WW2 U.S. Navy Metal Smiths - Making aircraft parts from scratch (1944, Restored Color) 

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My dad was an aviation metalsmith on north island naval Base in ww2 and when we went back for his 50th wedding anniversary (my mom was a a Wave and they got married in 44) they were still using the F4U Corsair wing bucks for the FA 18 Jets! I found a pack of ww2 lucky strike cigs inside one of the bucks! He was a cool dad and my mom raised all nine of us and we're still around. Go Navy.

These were good jobs , my uncle served at a stamping mill and after the war got a good union job he held until he retired at 65.

Such AdHoc repairs and producing spare parts from scratch required versatile craftsmanship. Such skill sets are rare in a modern industries based on automation and specilization restricted set of tasks..

These were your relatives at work. Good honest work. Rewarding work. Skills that aren't taught so much nowadays.

Damn. I would have loved to be a part of that!!!!

Amazing footage, of incredibly skilled workers. Cheers👍

This video is totally amazing. Those guys were fantastic.

Love the forging of engine cylinder parts back then...a skill I'm sure is lost now...with drawings and slide rules,manufacturing skills,made excellent radial engines that were and still very reliable!!

I never knew this stuff went on outside the factory. For a cowling section, I would've figured on hammer/dolly and English wheel work. I do suppose that type of work would also be necessary in the field where drop hammers weren't found under every tree, not to mention a mini-foundry for casting the dies! I liked the stretch forming of the plexi as well. Would've like too seen how the whole unit was assembled and maybe some blow forming. Very interesting stuff!

Excellent, thanks much for posting this. These skill-sets were common among civilian US workers back in the 1940's with the larger and more distributed manufacturing base, plus prevalence of trade schools. Not so much these days it seems.

There is a story about Greg 'Pappy' Boyington setting down (crash landing) on a newly opened (he had been briefed that the new strip was opened and could be used as a divert field in case of damage) fighter strip. He took damage to his Corsair which created engine problems with it cutting out, and was forced to set down. Turns out and the strip was not quite as complete as briefed and after a short run-out he hit a BULLDOZER, parked on the run way, damaging his prop. Boyington was examined by corpsman, went to the base command shack and radioed back to his squadron for a new prop and some mechanics to attend to the damaged bird. When Pappy went to back to his air craft he found that the SeaBees had used a wooden a-frame to remove the 13' diameter prop and moved to their forge and were industriously heating it up preparatory to hitting it with a large HAMMER to straighten it! Boyington was stunned, the SeaBees said they would be done in a couple of hours and he could leave in the morning, the squadron mechanics were not even due till noon the next day! If is recall correctly (and it has been many years since I heard the story) Boyington got in the aircraft, gave it a brief test run, and pronounced that it would get him home! He did say it had a hell of a vibration at full throttle so he flew it home slowly but he made it home (thanking God for not encountering any Japanese).

Yep,more of this...

That was for me a very interesting and fascinating video, as I am a modern day sailor who works in metal, albeit for ships not aircraft.

That would have been a cool job to have.

Part of me is rather amused at the term "speed ring" applied to anything on a Catalina. It hardly could have been much slower without it! I do love the Catalina, but it was never known for speed.

awesome craftsmen!!!

Old school sailors all wearing dungarees and the unforgettable white caps....

very interesting

I worked at 32nd street navsta and back in the 90s they were clearing out some buildings. There were english wheels, shears, brakes presses. All sorts of tools for skills that are rarely practiced these days. Photo labs that had tons of lead in the walls went to the scrap yards. Wasteful.

Can’t believe that they actually had enough space to put all of this in

Boy...standing over steaming melted lead...no health worries there... Yikes!

They are not called the "Greatest Generation" for nothing.

AMS-2 AIMD Naha 1970-1974

4:46, checks lunch in oven.

i've never seen a ball turret in a b-24 nose i wonder when that was?

0:50 Why the holy hell would he snatch at something falling INCHES from powered cutting tools?!

Safety was not good then.

Sooo. The plexiglass top will protect the gunner from sunburn frostbite and light flak??! Yeah.. ok ...😂

Amazing. I guess work gloves and safety glasses hadn't been invented yet...

Now in 2021 if we need parts, we have to order them from China.

Hope I only get that light flak, no heavy flak for me.

Not even uss forestall

The war was over by the time they got the speed rings and gun tracks in those planes.

Sorry, but plexiglass won't stop sunburn.

If you waited for parts from the factory. You would be out of action for 6 months. Before the parts got to you 9k miles away... But your ass could have a Coke 500 yards from the front lines...

What happened to all of those musicians after these propaganda films ended?