1940s Frigidaire factories converted to wartime production

[Jon]

This video from the 1940s details how factories owned by Frigidaire, then a subsidiary of General Motors, were converted from producing "electric refrigerators" to manufacturing propellor blades for WWII planes.

We often hear the quote stating that "WWII was won with British intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood." Russia's greatest contribution was the 26 million lives it laid down. The British were legendary for their foreign intelligence, most notably for Alan Turing's deciphering of the Enigma machine. But the Americans out-manufactured everyone.

Related wartime manufacturing videos:

1942 Short Film: The Machinist and Toolmaker
Airplane fuel tanks converted into Vietnamese boats
WWII German military helmets remanufactured into colanders
Arctic DEW line convoy of giant Mack trucks
1963 video of USS Enterprise
Autobiography of a Jeep
Steam-powered tanks
Wartime railway and train sabotage techniques
International Harvester towed mine planter

[PJs]

Thanks Jon. It is always amazing to me what humans can accomplish in short order with a common goal. Turing, with his small team pulled off what was thought impossible in such a short time with all kinds of obstacles and restrictions. The Russians pulled together an incredible feat with assembling and trying to supply their troops in some of the worst conditions for humans to live in let a lone fight in. We pulled off the unimaginable with our manufacturing in hardly any time...all because of a common goal. The interesting thing about these "Promotional Films" is what actually took place in the forefront and backgrounds. Just scratching the surface is power and distribution, water, facilities, etc. for the new plants...let alone rebuilding them. Then all the supply chain for materials and the really nicely designed machine gun shipping containers or how the props made the journey, the engineering and logistics and flow...it boggles the mind at some level, like the pyramids. We are a pretty incredible species when it comes to that common focus. Mitchner's book, "Space" (one of my favorites) touched on some of that superlative focus and oneness of mindset.

Thanks for finding this and sharing it here! ~PJ