Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma — The American South (West South Central)

“Rosie the Riveter”

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 21, 2025

1. “Rosie the Riveter” Marker

Inscription. The image of “Rosie the Riveter” represented the vast number of female workers who filled jobs vacated by the men fighting in World War II. Their spirit of “We can do it” inspired not only their contemporaries on the home front but each subsequent generation of working women in all fields of employment.

More than ten thousand Oklahoma women worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company and Tinker Field during this crucial period in the nation's history.

Erected 2000 by Tinker Air Force Base Heritage Foundation.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • War, World II • Women. A significant historical year for this entry is 1942.

Location. 35° 26.011′ N, 97° 24.274′ W. Marker is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in Oklahoma County. It is in Tinker Air Force Base. It can be reached from the intersection of South Air Depot Boulevard and Interstate 40, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Oklahoma City OK 73145, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Central Oklahoma — Frontier Country.

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is also in the American South,

specifically on the prairies,

and on the Southern Plains.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: C-141 “Starlifter” (here, next to this marker); C-47 “Skytrain” (a few steps from this marker); Tinker Air Force Base 75th Anniversary Time Capsule (within shouting distance of this marker); Tinker AFB Historic Buildings (within shouting distance of this marker); EA-6B “Prowler” (within shouting distance of this marker); Douglas Aircraft Historic Buildings (within shouting distance of this marker); B-47 “Stratojet” (within shouting distance of this marker); Major Charles B. Hall & The Tuskegee Airmen (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Oklahoma City.

More about this marker. It is in Charles B. Hall Airpark at the entrance to Tinker Air Force Base. The airpark is open to the

“Rosie the Riveter” Monument image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 21, 2025

2. “Rosie the Riveter” Monument

public from dawn to dusk daily unless heightened security warrants closure.

Also see . . . Air Force History: The Rosies. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce – up from just 1 percent in pre-war years. Sadly, their pay was less, but their work was priceless. These women, recruited by the government’s “Rosie the Riveter” campaign, built the greatest air force the world had ever seen in an incredibly short period of time. (Howard E. Halvorsen, Air Force Sustainment Center Historian, March 17, 2017) (Submitted on August 13, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

Tinker Field’s “Rosies” image. Click for full size.

Source: Tinker Air Force Base History Office (Public Domain), 1943

3. Tinker Field’s “Rosies”

Tinker Field’s first all-female engine crew, 1943. By that year, women made up two-thirds of the U.S. aircraft industry workforce. Fourth from left, in the dark shirt, is Inez Willson — a member of “Tinker’s Rosies.”

Credits. This page was last revised on April 17, 2026. It was originally submitted on August 13, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 114 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 13, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.