'So many pages here, 'uncertain whether or not I chimed in about this prior...In my career, I have done a LOT of work for former Wright Bros. facilities that went by many diff. co. names over the years, but Curtiss of NY and the Wrights of OH teamed up and Curtiss-Wright became the largest manufacturer in the US. I can remember doing work at a very old brick manufacturing plant on part of what used to be Wright-Paterson AFB, one up in Buffalo, and 3 in NJ (Paterson, Woodridge and Fairfield.) There was another out in MO but I never did any work there (exceedingly similar.)
The Muncy valley in PA was quite a hub of aircraft mfg. too. Lycoming engine, Piper, Hughes, et. al. ALL of these jobsites featured test strips, which due to environmental issues were given as part of deals to municipalities for county and international airport use. Personal aircraft are taking off and landing every few minutes at my one jobsite, and when I have to go on the roof the sight, the scale of the entire, old property is simply mindboggling!
C-W Flight Systems is still in business, and just the other day I took my 1 mi+ walk around one of the plants to monitor systems that prevent current-day factory workers from breathing in the carcinogenic love that
still persists underground from WWII!
War, though sometimes necessary, continues to kill people even when it's "over." Mines still blowing people up, herbicides/TCE/PFAS/metals/petrochems etc. still giving people cancer today where big business/gov't. turned a blind eye to put the monies in their pockets instead. Prior to 1970, it was game-on and legal for them to do what they wished with wastes. Once it became a problem to human health, it was game-on to clean these places up..."It's a living!" The US is still funding cleanup activities in VN ($Bs). The entire process conveniently takes OUR tax money-coming and going and hands it to corporations, which politicians are heavily invested in. Sad facts.
There are old B&W photos hanging in the lobbies of remaining plants (I should've grabbed some from the now demolished ones when they were still standing!!!) P-14s, the XF-14c for carriers, etc. etc. I think the corsairs are most beautiful. An old neighbor had so much of this material (photos, books, films) that the Smithsonian came to pick up his collection upon his passing...
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