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(Mae Krier) I built B-17s and B-29s. Now I was a riveter.  First you're a bucker, when you're signed in.  You're a bucker.  And then you become a riveter after

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you get, you know, good at what you're
doing. And we built at least, at Boeing

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plant alone, we built six thousand. Twelve
thousand all told at all the

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different plants. That's just the B-17.
And of course, well the B-29 came along and

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that was getting closer to the end the
war. They were having trouble with the

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B-29 I think.  It was fire in the engines. And of course we didn't build as many of

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those. But, I I like the B-17 so much
better. I like working on them. And it was

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funny because we were young and naive. I was 17 when I went there. And we used to

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crawl, as buckers we had to crawl in
the wing. You had weave between the

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ribs in the wing. Now you're a bucker 
in there and you can't hear what the

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riveter on the outside is doing. You sorta
have a rhythm. You know you're knock once

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for, you know, hit it again or twice if
you want to take it out. We just sort of

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had a method of our own. And if you got a
good riveter it wasn't bad at all.

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But I think it was noisy and I said, it
was good that we were young and

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naive because you couldn't be in there if
you're claustrophobic. But it was just a

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way of life at the time. I look back on
it now when I see a complete B-17, I

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just stare and think, "How did I ever get
in there?"