Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory

by Constance Bowman Reid, Clara Marie Allen, Sandra M. Gilbert (Introduction)

In 1943 two spirited young teachers decided to do their part for the war effort by spending their summer vacation working the swing shift on a B-24 production line at a San Diego bomber plant. Entering a male-dominated realm of welding torches and bomb bays, they learned to use tools that they had never seen before, live with aluminum shavings in their hair, and get along with supervisors and coworkers from all walks of life.

They also learned that wearing their factory slacks on the street caused men to treat them in a way for which their "dignified schoolteacher-hood" hadn't prepared them. At times charming, hilarious, and incredibly perceptive, Slacks and Calluses brings into focus an overlooked part of the war effort, one that forever changed the way the women were viewed in America.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Memoir, War, Biography Memoir, American History

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those among us who have family members among the Second World War generation (a generation that is now, sadly, dying off in ever increasing numbers), this book brings home a tangible, palpable sense of what life on the Home Front USA was like during those times.

The author of "Slacks and Calluses" was a high school English teacher in Southern California who opted (with a friend, C.M., who was an art teacher) to work in an aircraft assembly plant during the summer of 1943. The beauty of their experiences in helping assemble the B-24 Liberator heavy bombers is in the telling as Bowman Reid takes the reader along with her and her friend C.M. on their first day at work in the plant, where they had to fill out a plethora of forms, select the shift that suited them (4:30 PM to 1 AM), and blend in and work with their colleagues in assembling different sections of the aircraft. Bowman Reid observes that "[i]t wasn't that the bombers weren't big; they just weren't so big as we had expected them to be. The effect of their size was broken by the paraphernalia around them. There was a platform about six feet high under the wings and another about a foot high under the belly. In the back of the tail and in the front was one going up into the nose. People were all over the bombers, popping in and out of the nose, walking along the top of the fuselage, working on the high platforms under the wings, sticking their heads out the side windows, sliding flat under the belly, climbing up and down the ladder into the tail, ducking in and out from underneath, so that the bombers looked like sleeping Gullivers overrun by the people of Lilliput."

An interesting aspect of life on the home front touched upon in the book that I found revealing was the change in gender roles and perceptions brought on by women working in the defense plants. Example: "In war-time San Diego there are just two kinds of women: the ones who go to work in skirts and the ones who go in slacks. The girls who work in slacks are sometimes cleaner and neater than the girls who work in skirts. They usually make more money than their skirted sisters behind the ribbon counter at the Five and Ten or at the controls of the elevator in the bank. But they have to wear slacks. Whether they are dust-bowl mothers buying butter and eggs for the first time, or former dime store clerks making more money than army majors, or war wives who feel they must keep them flying because their husbands are flying them, or school teachers putting in a summer vacation on a war job, they are women who work in slacks instead of skirts." Real ladies wore skirts, wide hats, lipstick, perfume, coiffed hairdos, and were demure and dainty. But the women who wore slacks were NOT deemed by the men (and society at large) to be ladies, but rather like women of loose morals or ill-repute.

For all its 181 pages, "Slacks and Calluses" offers the reader a view of the Home Front USA in the Second World War that brilliantly illuminates (C.M. provides some fascinating illustrations of their war work experiences) what it was really like for 2 women who did their part for the war effort.

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is as charming now as it was when first published in 1944. "Slacks and Calluses" is a personal memoir of two young school teachers who spent their summer vacation working the swing shift, building B24s as part of the American war effort in World War II. I'm planning on assigning this to my students in a few weeks, and I think that they will enjoy it.

[kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

“It was bad enough to have clerks ignore us, to have the members of our own sex scorn us, but what really hurt was the attitude of men. In one way, we were not women at all as far as they were concerned—if having them give us their seats on a crowded bus or stand aside to let us pass or pick up something we dropped meant that we were women. In another way, we were definitely women to them—"skirts" is the old-fashioned term, although it isn't appropriate today. Men lounging on corners looked us over in a way we didn't like, men grabbed us and followed us and whistled at us. They called us "Sister" in a most unbrotherly way and "Baby" in a most unfatherly way.”

I read Slacks & Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory for one of my history classes, so I'm not going to do a full review. All I'll say is that this is proof of why women's history (especially from World War II) should be a focus in school, because this book was so damn fascinating.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most important advice--skip the Introduction!!!!!
This book was absolutely delightful! It was written and illustrated by two teachers who spent their summer vacation in 1943 working in an aircraft plant. It is an excellent first-hand account of what work was like for "unskilled" female workers.
The Introduction isn't a true introduction. It reads more like a college book report with tons of quotes from the book. The introduction ruins the humor and the whole story. I'm glad I didn't read it until I'd finished the book. It would have ruined it for me.

