what did the "other guys" do during world war 2 ???

Chrysler seemed to specialize in doing the impossible.

When they went to make radar units, then brand new technology, the scientists told them they had to be made by hand, there was no other way to get the parts accurate enough.

In 2 months they were stamping them out on fender presses by the thousands and mounting them on Dodge truck chassis, with a special generator driven off the truck's engine.

During the Manhattan Project they needed miles of pipe for the uranium refinery at Oak Ridge. The only material that would stand up to the acids involved, was pure nickel. Too bad it would have taken the world's production of nickel for 2 years to make it, and they didn't have it. Chrysler invented a new way to make nickel plated pipe that would do the job.

Chrysler had the job of building tanks, to be powered by motors built by Ford. Chrysler got them in production so fast the motors were not ready, and would not be ready for 6 months. So they invented their own engine using off the shelf Chrysler flathead six industrial engines, 5 of them bunched together like bananas all driving a common drive shaft. Worked fine.

They also developed a 2200HP V12 hemi head aircraft engine that never saw production because a) the war ended and b) the new jet engines made piston engines obsolete. But what they learned on that engine may have gone into the Chrysler hemi V8.

 

And TBM Avengers.

 

Studebaker built thousands of US6, 6X6 heavy trucks. Many of them went to the Soviet Union. They also built thousands of Weasel tracked personnel carriers, like a convertible army tank lol.

 

It's my recollection that the Chrysler multi-whatever engine went to training units but never actually went into combat. The diesels mostly went to the Marines in the Pacific, the Army got the radials and the Ford GAA because it kept the supply arrangements simpler to run everything off gasoline even though it was no one's idea of an optimal AFV fuel.

 

For some strange reason, as a young pilot, I doubt your F-I-L had any kind of pull to get different engines on/in his plane...if he had a problem with it, his CEO prolly told him "his B-17" got fitted with different engines...

R-

 

Cool thread, the manpower in world war two alone must have been massive, I mean we look at wars today and think wow thats alot of soldiers but I was watching one of those war docos the other day and they were talking about the russians attacking the germans and they stated there were armies a few million men strong on both sides, thats a crap load of people. Now think of all the equipment they must of needed, it is no suprise that countries focused all manufacturing on the war effort.

 

Cadillac played a large part in WWII manufacturing...

 

Graham Paige build the landing craft. You regularly see the ads for this on fleabay

 

Packard.

Packard Marine V-12 in a PT boat was awesome.

Listen to how it may have sounded -->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpcmqf43JuI

 

I bought my '55 wagon off a guy who told me about working at the rubber plant in Denver during the war. I would like to know what company and is it still there?

Support ALL troops!

Thanks,
Larry

 

Front sump from a Dodge B-29 engine..

 

International Harvester built a bunch of trucks and other machinery for the armed forces, also manufactured rifles (M1s? maybe).
Chris

 

x2, wife's cousin did 7 tours, you tell him he doesn't measure up. All of them disarming bombs (EOD) retired after 28 years. Nephew has done 3+ tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Corps, again you tell both these decorated combat vets they don't measure up and only their honor will keep you out of the emergency room. Personally believe todays troops are the fittest and most dedicated troops America has ever seen, First time we've sent our men/women to war without a draft should tell you something about their dedication and ability to serve.

 

AMOCO and Lion Oil made aviation gas and ammonia/nitric acid for explosives in South Arkansas.

 

My family raised beef and produce to feed the boys

 

I believe the question being asked is...:

What did the factories of America produce during the WWII years?

Ford made the B-24 Liberator and Chrysler made tanks......
That sort of answer.
I'd like to know more too.
How did companies shift production from automobiles to items for the war effort?
What did they manufacture?

 

Hudson supplied engines for landing craft, and produced anti-aircraft guns. Their Jefferson Ave. plant produced 20mm cannons.
Hudson also had an aircraft division, producing various parts up to aileron and wing assemblies.
Nash; built Pratt and Whitney aircraft engines.

I have a book I'll have to dig out. It speaks to how unprepared (military equipment wise) we were for the entry of WW II and how the USA stepped up triple time to bring the war machine into production. The automobile industry was tapped with contingency commitment plans by the government prior to our entry into war.
Someone mentioned Singer sewing machines commitment. The book stated that small machine shops (to include equipment at trade school shops) were booked solid to run parts. It even spoke of every peice of available machinery being rolled into service such as individuals that had a lathe in their basement being commited to turning out parts.
Railroad engine and car companies also stepped up. I recall ACF produced light tanks or tank parts and St. Louis Car Co. starting an aircraft branch.
I'm a past aircraft assy line tech. I can understand how B-24's, etc. can roll down a line if there's enough worker ants involved, but what blows my mind is how quickly Liberty ships were knocked out (Kaiser).

 

Singer, yep the sewing machine people, built what many consider the best 1911a1 during the war.. Very low production numbers mean a good example brings up to 40k!!!

