Writestream Radio Network

As America remembers the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is worth remembering that the eventual victory of the Allies over the Axis nations in World War II was as much a victory of industrial production as battles fought. In his 1942 State of the Union address to Congress, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt set a goal of building 60,000 combat aircraft in 1942. In one of the greatest industrial miracles in history, America built far more. One of the key contractors in that effort was the North American Aviation (NAA) company of Inglewood, CA, which is just a few years earlier had been a small airplane design/manufacturing concern. Led by a tough, no-nonsense maverick engineer and industrialist, James "Dutch" Kindelberger, NAA would build some of the most important warplanes in history to help win World War II. Planes like the AT-6/SNJ advanced trainer, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell bombers, and the legendary P-51 Mustang fighter. But what did the factories look like, and who were the people who wo