Women working in a proximity fuze plant (unknown site).
The former Ipswich Mills, now owned by EBSCO, was the site of one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Second World War. The proximity VT fuze (variable time fuse) resembled tubes found in radios, and made it possible to detonate antiaircraft shells in the proximity of their target, rather than on impact. Fearing that the secret of the invention might fall into enemy hands, the very existence of the proximity fuze was top-secret, second only to the Manhattan project (which developed the atomic bomb). For most of the war, the Pentagon even refused to allow use of the proximity fuze by the other Allied nations
Production of the miniature tubes was granted to Sylvania Electric Product, the only company capable of the required quality and quantity. Sylvania plants in Pennsylvania, Ipswich, and other areas were retooled to manufacture the devices. The job of producing the fuzes was primarily given to women, who assembled the delicate parts by hand by the hundreds, a tedious job that strained the eyes. The women were not told what they were working on, and the work was done under such secrecy that they were searched when they entered and left, and were not allowed to enter the plant with a purse. David Wallace reported that not even the Ipswich Police or Fire Department were permitted to enter the building.
In 1943, 36,000 of the fuses were fired, and were responsible for the destruction of 91 of 130 attacking Japanese planes, protecting ships and servicemen from Kamikaze pilots.
When German forces began systematically destroying London in 1944 with V-1 rockets, the technology was shared with Britain, and by the final day of Germany’s 80-day attack, only 4 Of 104 bombs succeeded in reaching their target. Germany turned the focus of its attack elsewhere, and in December 1944, launched a ground attack which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Allied forces responded by bombarding German ground forces with shells equipped with proximity fuzes, causing them to spray shrapnel as they exploded over the heads of the German troops. Gen. George Patton credited the proximity fuze with victory in Europe.
Some Ipswich people who worked on the proximity fuzes
- Phyllis B. (Garrette) Hills
- Jennie Catherine Kozeneski
- Audrey Martineau
- Victoria K. Scibisz
- Jean Sullivan
- Helen E. Thurber
- Wilbur E. Trask.
- Please use comment box to add more names to this list.
1944 Ipswich Town Report: Electrical Department
“There was generated nearly 8 million K. W. hours of electricity at the Power Plant during the year 1944, an increase of 21 per cent over the previous year. This was done with the same machinery and labor as we had in 1942 when the output of K. W. hours was 5 1/2 million and represents an increase in the three year period of 32 per cent. The Town was fortunate in having installed in 1941 a new generating unit without which we would not have been able to supply the demands for electric power called for by the Sylvania Plant and Robinson Shipyard.”
By 1945, hundreds of women across America had assembled over eight million proximity fuzes for the war effort. The Town of Ipswich, like communities across the country, held scrap metal drives, participated in rationing, and the nation grew 40% of its produce in victory gardens, working together to help assure Allied victory.
Sources:
- wikiwand.com/en/Proximity_fuze
- mecc.org/radio_proximity_fuzes.htm
- Bureau of Ordnance (15 May 1946), VT Fuzes For Projectiles and Spin-Stabilized Rockets, Ordnance Pamphlet, OP 1480, U. S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance
- James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles
Filed under: History
