The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company   Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

Other Kalamazoo Companies in World War Two:   Checker Car Company  Fuller Manufacturing Company  Ingersoll Steel and Disk   Shakespeare Company
Gibson, Inc. (Gibson Guitar) During World War Two
Kalamazoo, MI
1902-1985
1985-Current Nashville, TN

This page added 1-9-2022.


In April 1944, this document was given to the Kalamazoo Library eleven days after Gibson won its first Army-Navy "E" award.  For 75 years the library has kept this on file, waiting for someone to come along that understood the significance of it and publish it for public viewing.


The letter states nearly 100% war conversion for the Army and Navy.  The stationary footer was printed to state "Now100% War Work - Air Corps, Navy, Army."


This page states that the company changed from manufacturing wood musical instruments to make intricate metal parts.


While the document notes that Gibson, Inc. is 100% converted from making musical instruments to military products for all of the military services, there is no mention of what those products were.  Local history and even a book focus on the fact that "Kalamazoo Girls" that replaced the men in the factory that went off to war made 25,000 unauthorized guitars.  After the war, the company even denied that the guitars were built.  What has been totally overlooked is that guitars do not win wars.  Military equipment supplied to men in uniform won the war.

Local historical records have virtually nothing on what the women that came to work at Gibson made during the war.  The historical record only notes the company made military glider and radar parts.  It also notes that Gibson made "electrical and mechanical radar assemblies for Zenith, RCA, and Western Electric to name a few."

This is the extent of what is known on Gibson's contribution to helping win World War Two. 


Information obtained at an aviation museum in the Kalamazoo area identifies Gibson, Inc. of Kalamazoo as being a supplier of landing skids for the CG-4A gliders built by Gibson Refrigerator Company in nearby Greenville, MI.  The wooden skids would be an excellent product to supply, as its main pre-war product was wooden guitars.  Author's photo.


This Gibson Refrigerator Company-built CG-4A is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force and is serial number 45-27948.  It is one of the 1,078 that the company built during World War Two. Author's photo.


Each CG-4A glider had four landing skids.  Gibson, Inc, if it was the only supplier of the landing skids, would have supplied 4,312.  Author's photo.


However, Gibson Inc. won the Army-Navy "E" award two more times during the war.  It is doubtful it won any of the awards for supplying simple wooden skids for gliders.  Most likely it won all three awards for its involvement as a sub-contractor to several companies making radar components. 

The only way to approach this is to examine some of the radar products Zenith, RCA, and Western Electric made for the war effort.  These products will provide a general overview of what Gibson Inc. might have built.


Zenith was a supplier of the AN-TPX-3 ground to air radar. 


Gibson could have made parts for either the antenna or receiver, or both. 


Western Electric made several different types of radar during World War Two.  This is a Mark4 FD fire control radar that has credit for shooting down twelve Japanese aircraft.  The FD radar was used to control 40mm and 5-inch anti-aircraft guns on U.S. Navy ships.  Information from the radar was fed to servos on the gun mounts which controlled the aim.  The sailors that manned the guns were only needed to supply ammunition to the weapons. 


These are the components of a Westinghouse-built AN-ASP-4 airborne X-band intercept radar used on many American aircraft during World War Two.  However, Western Electric made the AN-ASP-5 air-to-radar which was used on the F4U Corsair night fighter.  The AN-ASP-5 was very similar to the AN-ASP-4.  Author's photo.


Gibson could have made components very similar to these for the AN-ASP-5.  Not knowing the full extent to which companies it sub-contracted, it could have made some of the parts shown here for Westinghouse.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.


Author's photo.


RCA produced 1,565 sets of SA Shipborne Surface and Airborne Search Radar units for the U.S. Navy.  These were used primarily on destroyer escorts at destroyers.  The top antenna on the mast of the destroyer escort USS Slater appears to be the SA radar antenna.  This was the largest number of radar sets made by any company during the war and was RCA's primary radar product.  If Gibson was making radar components for RCA, the SA radar would have been what it would have been making parts for.  Author's photo. 

The Gibson Factory:


The Gibson Plant that built guitars for musicians like Johnny Cash, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, B.B King, and Eric Clapton was built in 1917 and operated until 1985 when the company moved to Nashville, TN.  Author's photo.


The former Gibson factory,with its iconic front door, is one of the most photographed locations in Kalamazoo.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.


In early March 2021, multiple media outlets carried the story that a Hard Rock Cafe, Hotel, and Brewery would re-purpose the old factory.  This would all be accomplished by the fall of 2023.  Seriously?  Surely they jest.  This is a one hundred year old factory on the residential near north side of Kalamazoo.  It is five blocks north of downtown Kalamazoo with no wide streets leading to it, making it difficult to get to.  There is an old railroad track that runs next to the factory which may still be active.  Author's photo.

Since the initial announcements there have been no further reports in the news media on progress of the project.  When I visited the plant in October 2021, there was no evidence of any work being done.  Cannabis is now legal in Michigan, and as one drives west on I-94 towards Kalamazoo from I-69, there are multiple billboards of companies advertising their particular brand of cannabis in Kalamazoo.  It could very well be that the person or persons responsible for taking on this project have been smoking too much cannabis. 

I could be wrong and this project will proceed as planned.  If so, I will return to this location in late 2023 and have an overpriced burger and beer in the Gibson Hard Rock Cafe.


An artist's depiction of the new hotel and restaurant complex shows the smoke stack still in place.  Obviously, the artist did not do his homework as the smokestack is being taken down brick by brick.  While many in Kalamazoo did not want to see the iconic landmark taken down, it had to come down due to safety issues.  The only way to do this in a safe manner is to do it one brick at time.  Author's photo.

But who knows, maybe the project developers are planning to build a new smoke stack as part of the project.


This portion of the former Gibson factory is currently the Kalamazoo Enterprise Center.  Author's photo.


This is an aerial view of the factory when there were multiple railroad tracks on the east side of the complex.  The factory is in the middle of a residential area that grew up around the plant.  When built in 1917, this area of Kalamazoo was what today is called a green field site. 


This 1958 Sanborn map shows that the Gibson factory was bounded to the west and north by houses and by the railroad on the east side.  Not shown in this view are the houses to the south of the plant. 

 

 

 

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