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Rosie the Riveters Get to Ride in Plane They Built 65 Years Ago

Anne King was 19 and earning $12 a week in a Kresge's dime store when she was recruited in 1942 to learn how to make airplane parts from blueprints. At Republic Aviation on Long Island, she worked both as a mechanic and riveter on P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and other aircraft.

King and five other women who performed wartime factory work (almost always for less money than men working at the same tasks) will gather at what is now Republic Airport in Farmingdale on Friday and take rides in a B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24 Liberator"as a tribute to their war efforts,'' said Hope Kaplan, a spokeswoman for the American Airpower Museum on the grounds of the airport.

King, who lives in Patchogue and turns 85 on Saturday, said she was"not the least bit nervous'' about her first flight in a vintage bomber.
Read entire article at 1010 Wins