Rosie the Riveter was a cultural icon of WW2, representing the women who worked in factories and shipyards during WW2, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who joined the military. Rosie the Riveter is used as a symbol of American feminism and women's economic advantage. Similar images of women war workers appeared in other countries such as Britain and Australia. The idea of Rosie the Riveter originated in a song written in 1942 by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. Images of women workers were widespread in the media as government posters, and commercial advertising was heavily used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime service in factories. Rosie the Riveter became the subject and title of a Hollywood movie in 1944.
In the 1840s, sulphur was used to vulcanise rubber, stabilising it and making tyre production possible.
A closely-related material, gutta-percha, is a natural latex. This early thermoplastic was used from the mid-1800s, enabling telegraph wires to be laid at the bottom of the sea and electrical wires to be insulated. Other natural polymers resembling modern plastic were developed from cellulose, a natural polymer found in wood. The first, parkesine, was developed to produce celluloid in 1870, a medium for cinema film.
But it was during the 20th century that plastics really took off. In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic, bakelite, from fossil fuel-based chemicals. These revolutionary plastics were easy to mould and could be quickly mass produced. These materials were popular, cheap and built to last. The pace of development increased and by 1935 other polymers, such as polystyrene, polyester, PVC, polythene and nylon were all being manufactured from fossil fuels." https://theconversation.com/plastic-is-now-part-of-our-planets-fabric-a-scientist-and-archaeologist-discuss-what-happens-next-106019 .
Scottish Aviation Limited was an aircraft manufacturer based at Prestwick, Scotland. The company were founded in 1935. Originally a flying school operator, the company took on maintenance work in 1938. During WW2, Scottish Aviation was involved in aircraft fitting for the war effort. This included maintenance and conversion of the Consolidated Liberator bomber.
The factory building of Scottish Aviation, which still exists today, was formerly the Palace of Engineering at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. The building was dismantled from its Glasgow site and reconstructed.
The British aerospace industry has made many important contributions to the history of aircraft and was solely, or jointly, responsible for the development and production of the first aircraft with an enclosed cabin (the Avro Type F), the first jet aircraft to enter service for the Allies in World War II (the Gloster Meteor), the first commercial jet airliner to enter service (the de Havilland Comet), the first aircraft capable of supercruise (the English Electric Lightning), the first supersonic commercial jet airliner to enter service (the Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde), the first fixed-wing V/STOL combat aircraft to enter service (the Hawker Siddeley Harrier), the first twin-engined widebody commercial jet airliner (the Airbus A300), the first digital fly-by-wire commercial aircraft (the Airbus A320), and the largest commercial aircraft to enter service to date (the Airbus A380).
British shadow factories were the outcome of the Shadow Scheme, a plan devised in 1935 and developed by the British Government in the buildup to World War II to try to meet the urgent need for more aircraft using technology transfer from the motor industry to implement additional manufacturing capacity.
The term 'shadow' was not intended to mean secrecy, but rather the protected environment they would receive by being staffed by all levels of skilled motor industry people alongside (in the shadow of) their own similar motor industry operations.
A directorate of Aeronautical Production was formed in March 1936 with responsibility for the manufacture of airframes as well as engines, associated equipment and armaments. The project was headed by Herbert Austin and developed by the Air Ministry under the internal project name of the Shadow Scheme. Sir Kingsley Wood took responsibility for the scheme in May 1938, on his appointment as Secretary of State for Air in place of Lord Swinton.
Many more factories were built as part of the dispersal scheme designed to reduce the risk of a total collapse of production if what would otherwise be a major facility were bombed. These were not shadow factories, though some now use that name believing shadow refers to attempts to achieve a level of secrecy.
0:00 Detroit 10:44 Arctic Convoys 19:54 Philippines Logistics 33:55 Old Men in Sailing Boats 41:35 Japanese Plan to Defend Japan 50:25 British Plan to Defend Britain 1:00:45 Best Weapons 1:07:20 Worst Weapons 1:17:18 Panzer vs. Sherman 1:29:34 P-51 vs. Spitfire 1:36:51 USA Insane Projects 1:45:02 British Insane Projects 1:55:22 Soviet Insane Projects 02:06:02 German Last Ditch Projects 2:16:42 Long Range Bombing 2:40:12 Switzerland 2:49:36 Comfortable Prison Camps 2:59:38 Worst Prison Camps 3:09:29 Civilian Internment Camps the Front 3:18:21 Desert Logistics 3:38:14 How Humanity Rebuilt
