Home Front: 50,000 Planes

In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt broadcast a new goal in one of his famous Fireside Chats: he wanted to see 50,000 planes a year built in the United States. Up until that point, the U.S. had built just over 30,000 military planes . . . total . 50,000 seemed like an impossible goal. But with war looming, "Rosie" rolled up her sleeves and said "We can do it!" And she did. Millions of war workers flooded cities and factories to take jobs not open to them before the war, turning out plane after plane to support the war effort. Manufacturing, labor, and the aviation industry would never be the same. Thanks to our guests in this episode "Rosie" Erlinda Avila who bucked rivets in Goodyear, Arizona Cory Graff, Curator and Restoration Manager- National World War II Museum Dr. Jeremy Kinney, Associate Director for Research, Collections and Curatorial Affairs- National Air and Space Museum Transcript for this epside is at s.si.edu/homefront2 Sign up for our monthly newsletter at s.si.edu/airspacenewsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Lockheed Martin

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Home Front: 50,000 Planes is an episode from AirSpace by National Air and Space Museum.

This episode is 25:22 long.

This episode was published on Aug 28, 2025.

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