The DC-3 Aviation Museum
Proudly presents:
"ROSIE THE RIVETER"
(Wilma) Claire McIver Svec
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Click on Images to enlarge
July 2002
My brother, 0. S. Mclver, was
killed in a B-17 crash
over France on February 6, 1944. He was just 20 years old.
0. S. was a Gunner and was on his 6th Mission to bomb Germany.
I wanted to serve my country and foremost in my mind was wanting to see WWII
end.
My uncle, Jeff Dobbs, had left his
farm in southeastern Oklahoma to aid in the War effort at Douglas Aircraft.
Uncle Jeff worked at Douglas installing the electrical wiring in the C-47s--the
“final assembly.”
Jeff Dobbs invented a device to enable the electrical wires
to be threaded throughout the aircraft more efficiently;
and was given a commendation by Douglas Aircraft Company.
The small device that helped the
Douglas
electrical wiring employees turn out a C-47 every hour
and has since become the tiny device people all over the world
use to thread their sewing needles!
When Uncle Jeff had to return to his farm in 1944,
I decided to go to Oklahoma City with my aunt, Minta
Mclver Dobbs,
where we could live together and apply for work at Douglas Aircraft.
I subsequently started to work at Douglas’ plant in February 1944.
One of our family’s big laughs still comes from thinking of Aunt Minta’s
job at Douglas.
Minta Mclver Dobbs was a fine artist who painted in oils!
Her paintings had been widely sold over Texas;
and were even shown in a couple of museums.
However, she left her landscape painting behind
to go to Douglas Aircraft and give her effort to ending WW II.
Aunt Minta worked as a painter in the Parts Manufacturing Department
where the large parts and sheet metal pieces, once assembled and painted,
would become the doors, body, nose, and wheels of the airplanes.
I guess she listed her work experience as
“painter!”
The company was just beginning it’s Production Control Department (inventory
accounting),
whereby, each and every part that would be on the C-47 airplane was to be counted
by hand!
That enormous job was done by “assemblies,” which all came together
to become the aircraft.
At my first interview, I was told about the new Production Control Department
and the opportunities it made available.
Those of us considered to have the appropriate work experience and education
were sent to:
Advanced Production
Control
a course consisting of thirty-six class hours of instruction
conducted by the Engineering. Science and Management War Training Department
of the University of Oklahoma
I completed the course on November 29, 1944.
Production Control was my first and only job with Douglas Aircraft,
except for the short while we were in the "Secret" Chicago plant--but
that came a few months later.
Our work started with the beginning of the “creation” of an aircraft.
Our job was to “hand count” each and every part, no matter how tiny
or how big,
that combined to make an “assembly.”
The parts were kept in long rows of bins, with one set of bins for each assembly.
We then accounted for each and every assembly that combined to make up the ready-to-fly
C-47.
My work was very interesting as I could daily see how the planes were coming
together.
As I was all over the plant, It wasn’t boring as many jobs were.
Our usual attire was slacks, blouse, sweaters,
and steele-toed shoes!
By Easter of 1944 in Oklahoma City,
we Douglas folks were working seven-day weeks.
During the War years, employees did not celebrate
birthdays or other personal events while at work.
We were there for one reason only-
-to get the War over!
In December 1944, we learned that the newer "Secret" Chicago
plant
wanted to learn the Oklahoma City plant methods.
My supervisor asked nine or ten of us
girls and four men supervisors
if we would go to the Chicago plant and help them set up the Inventory Plan
we had developed in the Oklahoma plant.
I was thrilled at the idea. From time to time while in Oklahoma City,
I would go home to Tishomingo to visit my parents and siblings.
My parents asked if I would be able to live so far away,
where I could not go home for three months or more! I said,
“Absolutely!”
We didn’t have much time to make plans,
as we were to fly to Chicago in a few days in one of the Company’s DC-3s.
The day we were to fly to Tulsa and then on to Chicago,
there was a big snow storm in the area, so the bosses finally decided
we would take the train to Tulsa and fly from there, if the weather permitted.
Upon our arrival, we were treated to dinner and a movie and stayed the night
in Tulsa.
The next day we had to take the train to Chicago, arriving about midnight.
It was a very long day!
A company car took us to the Palmer House Hotel in the Chicago Loop,
where Douglas kept corporate rooms reserved.
The "Secret" Douglas (Chicago) plant was northwest of the Chicago
Loop,
in or near Des Plaines, and near the Chicago airport--now, O’Hare Airport.
The plant consisted of one huge two-story building,
with adjacent hangers for big planes, and a long runway.
The DC-3s flew in and out daily, transporting executives to and fro...
Somehow, I remember that all the executives seemed to go shopping!
No manufacturing was done at the Chicago
plant,
to my knowledge.
Everything was top secret,
but a large plane, the C-54, was assembled there.
We stayed for several nights in the Palmer House Hotel.
The Company then rented us very nice apartments in the Bryn Mahr Apartment Hotel
west of downtown on Lakeshore Drive, near Lake Michigan.
There were four girls in each apartment,
some I knew and some I had never met, so we all made new friends.
The Chicago plant sent a bus to transport us to and from the plant each day.
The apartments were near Wrigley Field and our bus either passed through
or near Des Plaines to get to the Plant.
I had only worked in the Chicago plant a few days when our supervisor
chose me to work in his office as the receptionist and typist.
While I had enjoyed my work in Oklahoma City very much,
I liked working in the Chicago office even more,
since I was able to meet many interesting people,
including politicians and visiting foreigners,
as well as experience all the exciting things to do in the city.
