Packard Forum Index » General

What follows originates from

U.S. National Archives
-> Public Domain Archive


Copyright info: no known copyright restrictions
Click to enlarge!

Attach file:

---

  (62.81 KB)


  (58.16 KB)

Attach file:

---

  (73.55 KB)


  (115.93 KB)


  (107.30 KB)

Attach file:

---

  (76.01 KB)


  (31.83 KB)

Attach file:

---

  (60.88 KB)


  (320.95 KB)


  (171.05 KB)

I wonder if those women were paid the same as the men.

I don't think there were any women working at the GM or Ford plants which is understandable given the deplorable working conditions. The present GM strike has us wondering about the future of that company. Unfortunately when working conditions are so bad that labor unionizes the effects linger.

The railroads paid a heavy price as well for labor abuse that existed early on.

It seems that the wings production at Packard had been a man's thing.



source: U.S. National Archives; -> Public Domain Archive
Copyright info: no known copyright restrictions
Click to enlarge!

Attach file:

---

  (65.82 KB)


  (147.63 KB)


  (147.23 KB)

Attach file:

---

  (79.63 KB)


  (211.07 KB)


  (222.08 KB)

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting Guscha. I can't help but being taken aback by that testing stand. An open ended building leading out to a muddy yard with junk everywhere to test aircraft engines?!?!? One can only imagine how that would be viewed by today's standards. All the 'clean rooms' and 'eat-off-the-floor' testing facilities at places like Boeing, certainly make a stark comparison to what was considered 'okay' back in the day. We did hydraulic hose assemblies for a couple of aircraft builders in my working days and the hoops they made you jump through to ensure that not one speck of dirt was being introduced into ANY or their systems, was incredible. Suffice to say, the state-of-the-art of the industry has come a long, long way! Also Tim, in response to your remark on women working in these places, my Mom had a job at a munitions factory up here in Canada when she was a very young girl. She said it was both dangerous and, as you said had deplorable working conditions. She recounted coworkers getting digits and even hands blown off by accidents but she said the pay was three times what she could make as a serger, cook, or any of the other 'jobs of the day' so women were willing to take the risk. Lucky for her, she emerged with all here fingers, but as a result of excessive noise, had severe hearing loss at a very young age. Chris.

Quote:
Chris (Packard newbie), thanks for sharing your thoughts. Take into consideration, please, that the photographs showed here, came into beeing in the pioneering days of aeronautic, 100 years ago. As you'll see later, every single engine was assembled, tested, dismantled, inspected, adjusted, reassembled and tested again until such time as it came up to the defined standard. And all of this happened in wartime under high pressure.


source: U.S. National Archives; -> Public Domain Archive
Copyright info: no known copyright restrictions
Click to enlarge!

Attach file:

---

  (69.98 KB)


  (109.78 KB)


  (61.40 KB)


  (123.03 KB)

Yes, of course Guscha, I totally get it that 'that was then and this is now' and also, as you say, under incredible pressure to keep up with the war effort. On the other end of that comparison, it is amazing to me, how so much was accomplished and how GOOD the product produced back then, was. I look at my 80 year old car, for instance, and marvel at what was achieved way back then, in the infancy of the automobile industry - the style, the machining, the mechanical inventiveness; there's a lot to be said for the designers and engineers of yesteryear, for their accomplishments. They might not have had today's technology, but they sure came up with some great end-products. I hope I didn't sound flippant or disrespectful of 'those folks and that era' in my post, as it was most certainly not my intent. Apologies if I offended. Best regards, Chris.