carinab Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 (edited) I was browsing around, randomly looking at some sites and came across this: Gunsmithing The company actually makes refrigeration bits but was responsible for manufacturing M5 and M7's during WWII, similar to Singer and other fabricators who re-tooled to supply the armed forces with...arms. The thing I like is that all of the workers shown in the photographs are women. We're good at that detail work! Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt that we'd see that kind of event happening again here in the US. Edited August 29, 2006 by carinab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Carina, Are you going to go retro on us? I'm having trouble picturing you in the hat and the denim apron. I know one thing that changed with women exiting the manufacturing landscape: industrial hygiene. I don't think I've seen new lathes that are this clean: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted August 29, 2006 Author Share Posted August 29, 2006 (edited) machine guns rifles Edited August 29, 2006 by carinab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 I certainly HOPE we never see that kind of thing in the U.S. again because it would indicat a world at war once again! If it weren't for the women at "home" producing the 3 Bs the out come of the war could have been far different! Our products worked because of the FREE women producing them, while the axis stuff suffered innumerable failures due to slave labor i.e. artillery shells that wouldn't explode and rampant ammo failures. This isn't well known, but it is a large part of the over all picture. KURTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Found a picture of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force from England circa 1943 working on a spitfire engine. Members of the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) used to deliver Spitfires, Hurricanes etc. to Air Force bases across the UK from the factories. Called the "AtaGirls" they had to be able to fly any of the 143 types of RAF aircraft, in some cases to the front-lines. Here's a picture of some "Atagirls" with a Spitfire or Hurricane. And some more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 No, but we've gotten ourselves in a real pickle with this one, even if it isn't a world at war. Getting into a big fracas without putting things on a war footing? We now have a very tight supply of 5.56 ammo. One mysterious fire and we'd be hurting. Who knows what else is tight in supplies? Anyone who tells you a war is going to be quick, easy, and met with accolades should be either ignored or thrown into a broom closet with hungry dogs. They're either on drugs, or believe thier own press clippings. But I digress. I agree, who ever runs a lathe that clean? Is that a gun barrel or an engine shaft she's turning, and measuring wiht the biggest damned mic I've ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 No, but we've gotten ourselves in a real pickle with this one, even if it isn't a world at war. Getting into a big fracas without putting things on a war footing? We now have a very tight supply of 5.56 ammo. The variouse factories are pumping out about a bazillion rounds a month. A question I haven't heard asked so far is, how many hundreds of thousands of rounds do those steller marksman in the military use in order to kill one trooper on the other side. During the last fiasco in Viet Nam wasn't it about 50,000 rounds per kill? With the amount of 5.56 being pumped out now, I'm wondering if anyone but the Spec Ops boys know how to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Should be easier than Nam as every gun I've seen had some kind of Scope or Dot on it. Next we are going to put a computer on it to accept a "Shoot Enemy" command. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Should be easier than Nam as every gun I've seen had some kind of Scope or Dot on it. Next we are going to put a computer on it to accept a "Shoot Enemy" command. Got to remember the GPS and gyro stabelization systems. "Password accepted, please define target" WARM BODY UNKNOWN DISTANCE "Criteria accepted, please hold gun in firing positions and proper direction - issue fire command." SHOOT YOU SILLY @#$%$$@$% "Command accepted" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 There is some serious 'thread drift' here. This started out as some pictures of women working on munitions and aircraft and now we are talking about the War on Terror, Iraq and infantry utilisation of ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3quartertime Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 This is a fun topic,,, Let's get back to the idea so it doesn't get closed for being political/confrontational. The photos are so cool... Returns life to a very lively time period. Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Absolutely great pics - temporary thread drift. I had always wondered if any of the women were able to continue with any of the jobs they took during the war. There were a bunch of good pilots and machinists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 From what I've read, returning GIs expected to get jobs, buy houses, find wives and raise families. That put a real crimp in women staying in the workplace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eager Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Here's the one I like: http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/inglis_factory_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Oooh, baby! I'd need a cigarette too, after test-firing a brand new BREN gun! http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/image/26683855 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 (edited) Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots ferried various aicraft from the states to Europe, and I guess the pacific theater too. Here's a scrapbook gallery: http://www.wasp-wwii.org/wasp/scrap1.htm And Patrick Sweeney, they also make micrometers large enough to measure the shafts of steam turbines (rotors) like in the pic attached. I have seen 160 ton rotors spun on a lathe, to take the shaft down so many odd thousandths where it will fit in the babbit bearings. Very interesting. In the pic, that is really a guy, not some doll or photoshopped pic. The shaft might be 3 ft or more in diameter. Edited August 30, 2006 by Chills1994 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted August 31, 2006 Author Share Posted August 31, 2006 Wow! Cool Stuff! I really appreciate all the additional info guys! And Eric, don't you know I was born in the wrong era so for me it's not retro.... Patrick, I wouldn't light up in the same sense after test-firing a Bren but I get the drift...Perma-grin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 And Eric, don't you know I was born in the wrong era so for me it's not retro.... And just where *were* you when I needed feminine dexterity when trying to bolt on cylinder heads? If I ever get another war surplus airplane, I'll expect to see you there in the official headscarf and apron. All I know is that if men had to assemble airplanes in WWII, would would have lost the war. Vintage airplanes do not lend themselves to the typical hamfisted male klutz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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