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a female aircraft mechanic myself (swing shift I might add), I found a lot of pleasure in this book. The Rosie the Riveters, in my opinion, are the the most brave, courageous women of that time. They literally paved the way for the rest of us and this book tells of that experience in a wonderfully humorous way. I laughed out loud and read some of it to my friends. The backordered parts, the war of day shift versus swing, the way men treat women like women one minute and a fellow the next (whatever suits their cause at the moment), and last, but not least, the aches and pains that come with the physical labor... all so very true. I was shocked to see how similar things are still today to what our original Rosie's went thru. My thanks and gratitude to these brave, amazing women. I would like to add that the author, Constance, wrote very well and made wonderfully witty remarks and I loved her sarcasm throughout the book. The absolute, only reason I did not give this 5 stars was that is too short!! I would have loved to read much more of their adventure. All in all, this book made an impression on me because of the way they handled their situations. It was not any easy task they faced, being pioneers in aircraft maintenance, but they laughed and made the best of it. I plan to keep this in my own tool box and when I have a particularily foul day, use it to remind me that there is indeed, a silver lining behind every cloud.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've joined a new book club and this was recommended from another book club member, so we all enthusiastically chose it for our first read. Being from Washington state we all thought this would be about making airplanes at The Boeing Company in Seattle. Nope, San Diego at a bomber factory there. The weirdest part of the book the Introduction was 10 pages long and after reading it there was little reason to read the rest of the book. It was the Cliff notes for the book even thought the book is only 181 pages long. I worked for The Boeing Company for many years as a secretary, I was out in the factory a lot, so I understood much of what the authors described. It was a fun little book to read. Apparently quite a big seller when it hit the shelves in August 1944.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am SO curious about life on the American home front during World War II. I have been searching for books that will give me a glimpse of what it was like to cope with rationing, the terrifying news from abroad, women venturing out into work for the first time, etc. Apparently such books are hard to find! I thought this book might be just the ticket, but I was somewhat disappointed to find that it really ONLY described the work life of two women in a bomber factory. The story was told in a very technical way, with little insight into the protagonist's home life or thoughts/feelings about the war. Unfortunately, it came off as rather one-dimensional to me. And so my search continues.....!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming, chatty, breezy, in the way that all the good wartime narratives are. Capturing humour and wonder and pathos in a very strange situation, sketching the characters of all the different types of people who work in a factory, and describing with genuine feeling the sense of accomplishment of starting work you know nothing about and overcoming the hurdles to actually get quite good at it.

The chapter on how differently they were treated while wearing their factory clothes - slacks, rather than skirts - was eye-opening. I've never seen it laid out so clearly before, just how big of a shift this was for society. A large amount of men seemed to see them wearing pants as a flashing symbol saying they were easily available, and barely rated as 'women' at all. They even try an experiment at the end of that chapter where they get dressed up in their most feminine clothes on a day off, and get on the same bus they take to the factory, to see how many men will stand up and offer a seat to them. Results: startling.

But sociology aside, I just like stories about people doing work, and getting better at things, and toughing things out, and this is all of those rolled up together in a witty little package.

[Jolene Yaksich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always wondered what life was like back in WW2 on the home front. This book was a great read and let the reader feel the experience of building bombers, and the patriotic pride women had helping win the war from the home front.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words that come to mind: lively, gaily, spunk, romp, cheery, chipper...

Slacks and Calluses is an energetic tale of a summer spent—you guessed it—working in a factory, building aeroplanes towards the U.S. effort in World War II. As teachers, Bowman (Reid) and Allen had time on their hands over the summer, and they thought it would be grand to spend that time doing their patriotic duty (and, of course, gathering material to write a book). Classed as unskilled labourers, they were assigned nuts-and-bolts jobs (often literally), instructed in the use of wrenches and drills, and put to work.

