Pearl Harbor galvanized the country and sent it headlong into World War II. This we know. Just how everything changed – and so drastically – after that day is ripe for illustration. Alfred Palmer did a good job of that with his image at left, shot outside a large hangar at a Goodyear facility in Akron, Ohio, in December 1941. The following is from the caption for the image.

"Formerly an aircraft dock, this huge building — thought to be the largest in the world with no interior supports — is now the scene of many busy shops turning out aircraft sub-assembly parts, Goodyear Aircraft Corp., Akron, Ohio. Either new housing close to the plant or vastly improved public transportation will eventually have to be supplied, for the tires on the cars of the workers, and perhaps even the cars themselves, will in many instances give in before the end of the present emergency."

As one Hemmings reader commented, the photo is of the the Goodyear Airdock, built in 1929 by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company as a factory for airships - blimps. The Moffet Field hangars (and similar ones in Weeksville, NC) were built shortly after to house the U.S. Airships Akron and Macon.

Visit Hemmings Motor News