During WWII my father worked for Moore Dry Dock in Oakland, CA. He said the Company had a good system to keep production up to Navy standards. If a worker was taking too many brakes, or generally "goofing off" on the job, the crew foreman would report this substandard behavior to upper management, the local Selective Service Office, (AKA, Draft Board), was notified that the services of said employee were no longer required by Moore, and within a week, said employee was in the Army for the duration. He said it was a simple, and effective solution to bad workers.
Here in Britain we had Blackburn Aircraft. They were not lazy or corrupt. But only really managed one decent aircraft in around 50 years of operation. It’s name?..The Buccaneer.
I live a few miles from the former Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville. The old Brewster factory buildings were used by the NADC and were still standing until several years ago, when they were finally torn down. When the Navy signs were removed from the main building the old Brewster Aeronautical Corp. signs were found underneath. Brewster acquired the nickname of "The Bucks County Playhouse" during the war, from the popular musical theater in New Hope, PA.
I just posted that, because I hadn't seen your comment yet. The Brewster sign was pretty cool. But a longtime resident told me the same story that the video tells. Calling it the "Playhouse" is pretty funny.
So the workers were paid for doing no work and "hanging out" with girls in aircraft fuselages? Brewster sounds like a company I would be happy to work for!
In the flight game Sturmovick I beat the me 262 flying the Brewster Buffalo. When the 262 missed on it's first pass, they would try to slow down enough to get me. Then their engines flamed out and they drop out of the sky like a brick. Never counted as a kill, but...
The same thing worked in reality during WW2 with Piper Cubs and Me109’s - the Cubs cruise speed was slower than the Me109’s stall speed. Similarly the F-86 Sabre had a number of wins against the MiG-15 by simply diving towards the ground - the F-86 could recover at speeds that caused the MiG-15’s controls to jam - causing the MiG to run into the ground if they followed them. The same problem occurred in tight turns at low speed and altitude - the MiG stalled and spun (it needed at least 3000ft to recover from a stall and spin).
So they would go on strike because they was told to work. Sounds like the sort workforce at British Leyland. Once at Chrysler UK Linwood Plane in Scotland, they went on strike forv2 weeks cause the Pie Machine wasn't working.
I used to drive by the NADC often on my commute to work. The NADC got shut down a decade or so ago. In the conversion over to leased industrial space, the NADC sign over the main entrance door was removed - revealing the art-deco BREWSTER sign that had been hidden underneath. I asked a long-time resident who Brewster was. He didn't have all the details, but told the same story, that they'd been an aircraft manufacturer which failed spectacularly even during wartime, and been taken over by the government. Meanwhile, the GM factory in nearby Trenton NJ was cranking out bomber components en masse, and probably raking in huge profits. My mother-in-law worked there during that time.
There must be a serious dearth of footage from that factory that is cheap or free, I'm pretty sure they brought in all their engines from a third party
G'day Mr Darkness, could you do a clip about South Maitland Railways and history, please. 31 miles long and at one time served about 26 coal mines. Only a suggestion?
i thought that the brewster corsairs were seen as not a good aircraft....as they had many issues that the vought ones didnt....most brester corsairs were used only for training as they couldnt be trusted to fly combat. they had an issue of the wings falling off......and were speed limited because of the issue....
It was much worse then this. None of of the 400 Brewster built Corsairs were accepted into service because of 'Quality' issues. The Brewster company folded just a few months after the rejection. Is there a connection ???
The comments in this thread answers my question: "Why would the U.S. Navy cancel production of the fastest propeller driven airplane in the war, about 2 years before the end of the war?" The caveat is that they only cancelled the production of the Corsairs assembled by Brewster Aviation. The Corsairs made by Chance-Vought stayed in production for at least another ten years (1953), and served the U.S. Navy well in the next war (The Korean War). See the movie titled "Devotion".
The Buffalo was not a bad airplane when introduced. It's only real fault was that it was hopelessly outclassed by the time it was needed to actually fight. Aviation was changing so quickly that new aircraft were obsolete almost as soon as they were produced.
The Finns had a successful rate against the Soviets during their war between the two countries, but Stalin contributed to that by purging the Soviets best pilots in the Giant Purge just before the war.
Brewster management was terrible. They had no control methodsnor did they tr. The plant was taken over and they did quite well with proper management. The designs were not very good. Manufacturing was not taken into consideration. The parts were scrappedin mass. Management was to blame.
