AT 



<Q Committee on Public Information 

 A PUNCHING MACHINE IN AN AIRPLANE PARTS FACTORY 



The world is no longer a stage with the men and women merely players, but a vast 

 machine shop where each must do his or her bit — in this instance punching, and punching 

 with care, the fittings for a flying machine. 



country. Meanwhile, necessary prepara- 

 tions were made for planting the crop 

 and extracting the oil when the harvest 

 shall have been gathered. 



This has been done, as so many other 

 new, unexpected, and surprising things 

 have had to be done, in building up Amer- 

 ica's Air Army. If ever there has been a 

 succession of unforeseeable needs, of 

 baffling problems, and of almost heroic 

 methods to hew through to results in time, 

 it has been in the effort to establish upon 

 almost no foundations whatever one of 

 the most intricate, and I am not sure it is 

 not the most intricate, industry in the 



world. I only wish it were possible to 

 thrill others with a little of the romance 

 of this new industry which has so thrilled 

 us here in Washington during the past 

 six months of effort. 



Many people think an airplane is a sim- 

 ple thing to build — a pair of wings at- 

 tached to some sort of body, with an en- 

 gine in between and a propeller in front. 

 A few rough cuttings, it is pictured, a 

 little nailing up, and the machine is ready. 

 This is not at all surprising, for even 

 many manufacturers themselves are igno- 

 rant of the fine workmanship and ma- 

 terials which must go into an airplane. 



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