The fact that we were building bombers seemed a dubious contribution to the war effort to the people who knew about it. My mother said it was unfortunate that our fliers had to contend with us as well as with the Japs and the Germans, and C.M.’s Pops asked with concern if our work were checked by someone else before the ships went into the air. (83)

As they tell it, the summer was a grand old adventure. Bowman and Allen had two significant advantages, of course: first, they were doing this work voluntarily and temporarily, with the expectation of going back to their white-collar teaching jobs at the end of the summer. It's not too dissimilar, in that way, to my summer as a waitress: I enjoyed just about every minute of waitressing, but I did so with the full knowledge that I was there only for the short term, I could quite anytime and be just fine, and that by being there in the high season I was getting all of the perks (e.g., tips that often more than doubled my take-home pay—tips in the off season were dismal) with little of the drudgery (e.g., in winter there was no designated dishwasher, so the serving staff took turns). So, here, the same: when Bowman is indignant because someone she's assigned to work with is inclined towards taking his time on jobs, it's worth remembering that on some level she's right...and on another level this is her vacation, and she can afford to throw herself with glee into the fray, while he'll likely be around, doing the same kind of work to make ends meet, for years to come.

And second, while war was a reality for them, it wasn't on their doorstep. I'm reminded of articles about women in Ukraine putting together molotov cocktails just a few months ago: war for Bowman and Allen was a reality, but a distant one, an abstract one. Not that one cannot write with good humour about a war experience with bombs exploding overhead China Nurse 1932-1939 comes to mind, though that at least wasn't in her homeland), but what a different experience it must be to know that if your work location is found out, you too will be a direct target.

Still, the whole thing is just lively. More snapshot than fully descriptive—I cannot, for example, picture what the production line looked like or even really what an individual plane looked like—but told with good humour, wit, and an eye for drama.

After the little man removed his jig, the two lads who installed the turret itself arrived in the tunnel. They ignored the rest of us and talked together in a strange language of their own creation which consisted of using goddamn as a prefix for the name of every tool they used and sonuvabitch for the name of every person they spoke of. They never smiled as they carefully raised and lowered the turret into position. Later in the summer they both achieved a certain notoriety on the line when a zoot-suiter stabbed one in the back during a dance hall brawl and two girls staged a first [sic] fight over the other during lunch-time. (I could understand the action of the zoot-suiter, but not that of the girls.) (79)

Mr. MacGregor was the sort of a man who could say he kept his motor as polished as the hood of his car. I told him I did too, which established a bond of sympathy between us, since I didn’t explain that in my car it was the hood that was as polished as the motor. (91)

It was bad enough being tired all the time and dirty most of the time, but worst of all the first week was having to go to work in slacks—down Fourth Street where people who knew us acted as if they didn’t, or down Third Street where people who didn’t know us whistled as if they did. (67)

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story about two friends who were school teachers and decided to work at the local war time bomber plant helping put together B-24 planes. You've heard of women answering the call from all walks of life, but this story helps to put a couple of names and faces with the story. The descriptions help you see yourself in the plane, dropping the tools, and being proud of your accomplishments of not only helping build the plane, but taking on a job very different from what you trained for and hanging in there until you finished. Things have come a long way for women since that time, but these two pioneers helped forge the way a little for those coming after them. A light hearted, enjoyable read.

[Lani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I read about the lives of women several hundred years ago, or in far away countries, I tend to forget about the struggles of American women in this century.

The author's take on her situation and her deep-down patriotism were inspiring. More than that, I enjoyed reading a contemporary account that really shines. There is no contrived love story, no forced tragedy, it's a low-key account of 3 months spent building "big bombers."

The quirky illustrations were fun breaks in the narrative, and the writing style comes across as very true to the author. She writes as she spoke back then, and while some of her observations seem very dated now, they are clearly sincere.

A quick read from a perspective I'd never considered, I gained more respect for the contributions of the country as a whole during WWII.

Worth reading just for the interesting perspective of a woman of the period stepping out of her "respectable" high heels, and into the slacks and boots of a lower-class she'd never considered before.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly delightful-- text and illustrations. Two schoolteachers take on summer jobs at a WWII aircraft factory, building THE BIG BOMBERS. (All-caps theirs.) Turns out to be as grubby, uncomfortable and boring work as any job you've ever held-- and the people they wind up working with are a lot like coworkers you know. Except for Constance and Clara, who are consistently clever, hardworking and cheerful. I like them so much, and am grateful that they shared their experience so charmingly.

The authors also succeed at doing that thing that is so valuable yet so difficult in personal history: relating those everyday details that made their time different from ours. My favorite: the discomfiture Bowman and Allen suffered when they had to don slacks instead of their usual ladylike dresses-- and men WHISTLED AT THEM. They had always believed that their personal dignity had fended off such wolffish attentions, and suddenly it appeared that that dignity resided in the ladylike frocks and hats (and little white gloves, of course) that they were wearing. Ouch!

[Nightwitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read - as described, two schoolteachers spend a summer working in a bomber factory in San Diego during World War II. They started the job with the intention of writing a book about it, and published the book while the war was ongoing, so they were taking copious notes through the whole process. What I found most interesting was how people's perceptions of them changed. They were working on the line with, mostly, high school drop-outs, and frequently reference having students who worked in the same factory. They also discovered quickly that the way men treated them and the deference which they were used to receiving was, in fact, down to the fact that they were respectable schoolteachers in skirts and pumps. In their factory coveralls? Sexual harassment and/or total apathy.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir about a summer vacation spent building aircraft "bombers" for WWII is a great introduction to that era and the role of women at that time. The authors uses humor to tell their story of the adjustment they faced as schoolteachers, who decided to help the war effort by taking a job assemblying these large machines. Without mechanical skills, these physically challenging, dirty jobs were hard to understand and often performed in uncomfortable locations inside the bombers. This short, quick read is a window into another era. Skip the introduction and jump right into the book like I did when I read an original 1944 edition.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful! This was a book packed with wit, feelings and details of the day to day life of the "Rosie the Riveter" women during WWII. The reader gets a glimpse into what its like for the women who work in the factories, thus wearing slacks, many for the first time. They put up with how society treats them just because they are wearing slacks, even though they are "doing their bit for the war". Rather than thanking them, they suddenly become second class citizens. But they have each other, their pride in their part of the home-front war effort and a gradual sense of coming of age. This book should be required reading for any history class. Bravo, ladies, bravo!!

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are probably most of us aware of Rosie the Riveter and that women joined the workforce in large numbers in WWII to build the materials needed to win the war. This is a look into what it actually felt like to go work on the line building the machines of war. And how did society react to women in the workforce like never before?

You can tell that the author would be delightful to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about her experiences with. A warm and engaging tale of two friends working in a factory over their summer break. A fairly short book but worth the read.

[João · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolutely wonderful portal into the lives of two hilariously witty school-teachers working in a bomber factory in a very new social environment. Aside from its comical value, it is also an invaluable peek this society so very different from our own. It seems like the men didn't know what to do with the women in the factories, and the women didn't know what to do with either the men or themselves in this awkward new social group of factory-working women.

Absolutely, one hundred percent recommended!

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This true experience of two teachers who spend a summer working in a bomber factory during World War II is charming and amusing. I did get bogged down by all the detail of the planes and the technical writing about the manufacturing process. I also had a hard time keeping up with who was who since the author wrote about so many different people. Still, I enjoyed much of it and felt at times I was actually there. My favorite bits were the descriptions of the scrapes that the author and her friend get into. Delightful! Three and half stars.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because of the manpower shortage during World War II, aircraft factories recruited schoolteachers to work summer vacations. Reid and her friend C.M. signed up to build B-24's, despite neither having any familiarity with tools. But they built planes (known as "ships" on the assembly line) with the help of a collection of somewhat strange characters and their own determination. Written at the time, this book provides a sense of immediacy in its look back at an earlier period.

[Laura Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very informative read about the war effort on the home front during WW2, but it also offered a glimpse into the very real lives of the men and women who constructed the ships that helped win the war. This book was also surprisingly funny at times. Definitely recommend, no way to go wrong with this short read,

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun book. I found it at my library one of the first editions. Two teachers are using the summer to build bombers to help the war effort. You get to see a different side to the war and I found it fascinating to learn about the bombers. It also has cute illustrations.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I had juststarted to get into WWII and the homefront issues and this was the best window into the minds of females at the time. Very brave, courageous women who did what had to be done and enjoyed life to the fullest. Wish I could have met them.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating topic, but unfortunately not that fascinating of a take on it. Or maybe I wasn't in the mood? Or maybe I wish I had read the original edition? In any case, I'm glad I found it, but also glad it was relatively brief. Much of a muchness in the genre.

[Jeff Koslowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable read. The chapters are quick and tell a great story about the Greatest Generation. This is good for a summer read, for the WWII fan, or anyone looking into gender studies and the role of women (and hoe that role has evolved).

[Kayleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quick read. You're not going to learn anything new from this book, but it was a nice read if you are into that era.

[Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real Rosie the Riveter.

[Victoria McNulty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was historically interesting. It definitely captures an era. The writing was very simple and informal.

[CASSANDRA · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for school.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting!