Hugh Neeld: The Curmudgeon Report

Did you see the Wings of Freedom tour when it came to Tyler March 24-26? If not, you missed seeing a piece of American history. Three of World War II’s most famous and best-known aircraft, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the North American B-25 Mitchell. Any one of these would be an awesome sight to someone who was of a cognizant age during WWII, but the B-24 especially brought back a flood of memories for me.

In 1943, I was a high school student in Fort Worth where Consolidated Aircraft’s huge plant was mass-producing the B-24 Liberator bomber for the Army Air Force (the Air Force became a separate branch of the military in 1947).

Although Fort Worth had other industries contributing to the war effort, Consolidated was the biggest, employing over 2,000 workers. Adjacent to the plant, the government built a special housing area, Liberator Village, for the employees, allowing them to walk or ride a bicycle to work.

Many of the workers at Consolidated were women whose husbands were in the armed service. There were nurseries for small children and those of school age were picked up by public school buses. Among my contemporaries, getting a date with a girl from The Village was a goal worth pursuit, but like most teen-inspired fantasies, it was all in our head. So pervasive was the presence of The Bomber Plant, the most popular restaurant in town was The Bomber Grill.

Things like food, shoes, tires, gasoline, cigarettes and women’s hosiery were rationed and required government stamps to buy. New cars weren’t being made; the family car had to last. In addition to black marketing of ration stamps, shortages provided legitimate opportunities. Since hosiery was in high demand, a cosmetic company started marketing a product that, when applied to the leg, looked like hose. There was even a small paint brush to add the seam down the back.

Individuals and groups collected anything made of aluminum in scrap drives. Everyone bought war bonds and stamps. People planted victory gardens on vacant lots. Life revolved around the war effort, but nobody complained.

It was a different time and place, all right, and the miracle is that some 65 years later, it could all be brought back by a display of old war planes in Tyler.

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A question to ponder:

Why is it that no matter where you go, there you are?

putterhugh@suddenlink.net

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Hugh Neeld is a freelance columnist for TylerPaper.com.