So if any WW2 guys are still around with good stories, or even into the 50's 60's and 70's
Well, WWII guys are getting few and far between these days, but I had one for an Engines instructor when I went to A&P school in the 70s.
He was trained at Packard on Merlins and was sent to 8th AF along with the first P-51s. All went well until a supply SNAFU caused his outfit to be sent replacement engines of Rolls Royce manufacture. They had inherited maintenance responsibility for a few stray American owned reconnaissance Spits, and somebody up the supply chain got the idea they were a Spitfire outfit. When they protested they needed Packards, they were told to "make do". Apparently the RR version was not a "drop in replacement" for the Mustang, so they had to field engineer a modification, which resulted in a visit to a nearby RR plant.
Having been trained at Packard and seen the rows of identical modern semi-automated machine tools and efficiently organized production controls and QC and QA systems, he was astounded to see little cubicles with craftsmen making each part start to finish using a variety of aged tools and machines, and doing all their own dimensional checking with micrometers and dial gages. Not a "go-no go" plug gauge to be seen anywhere, and no QA inspectors in sight. When asked about QA, the workers were offended by the idea their workmanship needed to be checked by anyone.
Our instructor said: "Did you ever wonder why the booming British aircraft industry withered on the vine after the war? I never did!"
After D-Day, a lot of the fighters were sent to strips in France, and some re-organizing took place and he got sent to a B-17 facility, then a B-24 outfit, and finished the war working on radials. He thought the P-47s R2800 was the "slickest thing since sliced bread".
Cheers,
Wes