Tim Trainor

The 1936 GM Sit-Down Strike Changed Labor History

October 7, 2020

On July 1, 1930, 200 metal trimmers and polishers at GM’s Fisher Body No.1 (Fisher One) in Flint, MI, laid down their tools and stormed off the job, hollering for others to follow.

Remembering the Assembly--and Repair--of the Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope launched a new age of astronomy, but assembly snafus nearly created a techno turkey

Tim Trainor

January 13, 2020

Science writer John Wilford once observed that his articles had to focus on one of these story lines to earn their way into print: "big bang, big bucks, big screwup, or big comeback - and with the Hubble Space Telescope you've got them all." He was right. Since launching into orbit almost 30 years ago, Hubble has gone from the humiliation of "techno turkey" to high-risk recovery to recognition as one of history's most prolific scientific explorers.

America’s Most Destructive Industrial Fire

When an inferno destroyed General Motors’ transmission factory in Livonia, MI, it plunged the automaker into a monumental crisis.

Tim Trainor

May 8, 2019

When General Motors opened the Detroit Transmission plant in Livonia, MI, in 1949, the 1.5-million-square-foot facility sym-bolized the resounding success of the most popular component in American automobiles—the Hydra-Matic Drive transmis-sion.

How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II

The Willow Run bomber plant made aviation, industrial and social history—along with new B-24s by the hour.

Tim Trainor

January 3, 2019

President Roosevelt stunned millions of listeners when he announced during a May 26, 1940, fireside chat that government must "harness the efficient machinery of America's manufacturers" to produce 50,000 combat aircraft over the next 12 months to confront the "approaching storm" of global war.