When the United States was finally pulled into World War II, the city was already hard at work churning out warships on the banks of the Cape Fear River.

During the war, the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company would churned out 243 warships, employing more than 20,000 workers and turning the city into a wartime manufacturing hub. Up the road at Camp Davis, the WASPs (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) arrived in 1943 with game-changing mission that would change female aviation forever.

In this special episode timed with the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, we will revisit both of these stories and their enduring legacies, which capture the service and sacrifice of the Cape Fear region.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

– "The Wilmington Shipyard: Welding a Fleet for Victory in World War II," by Ralph Scott

– "A Sentimental Journey: Memories of a Wartime Boomtown," by Wilbur Jones Jr.

– "Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of WWII" exhibit, National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org

– Fort Fisher State Historic Site World War II research

– Wilmington Morning Star editions, 1941-1946