City of Goodyear
Statistics & Facts
The population of Goodyear is approximately 6,258 (1990).
The approximate number of families is 1,607 (1990).
Location
Goodyear location: On I-10 about 15 miles west of Phoenix, near Litchfield Park
History
Goodyear history: The town of Goodyear was born as a result of the formation of the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation (GAC) which came into existence in December 1939 as an offshoot of the earlier Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation which built lighter-than-air craft. The technology in light metal alloys developed for use in the airships Akron and Macon was responsible for the first military contracts awarded to GAC. The Glenn L. Martin Company, which produced the B-26 Maurader bomber, asked Goodyear to design and build the ailerons and flaps for the B-26. The U.S. economy accelerated under orders for war commodities in Europe and Goodyear expanded production to keep pace. GAC's successful work as an airframe builder was noticed by several major aircraft manufacturers and thus received early contracts to work on the Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bomber, the Curtiss-WrightP-40 Warhawk fighter, Navy patrol blimps and training blimps. Other contracts that followed included providing bags for smokeless powder used in large guns, building various control surfaces for the Martin PBM-3DMariner flying boat, components of the PB2Y-3R Coronado long-range flying boat, and later the complete production of over 4,000 Navy FG-1Corsair fighters within a two year period. In the summer of 1941, the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation began construction on a large aircraft component factory at a site about 4 miles south of Litchfield Park in what is now the town of Goodyear. Production began in the finished plant in February 1942 with 500 workers on the payroll. Through the war years, payroll grew rapidly and by early 1945 the facility had 7,500 workers. The Goodyear plant was financed by the government and leased back to GAC. Later in the war years GAC would supply a myriad of components for war planes including the B-29 Super fortress , the B-24 Liberator bomber, the P-61 Black Widow fighter, and various land machines and equipment including hundreds of millions of tires for aircraft and land vehicles, life rafts, rubber pontoons for bridges, and 132 Navy lighter-than-airships for coastal defense. The GAC plant at Goodyear, AZ continued to operate well into the post-war years building blimps and eventually producing components for an array of military missiles. The large airstrip and a number of the production buildings remain today. (History by Bill Jones)
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