 

Willys made about 500,000 of the 650,000 Jeeps in WW2.The Jeep is arguably the single most important combat vehicle ever made.

 

Ford built and designed German/Italian bomber. It had three engines incase one broke down it could continue flying... Good old ford...

 

I had to check on that. The info I found was that the Chrysler tanks were supposed to get Wright engines, modified aircraft engines. But they could not make enough for aircraft and tanks both, so Chrysler quickly made up an engine using off the shelf parts. They made a total of 7500 of them, most of which went to England.

"
General Campbell of the Army Ordinance Department came to tell Mr. Keller that the engine that had been selected for the M3, a nine cylinder aircraft engine manufactured by Wright, would soon not be available. The General said that with the huge expansion of the aircraft industry, such an engine would be in huge demand, far outstripping the ability of Wright to produce it, making it unavailable for any other application.
Campbell inquired if Chrysler could produce a tank engine from tools and machines that already existed within its own plants.
The only possible solution was to use engines that already existed. To bring an engine to par would take about two years. There was no time for that. Unhesitatingly, Mr. Keller and his engineering team volunteered the Chrysler 6 cylinder engine for tank duty. Engineering put 5 Chrysler 6 cylinder engines onto a common crankshaft. Mr. Keller warned the Army that such an engine had been assembled with a minimum number of changes since its application into production was the utmost need. He added that it may not just be the ideal engine for such a duty.
He need not have worried. The multibank engine proved to be nearly ideal for the M3. It was installed in 7,500 of them! Ordinance reported that the "Eggbeater" as it was nicknamed proved the best engine of all. Lower maintenance, lower fuel consumption, ease of routine checks, and no loss of power over extended periods of running. It was touch and go on the production line until the multibank arrived. The line never stopped, but during 19 days of nail biting, only four Wright engines had been received.
On December 1, 1941, the 500th tank was shipped. We were 7 days from war. After December 8, 1941, money flooded in for war appropriations. Chrysler was the beneficiary of a lot of it, aimed at increased production. The tank arsenal was the show piece of the military industrial complex. Production ramped up on the multibank engine to estimates of 1,000 a month. Tank production was raised to meet that demand. We were now at war."

 

here in iowa what is now the john deere plant in ankeny. the made bullets, and othe high explosives. in newton at the former maytag plant they built gun turrets for aircraft. back here in des moines at the tech high school on the loop here in des moines they built aircraft exhaust using a different welding technique that solved huge amounts of problems. as a side note there was also a pow camp for german prisoners in northwest iowa. even here in iowa the war was very well felt

 

Lots of companies made the 1911 pistols, typewriter makers Smith & Corona made them,,, I laughed when I showed it to my Dad. He told me the whole story on how everyone built items for the war effort... My Dad is a Vietnam vet ( served 25 years in Air Force) My hat is off to all who serve our country... I say thank you !

 

Goodyear built the F4u Corsair under license from Chance-Vought.

And Packard made the Merlin V-12 for the P-51 Mustangs.

Did he tell you how Mattel Toy Company manufactured the M-16 rifle during Vietnam?

Scott

 

Gates Rubber, South Broadway...plant is gone, condos in its place. They maintain a headquarters here but they don't manufacture here any more.

R-

 

Almost forgot. Oldsmobile made a 37mm automatic cannon for the noses of P39 airacobras(and maybe the P39s themselves) . PT boat crews started salvaging them from inoperative P39s and mounted them on the noses of the boats to give them some more firepower ,and later they came from the factory that way. Got a uniform from a man that saw combat on PT-129 at the end of the war, and their 37mm very probably was an in-field hot rodded piece. My guy saw on the cast iron seat mounted on the center engine and operated those triple Packards.

 

Actually Mazooma, the question asked is "What did the "other guys" do during WWII" (see above), ...there's nothing in the title that refers to factories...and I believe the OP wanted to know what guys, that did not serve in the military, did in this country at that time...some of the answers do answer that question.

R-

 

I guess High School was a lot more serious in 1943 with courses in Machine Science, Shop Practice, Automotive Mechanics, Electricity, and Radio. I've always wondered who the artist was that did this book artwork. Bob

 

My father in law Lamar Skelton was a tool and die make at the Bay City Chevy Plant.
The military would not take him as it was more important for him to work at "Chevy".

 

Several answers to the above, I saw an Allison V12 aircraft engine with the intake manifold cast by Maytag. I retired from the Ford plant in St. Paul MN, they made a six rubber tired armored personell carrier powered be a six cylinder Herculers with a four speed truck tranny. A girl friends dad welded the hulls of Liberty ships in Duluth MN harbor. My first father in law worked at the amunition plant in Ardun Hills MN. He had a 37 Ford woody, he drove nine people back and forth every day. My dad joined the Navy, spent the duration in a ship untill they found out he was a hobiest photographer. Then he was in the belly of an airplane taking pictures before and after landings.