[MrFixr55]

Hi Pholks,

The 1942 model year for Philco actually started in 1941 when rubber wire was still available. (BTW, the rubber wire pictured in your radio is better than most. However, it should be replaced or covered with heat shrink tubing. The war started (for the US) on 12/07/1941, so it is likely that many of these sets were produced before the war started. Sometime in 1942, almost all civilian product production stopped because everyone from the Auto Industry (GM, Ford, Chrysler, Willys, Packard, etc.) Electronics Industry (RCA, GE, Westinghouse, Philco, Crosley, etc.) to rubber (Goodyear, etc.) to food, and so many other industries shifted to wartime production of products that they may never have produced, required for the War effort. For example, Crosley (and believe Philco) built proximity fuses. Ford built the B-24 "Liberator" Bombers, long after they stopped their dabbling in airplanes (The Stout Tri-Motor was bought by Ford in 1925 but Ford's interest ended in 1934) Chrysler built the Sherman tank as well as some of the trucks, GM built trucks and staff cars,
Willys and Ford built Jeeps, etc.

NCR (National Cash Register) played a very important part in building some of the earliest computers (almost fully electromechanical) used to crack many of the Japanese and German codes, which contributed greatly to the US winning WWII. Henry J. Kaiser, a construction Magnate (the Hoover and Grand Colee Dams), who never built a ship in his life, built the "Liberty" and "Victory" ships using mass production (welding, subassembly) construction.