Workers produced Bofors anti-aircraft guns at the Special Ordnance Division plant, now part of Harley-Davidson's complex, during WWII.
Decades before market leader Harley-Davidson operated out of its Springettsbury plant, another top-of-category company occupied the complex.
First, it was York Safe & Lock and later Blaw-Knox Special Ordnance Division, and their prime product was Bofors guns. You know, Ack-Acks, the guns on ships that you see in World War II movies.
The 40-mm anti-aircraft guns represented the Navy's response to Japanese Kamikaze planes.
The double- and quad-mounted York County-made guns are credited with bringing down Kamakaze planes at a rate of 32 a minute in Pacific Theater fighting.
Some facts about Bofors, according to a Naval Ordnance Plant publication, February 1946: ...
