect tubing for the A-31 “Vengeance” dive bomber at the Vultee plant in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

#31 A Vultee Aircraft employee touches up the U.S. Army Air Forces insignia on the fuselage of a “Vengeance” dive bomber at the plant in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

#32 A worker drills rivets on an A-31 “Vengeance” dive bomber at the Vultee factory in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943.

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Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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