1942 BELL AIRCOBRA PLANT OPERATIONS WWII AIRPLANE PRODUCTION FACTORY TOUR XD48074

[@georgeheissenberger3945]

My dad worked at Bell Aircraft in 1944. His job was to plug and re drill nose gear legs that had been mis-drilled. That was when he was in High School. At the week of graduation, he was drafted and served in the Battle of the Bulge.

[@patrickshaw8595]

Mine did too - at age 17. First Division, Third Army.

[@buxxbannerspov30]

My dad worked here also...I believe this is the Buffalo plant, as at the beginning the radio station is WBEN...my father was an electronics tech, then promoted to engineer in '52 and transferred to Pt Mugu California...always talked about long hours during the war

[@barryervin8536]

My mother worked at Bell in 1943-44. By then there were probably as many women as men working there. Bell Aircraft was a pioneer in providing services such as transportation and day care to attract employees during the war. My mom went to work there because she was raising my older sister alone while my dad was in the Army in Europe. She built P-39s until they moved her into the office as a secretary. I remember her saying that Larry Bell was a great guy and the best boss she ever had. I also remember her saying that Buffalo had the worst weather in the world and you couldn't pay her enough to ever go there again LOL!

[@lifeindetale]

Bless her! Thank you!

[@3ducs]

My mother and her brother worked at that plant. She was a blueprint tracer. Her shift had ended and she was outside waiting for my uncle to come by with the car when an Aircobra on test crashed into the plant killing several workers. She said the smell of burning bodies stayed with her forever. News of the crash wasn't reported, wartime censorship.

[@Habs8691]

Buildings are still there and are now part of the Niagara Falls Airport.

[@thomasmoje5926]

Every time I drive by the buildings it amazes me the aircraft development and manufacturing that went on there.

[@frankoch1]

@@thomasmoje5926 and Missiles, and Space mission components, and...

[@billbright1755]

One thing is undeniable, WW II sure made a lot of jobs.

[@jessecovington6639]

War always does baby

[@BigDaddy-yp4mi]

That's why wars, ESPECIALLY ones that are very easily publicly justifiable, are pushed by some people with big pockets who push their politicians who push the agenda and where those defense dollars go.....Sad, but it's just as true as your statement man.

[@perisher1976]

Prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag mined gold in Kolyma strenuously, overfulfilling the plan, so that Stalin could pay for the purchased Kingcobras with gold

[@patrickshaw8595]

@@perisher1976 Lend-Lease Stalin never paid a penny. The Russian People paid with blood on the battlefields and in the sky. PS- There were Russians at Bell consulting about what was needed.

[@kitkatcats3360]

Now we are trained experts in emojis, tweets and candy crush.

[@markkarasik2211]

😎and of course staying home so we don’t get sick, so who will deliver our toilet paper and groceries…

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Yes, this is the Niagara Falls plant of Bell Aircraft. Lawrence Bell worked for Consolidated Aircraft, which was also founded in Buffalo, but when they moved to California in 1934/35 he stayed and started his own aircraft company. This is the plant which produced over 13,000 P-39 Airacobras and P-63 Kingcobras. We at the Buffalo Naval Park have a recovered and restored Airacobra on display in our museum.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Great post! Subscribe and consider becoming a channel member kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXWliGami8abi6c

[@relathan1]

Your channel is such a treasure trove. Where else am I going to be guided through the construction of one of my favorite airplanes. Thank you so much, Periscope.

[@captainaxle438]

All of ww2 was done with No computers, only pen and paper, skilled labor, and hard work. Hard to comprehend the quantity and quality accomplished

[@58fins]

The P-39 was always a favorite of my late father, and me too. I love the P-39! Awesome design and craftsmanship went into all of our war materiel back then. There's something special about that plane! Great video!

[@lizzie8561]

The Lockheed Marietta plant in Georgia, where my father worked as an engineer from 1956 to 1982, was originally a Bell Aircraft facility. There are still local businesses that incorporate the word "bomber" in their name.

[@jeffreycoulter4095]

What a fantastic find! Great job making these videos available

[@arobatto]

I don’t see women in the assembly line. I have seen other file films where there were many women employed for obvious reasons. I guess this was early in the war and there were still many men available in the workforce.

[@youmakeitreal]

13:37

[@barryervin8536]

Yes, this was early in the war. My mother worked there in 43-44 and there were many women in the work force by then.

[@58fins]

At 20:13 you see them installing the engine. The twelve exhaust stacks indicate the aircraft is a P-400. The British designation for the p-39. It also had a 20mm cannon in place of the 37mm. Oldsmobile produced those cannons!

[@johnbrossack3791]

Nice video. One of my aunts worked in the factory. I remember exactly what she did, but it was something in final assembly.

[@jacksunstone8771]

My Mother work at a Bell plant in Texas. She was a Rosie.

[@hoilst]

"Don't give me a P-39/With an engine that's mounted behind/She'll tumble and roll/And dig a big hole/Don't give me a P-39..."

[@perisher1976]

And how then did Pokryshkin shoot down 57 Nazi bastards flying on the P-39 ???

[@Sunday_fits]

P39 best plane in the world letsgooo

[@Sunday_fits]

Wait

[@Kingwoodish]

No, it wasn't. It had poor high altitude performance and limited range

[@richardlindquistjr]

Amazing

[@ronaldderonde]

Thanks for uploading.

[@jaredclawson1813]

Amazing what they accomplished with what they had at the time. Would be some serious challenges for today's society but there are always those who will step up to do the job. Only if America stays great.

[@rickb1973]

So many people, working so hard, so diligently.....And people interested in wartime aviation history will look back at the P-39 and go...mmm...meh...

[@3ducs]

They served well in Russia where they were flown at lower altitudes.