I wonder if they had their manufacturing act together the Buffalo and all the other planes would have worked out? The Buffalo at least was selected over a Grumman before the war so it must have been a decent design. Shame that a company that built high quality products for over 100 years and managed to transition to a very different product line couldn't have made a go of it. Unions working with Companies rather than against them is a concept our Occupation forces imposed on the Germans and partially accounts for their success today. Too bad we don't practice that ourselves.
Except that today, bringing girls to "hang out" in plane fuselages would either get you raked over the coals for a health and safety violation, or cancelled by HR...
@@minimalbstolerance8113 I wasn't really talking about the girls. I was thinking of the lazy people who show up for a paycheck but can't seem to handle doing what they're hired to do. But I agree with you.
How many of those "workers" thought they had it made in a defense industry that probably had at least some "draft protection", and then found out their laziness helped kibosh the company? Greetings...
During WWII my father worked for Moore Dry Dock in Oakland, CA. He said the Company had a good system to keep production up to Navy standards. If a worker was taking too many brakes, or generally "goofing off" on the job, the crew foreman would report this substandard behavior to upper management, the local Selective Service Office, (AKA, Draft Board), was notified that the services of said employee were no longer required by Moore, and within a week, said employee was in the Army for the duration. He said it was a simple, and effective solution to bad workers.
Great video Darkness. I had heard of Brewster's issues as a company but wasn't aware it was THAT bad. Wow.
Fun fact: The former Brewster factory at Queens Plaza in Long Island City, New York is now the headquarters of JetBlue.
Wow. Brewster's workers ethics are standard now in the US for most companies.
Here in Britain we had Blackburn Aircraft. They were not lazy or corrupt. But only really managed one decent aircraft in around 50 years of operation. It’s name?..The Buccaneer.
Blackburn tried. They really did. Brewster was barely more legal than a ponzi scheme, at the end of the day.
Still one of the very best ground attack aircraft ever. So talk about going out with a bang
I can't think of Blackburn without thinking of Squire's hatred of the Firebrand as it was modeled in War Thunder. Is that bad?
@@superjesse645 I love that tub in wt.
The Buccaneer had a great military history and was Very effective.
Brewster went out of business in the middle of the largest war in history...
That's kind of like bankrupting a casino. (ahem)
My shares in Gestapo were worthless after 1945.
I live a few miles from the former Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville. The old Brewster factory buildings were used by the NADC and were still standing until several years ago, when they were finally torn down. When the Navy signs were removed from the main building the old Brewster Aeronautical Corp. signs were found underneath. Brewster acquired the nickname of "The Bucks County Playhouse" during the war, from the popular musical theater in New Hope, PA.
I just posted that, because I hadn't seen your comment yet. The Brewster sign was pretty cool. But a longtime resident told me the same story that the video tells. Calling it the "Playhouse" is pretty funny.
So the workers were paid for doing no work and "hanging out" with girls in aircraft fuselages? Brewster sounds like a company I would be happy to work for!
You mean "happy to be employed by"
@@anthonyxuereb792 Touche
In the flight game Sturmovick I beat the me 262 flying the Brewster Buffalo. When the 262 missed on it's first pass, they would try to slow down enough to get me. Then their engines flamed out and they drop out of the sky like a brick. Never counted as a kill, but...
Thank you for your service. o7
The same thing worked in reality during WW2 with Piper Cubs and Me109’s - the Cubs cruise speed was slower than the Me109’s stall speed.
Similarly the F-86 Sabre had a number of wins against the MiG-15 by simply diving towards the ground - the F-86 could recover at speeds that caused the MiG-15’s controls to jam - causing the MiG to run into the ground if they followed them. The same problem occurred in tight turns at low speed and altitude - the MiG stalled and spun (it needed at least 3000ft to recover from a stall and spin).
@@allangibson8494 The North Koreans did that in the Korean War with slow prop jobs.
And the last time I played Monopoly, I became a multi-millionaire in a little over 2 hours.
I’ve played Sturmovik too and the buffalo is def not one of the high performing aircraft so good on you
So they would go on strike because they was told to work.
Sounds like the sort workforce at British Leyland. Once at Chrysler UK Linwood Plane in Scotland, they went on strike forv2 weeks cause the Pie Machine wasn't working.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Was it a Vending Machine that Sold pies, or a machine in the canteen that Made pies?
@@nikolausbautista8925 it was a vending machine that sold pies
To be fair to BL it was hardly an isolated issue, the winter of discontent didn't come about on its own
@@kenon6968 But they learned nothing from having killed so many companies and lost so many jobs for 30 years.
