John H. Wohlers

Foil: 13 Panel: 2 Column: 3 Line: 97

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

John H. Wohlers (1891-1958) was a mechanic who worked in the aerospace industry during
World War II. John grew up on a farm near Rock Falls, IA. He was in awe of inventors at
the Hart/Parr tractor manufacturing company in nearby Charles City, IA who manufactured
one of the first tractors powered by an internal combustion engine in 1902. In 1910 at the
age of 19, John built his own tractor using an internal combustion engine and old spare parts
from around the farm. He proudly sat for a picture on his tractor and had them made into
postcards. Mr. Wohlers received a diploma from Dyke's School of Motoring in 1912 and
repaired Model A's, Model T's and the emerging array of cars in Iowa and later in Pasadena,
CA, where he owned his own business. Soon after the start of World War II, Mr. Wohlers
went to work at Vultee Aircraft Company, later Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation
(Convair), in Downey, CA. At Vultee Field, training airplanes (11,537 Vultee BT-13A „
Valiants) were produced for the Army, Navy, and Marine pilots. In addition, at Vultee
Field, Convair helped turn out the largest delivery of heavy bombers (B-24 Liberators)
produced in the country. With his mechanical skills, Mr. Wohlers was placed on the
graveyard shift repairing riveting machines. These machines were not heavy enough for the demanding workload imposed by the war effort. Many evenings he would go to work and
find that all of the riveting machines had broken down during shifts one and two. Women operated many of the riveting machines since Vultee was the first military aircraft manufacturer to employ women directly in production. Therefore, John literally was required to fix what "Rosie the Riveter" broke.