Where was most of the US industrial capacity during World War 2?

They can't be. Most of the "industrial conversion" was actually either vacant (and sometimes derelict) factory buildings or new buildings with new machinery. With regards to tanks, while it was believed that existing "heavy industry" (mainly locomotive and rail car manufacturers) could easily build tanks, the truth is the purpose-built arsenals were far superior. One problem with locomotive manufacturers was that they tended to build limited numbers of highly specialized and complex machinery. To do so, "craft" workmen built them up at stationary locations rather than on assembly lines. The Medium Tank M3 is illustrative. While ALCO completed the first one on 19 April, the transmission and final drives (which were built by Mack as a subcontractor) then was stripped out of it and shipped to Baldwin for its "first" completed pilot on 24 April, which is also when Chrysler held its "Presentation Day" rolling out its two pilots, complete with final drives built by a Chrysler subsidiary instead of Mack. Chrysler then turned to plant completion, so did not turn out its first production tank until July, while ALCO built 8 and Baldwin 2 in June. Thereafter though, Chrysler far outstripped all others. ALCO averaged 25.67 completed per month through its run with a peak month of 83, Baldwin 29.5 (peak 78), Pressed Steel 41.67 (peak 76), Pullman 41.75 (peak 71), and Chrysler 231.64 (peak 424).

The same pattern was seen in the Medium Tank M4. Chrysler built 36.46% of all Medium Tank M4, Fisher Grand Blanc 22.98%.

 

To clarify, Lima's "tank arsenal" was a 200,000 square foot facility built adjacent to the existing locomotive shops. The later Lima Army Tank Plant was a different facility in Lima, Ohio originally built to cast gun tubes and then converted to use as a tank depot operated by GM, preparing tanks for overseas shipment. The Lima Locomotive plant was turned over to the company by the War Department at the end of the war, while the Lima Tank Depot was retained as a War Department GOCO facility postwar.

 

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment. As for the goofs, I think the authority I consulted was confusing the locations of company headquarters or original pre-war plants with the wartime tank plants.

 

procter and gamble found out that dumping propellant powder into a shell casing wasn't much different from dumping pre-measured amounts of laundry soap powder into boxes.