I used to drive by the NADC often on my commute to work. The NADC got shut down a decade or so ago. In the conversion over to leased industrial space, the NADC sign over the main entrance door was removed - revealing the art-deco BREWSTER sign that had been hidden underneath. I asked a long-time resident who Brewster was. He didn't have all the details, but told the same story, that they'd been an aircraft manufacturer which failed spectacularly even during wartime, and been taken over by the government.
Meanwhile, the GM factory in nearby Trenton NJ was cranking out bomber components en masse, and probably raking in huge profits. My mother-in-law worked there during that time.
So watching this it appears Brewster only made engines. Good information, poor video production
There must be a serious dearth of footage from that factory that is cheap or free, I'm pretty sure they brought in all their engines from a third party
Actually, the Bruster did VERY well in combat. Amazing.
G'day Mr Darkness, could you do a clip about South Maitland Railways and history, please. 31 miles long and at one time served about 26 coal mines. Only a suggestion?
Captain Kidd… what’s under your bukkin hat ?
Me Buccaneers.
04:54 Newark = NOO-erk
Did they import a bunch of British auto workers from the post war period?
i thought that the brewster corsairs were seen as not a good aircraft....as they had many issues that the vought ones didnt....most brester corsairs were used only for training as they couldnt be trusted to fly combat. they had an issue of the wings falling off......and were speed limited because of the issue....
It was much worse then this. None of of the 400 Brewster built Corsairs were accepted into service because of 'Quality' issues. The Brewster company folded just a few months after the rejection. Is there a connection ???
The comments in this thread answers my question: "Why would the U.S. Navy cancel production of the fastest propeller driven airplane in the war, about 2 years before the end of the war?"
The caveat is that they only cancelled the production of the Corsairs assembled by Brewster Aviation. The Corsairs made by Chance-Vought stayed in production for at least another ten years (1953), and served the U.S. Navy well in the next war (The Korean War). See the movie titled "Devotion".
Brewster, I'm ready to work!
Can you pls make a video about soo line railroad history pls🥺
Did Brewster make engines? There's a lot of film of engines.
No, aircraft engines built, least of all Wright R-3350 engines used in B-29 and other aircraft! This terrible video history!
No wonder why the Brewster Buffalo sucked
The Buffalo was not a bad airplane when introduced. It's only real fault was that it was hopelessly outclassed by the time it was needed to actually fight. Aviation was changing so quickly that new aircraft were obsolete almost as soon as they were produced.
@@douglaswickstrom6736kinda like the TBD Devastator
The Finns had a successful rate against the Soviets during their war between the two countries, but Stalin contributed to that by purging the Soviets best pilots in the Giant Purge just before the war.
Brewster management was terrible. They had no control methodsnor did they tr. The plant was taken over and they did quite well with proper management. The designs were not very good. Manufacturing was not taken into consideration. The parts were scrappedin mass. Management was to blame.
Has the attitude of the work force changed over the years?
So, Work didn’t know work?
Buffy's family 😊
Management means you manage people. This wasnt happening.
Narration is quite sloppy
@@robertbruce1887 At least he’s not AI. 😊
too joke-y, mildly annoying.
I.hsve a book by sparan Buffalo in actions talk about corapshon w componey planes were made w parts missing
For all their faults they built the best commie slayer in the game.
I wonder if they had their manufacturing act together the Buffalo and all the other planes would have worked out? The Buffalo at least was selected over a Grumman before the war so it must have been a decent design. Shame that a company that built high quality products for over 100 years and managed to transition to a very different product line couldn't have made a go of it. Unions working with Companies rather than against them is a concept our Occupation forces imposed on the Germans and partially accounts for their success today. Too bad we don't practice that ourselves.
A woke company.
Man, it looks like Brewster was stuck with the same quality of human garbage "workers" we have to deal with today.
Except that today, bringing girls to "hang out" in plane fuselages would either get you raked over the coals for a health and safety violation, or cancelled by HR...
@@minimalbstolerance8113 I wasn't really talking about the girls. I was thinking of the lazy people who show up for a paycheck but can't seem to handle doing what they're hired to do. But I agree with you.
Or on charges for sexual harassment and or being creepy 😂
How many of those "workers" thought they had it made in a defense industry that probably had at least some "draft protection", and then found out their laziness helped kibosh the company? Greetings...
@@B-and-O-Operator-Fairmont funny how actions have consequences, huh? Greetings to you.