I knocked another item off my bucket list this morning and saw an angel with huge wings too

[Omaha Steve]

X post from GD


My mom worked building bombers during WWII. She was just over 5 foot tall. She could work in the small areas most workers couldn't get into. She worked on the Enola Gay and Bockscar at the Martin Bomber plant in Bellevue, NE. She road the public bus for about 2 hours each way to work. Cold in winter and a steam bath in the summer. It was a good union job that contributed so much to the war effort.

Mom should be somewhere in this picture. Thanks mom.


In Dec. of 2000 Marta and I went to see President Clinton. He was not far from the plant inside Offutt AFB. Until today that was the closest I had ever been to mom's old stomping ground.

We went in the gate at 10AM. I was excited to get the quick drive through (we were short on time more on that later) tour with my neighbor. He retired from his last dozen or so years from the Air Force assigned to the base.

We went through both floors. The upper floor is where the ghosts are said to be haunting still to this day.

http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/crashsites/martinbp.html

September 22, 1943

Four airmen were testing a B-25D (42-87195) bomber near the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant. Shortly after take-off, the left engine failed. The bomber crashed through the roof of the bomber assembly plant. Three of the crew were killed. The fourth airman suffered severe injuries, but later recovered. Another bomber, a B-26C, was on the assembly floor and was also destroyed.


The darkened area is where the B-25 went through the roof.

More on the plant at the bottom of this post.

Our tour covered most of the base. We plan on going back when we aren't rushed for time. Marta and I were to have lunch with our granddaughter at school, so this morning was rushed.

About that angel...In 1989, Offutt AFB acquired the B-17 as a gate guardian and christened it "Homesick Angel." : http://www.offutt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123123501

“Homesick Angel” receives tender loving care: http://www.offutt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123123501

This is how she looked today.







In the far right above in the bottom photo you can see a decommissioned white Congress missile. It don't work and you can't fire it.

We came home. Marta and I picked up lunch. Sat with our granddaughter at her desk. We went to the book fair and got her a few books.

To answer a question in another post today, I'm having a great day.

OS

Martin Bomber Plant near Bellevue helped end World War II and now faces its own demise: http://www.omaha.com/news/military/martin-bomber-plant-near-bellevue-helped-end-world-war-ii/article_605b3b77-341d-5330-b496-f9ee48b2462f.html


http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/life_10.html

Omaha's Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant was actually closer to the small rural community of Bellevue than Omaha. When the plant began construction in the spring of 1941 – well before Pearl Harbor – Bellevue had 1,184 residents occupying 306 buildings. The plant was going to bring in 3,000 new workers. Some would come from the adjoining towns of Omaha, Ralston and Council Bluffs, but the plant would forever change Bellevue from rural to urban.

Federal grants helped Bellevue with housing, schools, police and fire protection, but the town boomed and strained at the seams.
The first aircraft assembly building measured 600 by 900 feet with eight other major buildings supporting it. There was over 250 miles of electrical wiring, 47,000 cubic yards of concrete, five acres of glass and 10-million square feet of painted walls.
Through the war, the plant produced over 1,500 B-26 Marauder medium bombers and more than 500 B-29 Superfortresses – including the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, the "Enola Gay."

At its peak in 1945, the plant employed over 13,000 workers. Over 40 percent of the workforce were women – 5,300 workers. Around 5 percent of the workforce was black despite a relatively large African-American population in Omaha.
With 10,000 to 13,000 workers, the Martin Plant was like a small city on the edge of rural Nebraska. The plant had Dr. Charles Ashby Interviewits own telephone system, bank, post office, hotel, library, recreation, police, fire and sanitation systems. There was even a school on the grounds.

Dr. Charles Ashby was a young medical intern when Pearl Harbor was bombed and started his service providing first aid at the Martin Plant. He remembers being impressed with the sheer size of the operation. "It was amazing to see, for a young man who hadn't been around very much," he says.

Many of the workers migrated from farms to work at the Martin plant, and many never returned. When it closed in April 1946, it left a hole in the greater Omaha community. Then, in 1948, the plant became the nucleus of the new Strategic Air Command (SAC).

[Aristus]

1. The newspaper clipping is incorrect.

The Marauder was the B-26. The plane in the photo looks like a B-23, a bomber that was much less utilized and built than the B-17, the B-24, B-25, or B-26.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Here we go: ROLL OUT OF THE LAST B-26C MARAUDER "THE OMAHA" ON APRIL 4, 1944

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ne0121.photos.223144p/resource/



GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST OF THE ROLL OUT OF THE LAST B-26C MARAUDER "THE OMAHA" ON APRIL 4, 1944. WHO, 1944 - Offutt Air Force Base, Glenn L. Martin-Nebraska Bomber Plant, Building D, Peacekeeper Drive, Bellevue, Sarpy County, NE
Digital ID: (None) hhh ne0121.photos.223144p http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ne0121/photos.223144p
Reproduction Number: HAER NE-9-R-27
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Many plant photos at the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20ne0121&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true