The arsenal years

1941 — 1945

The Second World War made South Bend an arsenal, and measured it: Studebaker stopped building cars in February 1942 and went wholly to war, and the history of the corporation's war work — a 1997 study built from the company's records — gives the totals that stand as the sourced series: 197,678 US6 trucks; 63,789 Wright Cyclone R-1820 aircraft engines, license-built for the B-17 Flying Fortress and assembled at the great Chippewa Avenue plant; and 15,124 M29 Weasel tracked cargo carriers of the company's own design. Other tallies in circulation run higher for the truck family; the study's figures are the ones this record prints. Most of the trucks went to the Soviet Red Army; others served on the Alaska Highway and the Burma Road. Bendix grew by more than 10,000 employees and 700,000 square feet during the war, making the brakes, carburetors, starters and aviation equipment of the same aircraft — in the Tribune's summary of the museum's account, Studebaker built the engines and Bendix made "all the parts to keep it in the air and land [it]." And the service ledger: over 5,600 Studebaker workers served in uniform, and 111 of them died.

The home front had a lighter monument, too. In 1943 South Bend fielded one of the four charter teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — the South Bend Blue Sox — and became one of only two clubs, with Rockford, to play all twelve of the league's seasons, 1943 through 1954, winning the playoff championships of 1951 and 1952 after the move to Playland Park in 1946. The league's national collection is kept today at The History Museum in South Bend — the city's memory holding the whole country's, in this as in the wagons.

Sources:

1. The Studebaker Corporation During World War II (1997; Texas State University digital library) — 197,678 US6 trucks, 63,789 Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines, 15,124 Weasels, and the February 1942 end of civilian car production.
2. South Bend Tribune — Bendix's wartime growth of over 10,000 employees and 700,000 square feet; over 5,600 Studebaker workers in uniform and 111 dead; the US6 trucks' service with the Red Army, on the Alaska Highway and the Burma Road.
3. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, official season records — the Blue Sox as a 1943 charter team, one of two to play all twelve seasons, and playoff champions of 1951 and 1952.
4. The History Museum, South Bend — the league's national collection held in the city.