AirCorps Aviation is restoring a P-47 Thunderbolt, a World War II-era plane. Inside one of the wings, they found the grease-pencil signatures of “Eva & Edith.” No one knows who these specific women are; now historians are scrambling to see if they can find out.
The plane’s specific model is P-47 D-23R. This particular plane was built in 1944 at the Evansville, Indiana plant of Republic Aviation. There were thousands of women who worked at the plant.
Kenneth Grant is a military historian. He says we often talk about the pilots and their missions and we ignore the people at home.
There were over 6,000 Thunderbolts made in Evansville during the war. It was often known as T-Bolt or Jug, which was short for Juggernaut.
According to AirCorps, it was common practice to write on the insides of planes as a matter of convenience or to save something for posterity, CNN reported.
AirCorps would like to hear from anyone with information on Eva and Edith.