One of the neat displays at the Museum is housed in the poster rack. The poster at the very end is that of “Rosie the Riveter”. “Rosie” was the icon of all women who worked in defense plants throughout the country and until the end of the war built war machinery and other materials to carry on the war effort. Some might be saying, what does that have to do with aviation. In this case it really does. Our “Rosies”to which we dedicate the poster are Edith Frank and Ann Downey and they helped build F4U Corsair aircraft during WWII. And as Edith said “We built Corsairs, and we did it well.”

Growing up in Ohio, Edith was 19 year old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Asking her parents permission to go to Akron, Ohio to work in an airplane factory, Edith was off with a check in hand from her Dad for $25 to spend for bus fare, rent, and food to tie her over before drawing a pay check.

Edith was hired by Goodyear Aircraft Corp., where she worked for 2½ years as a “Rosie the Riveter” while working on the Corsair Aircraft. Working in pairs with her partner, Ann Downing, the two “Rosies” riveted panels (skin) onto the aircraft, which were highly inspected after each rivet placement. If the rivet was not right, they would have to drill it out and put in a new rivet.

The procedure would be that Ann would get in the aircraft and “buck” (flatten) the rivets and Edith would “shoot” them from the outside. Edith and Ann would then trade places on the next plane to “buck' and “shoot” rivets. These two gals became quite proficient at what they did and often they would do a whole section without replacing a rivet. The both loved their jobs BUT were quite happy when the war was over.

Had it not been for “Rosie the Riveters” during WWII, the war effort would have had trouble trying to produce and build the variety of machinery necessary to carry on the war effort.