I especially remember the Russian
officers
and their extreme military bearing,
although I had no personal contact with them.
There were military officers in both the Oklahoma City
and Chicago plants, as Douglas
was also building airplanes for Russia.
The elevated train, called the “El,” was close by our apartments
and could take us
either downtown or to Milwaukee, which we enjoyed.
There were shops and restaurants nearby, so we found the apartments very convenient.
When we got a day off, we visited museums, shopped, and, of course, had time
to go to movies!
A favorite memory is of the fun we had on a train trip to Milwaukee
and the sights we saw there.
I dated one of the young men who worked at the Chicago plant
and he took me to many Chicago restaurants, to nightclubs and sightseeing
at many interesting places, including my first hockey game!
Christmas of 1944 in Chicago was cold and sunny, with snow on the ground.
Surrounded by good friends and co-workers from Oklahoma,
we girls decorated one of the apartments and prepared an old- fashioned Christmas
dinner
for ourselves and our young friends from the Chicago plant.
On New Year’s Eve of 1945, some of us went to the Aragon Ballroom
and I drank my first Champagne Cocktail
.
We danced the night away,
then had breakfast before going home to bed.
Quite a contrast from New Year’s Eve
in Tishomingo, OK!
We were in Chicago from about the middle of December 1944 until March
23, 1945.
During the three and one-half months at the Chicago plant we mostly worked seven-day
weeks.
My closest friends while in Chicago were
Helen
Mckee, Wanda Dawson (Burton),
and Aria Faye Jones.
Sadly, I have lost track of them.
Too many years have passed to remember each and every friend,
but I had many good friends and good times at Douglas--57 years ago!
We kept in touch for years; and
I still have fond memories
of good relationships and good times
and our desire to get WWII over
... so our boys could come home.
When the time came to return to Oklahoma City,
the excitement of flying home in a DC-3 softened my regret at leaving Chicago.
That was my first airplane ride and I thought the DC-3 was marvelous.
I loved the trip and the adventure; and that experience was one of the best
of my life.
I wouldn’t change a thing about my Douglas
career.
I found the work interesting and enjoyable;
and I loved the opportunity to work at the Chicago plant.
While I worked 8-hour days, 7 days a week,
the pay was equitable for a young woman.
Born in Odessa, Texas on March 26, 1922, I was 21 years old
when I took the job with Douglas Aircraft.
I left Douglas when I was 23 and one-half years old.
I worked for Douglas until September 7th or 8th, 1945.
I liked my work with Douglas better than any of my previous jobs.
I can’t remember my “exit rating;”
however, I was asked by management to return to work at the Tulsa plant in 1946,
so I guess the rating was good.
By that time, I was married and living in Flushing, New York, thus declined
the offer.
The most miraculous experiences I have ever had was meeting my New York City
husband-to-be,
while working for Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City-
-then getting him to move back to Oklahoma from Flushing, New York,
after six and one-half years of marriage and three children!
My husband, Louis Svec,
was in 34 Photo Recon Sqd.
9th Air Force.
He went to England in March 1944; and then served in France and Germany.
Louis came home in November 1945;
and we were married in New York in December 1945.
He died of a stroke on February 22, 2002, in Oklahoma City.
Louis was the love of my life;
and to me he filled every description on the list.
I have seen four wars in my lifetime:
World War II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, and the Gulf War.
Now it seems I may see another in Iraq.
I know today, as I knew at age 21, that wars are inevitable
and that we must strive to serve our country and see them through.
My mother, Margaret Eidredge and Aunt Minta Mclver
Dobbs
were the people who had the greatest impact on how I have lived my life.
I believe the biggest problem that faces
our nation today
is moral decay--dishonesty, greed, fiscal irresponsibility, and desire for power.
I continue to believe that the mothers have the greatest good
and have had the most terrible lack
in shaping the character of the children of today.
Yet, it seems we are in the second, if not third, generation of mothers (and
fathers)
who were not taught and are not teaching the traditional values and moral integrity.
The world starts with the mother and the child--God help us all.
The advice I give young women today is to find work that you enjoy
and then enjoy your personal life to the fullest extent.
Like most young girls of pre-WWII, I wanted to be a teacher, a wife and a mother
when I grew up.
I believe I have accomplished all those goals,
with the Douglas experience and my wonderful husband and children.
I have enjoyed sharing my memories of Douglas Aircraft and the “secret”
Chicago plant.
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
Personal Data:
Five feet tall; green eyes; dark auburn red hair
Lived in various Texas towns as a child, including Odessa, Wichita Falls, and
Abilene,
and as a teenager, in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
I lived in Flushing, New York, for several years,
then moved back to Oklahoma with my husband and children to be near my family.
I love Oklahoma and have lived for many years in Shawnee,
Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City.
I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
I don’t consider myself creative, but I do have a great sense of humor!
My hobby is reading.
The most amazing things in my life are
that I have lived so many places, traveled so much in the United States,
and lived to be 80!
Some of my favorite places are:
Seattle, the Hood Canal, and the pine forests of Washington State.
I also liked skiing in Colorado.
Favorites:
Big Band music
Older Music - 1940’s and 1950’s
Glenn Miller - Dance Band
My husband, Louis Svec, was my favorite author and poet.
The Holy Bible is my favorite book
Season - Spring or Fall
Holiday - Thanksgiving
Sport - walking and hiking
Meal - breakfast
Drink - milk
Ice Cream - sherbet
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