[@MatthewBaileyBeAfraid]

It is interesting that the employees shown making all of these parts are young men. That population was predominantly pushed toward Military Service, rather than domestic, industrial labor in the US itself.

[@buxxbannerspov30]

Many working at Bell during the war were either 4F or deferred as war essential workers

[@frankoch1]

You may need a refresher in anatomy. Many woman on those assembly lines. My father was a 35 year employee

[@MatthewBaileyBeAfraid]

@@frankoch1 I was not ignoring the women they showed on the assembly-lines, who would eventually become the majority of both skilled and unskilled labor on the factory floors of MANY industries from 1942 to 1945 (when they began to be displaced again by men returning from the war). My comment, although clumsily phrased, was solely an observation about the men depicted, as that demographic (16 to 35) was heavily influenced to join the military (With those 16 and 17 often requiring parental approval, with a few states allowing 16 year-olds to enlist without parental approval if they met other criteria for enlistment on their own recognizance). The comment was meant to be SOLELY an observation of that demographic being an increasing rarity in the domestic labor force post Dec 7, 1941.

[@gerrygorbach7693]

I believe this is film of the Wheatfield, NY (Niagara Falls) plant, correct?. I could not find a specific reference in the footage but noticed in the first minute that the speaker who was addressing the audience had a WBEN microphone attached to the podium.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Read the description !

[@HarryPrimate]

My grandfather worked for Bell Aircraft in Marietta Georgia, now Lockheed/Martin. He said that he helped build B-17’s.

[@scottclute8413]

Hats off to him..THANKS TO GOD!!!

[@scottclute8413]

DAD FLEW THE B17S

[@perisher1976]

your grandfather is lying, lying - b-17 was NOT produced in Marieta! B-24 and b-29 were produced there !!!

[@scottclute8413]

@@perisher1976 P lease not everyone is correct on dates from the past.

[@HarryPrimate]

@@perisher1976 my grandfather may have been incorrect in his memory but he was most certainly not a liar.

[@emmgeevideo]

Two surprises for me as I watch this. I'm shocked by the lack of eye protection. Also, most of the aircraft manufacturing videos I've watched from the WW II era feature lots of women. Only one modest mention of women here. The title says "1942" -- it must have been pretty early in 1942. I saw one of the old US star insignias with the red circle in the center. This was phased out early in the war because it resembled the red "meatball" insignia on Japanese airplanes.

[@emmgeevideo]

@david woods Puh-leeze...

[@frankoch1]

watch for the hairstyles. everything up, or cut close for safety while working

[@emmgeevideo]

@@frankoch1 And that protected the eyes how?

[@raysalter2270]

Everybody is slim and trim no fatty.

[@billbright1755]

Imagine flying enroute over that endless expanse of rugged remote wilderness and discover that your engine has an oil leak. You must put down and try to choose a less hazardous place. If surviving crash your only hope is your wits and hope search and rescue may locate crash site. Long before helicopters air drop supplies only option then expert dog sled crew may assist. They flew a great many P 39’s though Great Falls Montana Malstrom Air Base on the way to give to the Russian army air wing. Coincidentally over route of the then under construction Alaska roadway. Pioneered through rugged terrain they simply pushed worn equipment aside and replaced with new. A snapshot of the entire war. Money was no object. The P- 39 production was a mere pin point of overall spending. As a side note I’ve inspected the remaining parts of C-54 Sky Master training for Berlin air lift that crashed on mountain top near Malstrom air base relatively shortly after victory in Europe. On another outing at a high mountain lake inspection of a plane crash at distance I thought the strut assembly looked to be P-39 but as I observed closer it was obviously to big and heavy. It was a main landing gear strut of an Avenger torpedo bomber. So heavy I could barely stand it vertical for photo. It had been converted for aerial tanker chemical drop after war. By name on parts it was GM built version. The Air Cobra was politically denied turbocharged boosting and relegated it to low altitude performance as result. Airframe was top notch and very cutting-edge for time. Oldsmobile canon punchy but only about thirty rounds and low velocity rainbow trajectory. Allies attempting to use craft in rolls not well suited to resulted in unearned derogatory reputations.

[@scottclute8413]

my father a pilot.in the air force.God was by his side as a co pilot brought him saffely home in 44

[@bas1010]

Can someone with experience comment on the inefficient looking manufacturing process? Looks like there might have been room for improvement ...

[@JugSouthgate]

It was all about making lots of complex aircraft FAST with relatively unskilled workers and relatively simple tools.

[@STho205]

The US built more airplanes by 1943 than had existed in the entire world in 1942. Bell was a niche builder in the 30s. Most peacetime aviation shops were prior to 1940. It ramped up really quick to serve the RAF and RCAF orders that came in 1939 and desperately in 1940. The P51, an icon of US aviation, was designed with and for the RAF in 1939.

[@rexmyers991]

The construction techniques were typical at the beginning of the war. By its end, manufacturing techniques had im Roved dramatically.

[@radiobikini6429]

No safety glasses.

[@frankoch1]

they had them later at bell. I may still have a pair of my fathers . the mesh on the sides

[@pmullins1495]

OH NO !! Those incessant LOUD FURD Ads !! 😡😠

[@lennykoss8777]

💗🌈💗🌈💗

[@henerygreen578]

great vid !!!!!!!!! but the plane was junk.....should have built it and flown it to a junk yard........

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Worked incredibly well for the Russians. Five of the 10 highest scoring Soviet aces logged the majority of their kills in P-39s. Grigoriy Rechkalov scored 44 victories in Airacobras. Pokryshkin scored 47 of his 59 victories in P-39s, making him the highest scoring P-39 fighter pilot of any nation, and the highest scoring Allied fighter pilot using an American fighter.

[@frankoch1]

different aircraft for different missions. The A-10 is not an F-16