Other Kalamazoo Companies in World War Two:   Checker Car Company  Fuller Manufacturing Company   Gibson Guitar  Ingersoll Steel and Disk
Shakespeare Company During World War Two
1896-1970 Kalamazoo, MI
1970-Current Columbia, SC

The Shakespeare Products Division of the Shakespeare Company made automotive parts including carburetors and control cables.  After World War Two it was re-named the Flexible Controls Division and in 1981 became Spearflex.  It remained in Kalamazoo as a separate company until 1989 when it closed operations in Kalamazoo.

This page added 1-5-2022.

In the early morning of August 6, 1944, Colonel Paul Tibbets firmly pushed forward the four throttles on the Enola Gay.  The overloaded B-29 started to pick up speed as it headed down the runway on Tinian Island.  The throttles he now held all the way forward had been mounted in its pilot's stand assembly during its construction at the Shakespeare Products Division plant of the Shakespeare Company in Kalamazoo, MI.  The Enola Gay lifted off the end of the runway and disappeared into the darkness.  The Enola Gay, equipped with Shakespeare Products-built components in the aircraft, was on its way to its date with destiny.  Author's photo.

 
The pilot's throttle quadrant was part of the larger pilot's stand assembly.  Author's photo.

One of the biggest pieces of lost World War Two industrial history is that a company best-known for the manufacture of fishing rods and reels was a key supplier of flight deck components for the B-29 program and specifically the Enola Gay.  The Shakespeare Products Division of Shakespeare produced control and instrument stands for the Enola Gay.  These were just one type of the many products Shakespeare manufactured to help win World War Two that were totally unrelated to its line of fishing products and automotive components.

The Shakespeare Products pilot's stand assembly was a very complex piece of equipment and contained more than the throttle quadrant.

Four other similar Shakespeare Products-built assemblies were also in the Enola Gay.  These were for the co-pilot, bombardier, flight engineer, and the pilot's control pedestal.

This document shows the major suppliers that the Glenn L. Martin Company utilized for the B-29s it built in Omaha, NE.  This is the primary source document that ties Shakespeare to the B-29 Enola Gay.  The Enola Gay was one of 531 B-29s built at the plant.  All of the B-29s that were built during World War Two for the carrying of nuclear weapons were built at Omaha. 

The five products that Shakespeare Products built for the B-29s at Omaha are listed at the top of the third column from the left.  Chrysler was the company that built the nose section for the B-29s built at Omaha.  What is strange is that the five stand assemblies were not shipped to Chrysler for assembly into the nose section during its construction.  If this had been the case, it would be unknown that Shakespeare was the manufacturer of the B-29 stand assemblies. 

The Glenn L. Martin Company in Omaha, NE was not the only suppler of B-29s.  Bell, Boeing, and Lockheed also built another additional 3,439 B-29s.  It is unknown if Shakespeare Products also produced the stand assemblies of any or all of the these B-29s. 

The pilot's control pedestal was located in the walkway between the pilot and co-pilot.  This and the next view are from the front of the unit.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This and the next photo show the unit looking down from behind the pedestal.  Author's photo.

This was a very complicated piece of equipment that would have a considerable amount of wiring and soldering involved in its construction.  Author's photo.

This is the co-pilot's stand assembly.  Author's photo.

The flight engineer's station on the B-29 was the most complicated of the stands.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

The Shakespeare Company was formed in 1896 by William Shakespeare, Jr.  What an interesting name!  He was named after the most famous playwright in English history.

A brief chronological history of Shakespeare Company

• 1896 - William Shakespeare Jr. was granted a patent for the level winding reel.

• 1896 - William Shakespeare Jr. formed the William Shakespeare Company in Kalamazoo MI.  The new company occupied one floor of a four story warehouse on Water Street.

• 1905 - The company was incorporated.

• 1913 - The company  moved to 419 S. Pitcher Street, Kalamazoo.

• 1921 - William Shakespeare's first major diversification was into the automotive products industry. He formed a subsidiary named Shakespeare Products Company, later to become the company's Automotive Products Division.  This division of the company produced flexible control components used in internal combustion engines.  During World War Two these were used for the hand throttle cable assembly in the M5 Stuart tank.

• 1933 - William Shakespeare Jr. was elected Mayor of Kalamazoo.  He remained in politics until 1939.

• 1970 - The headquarters of The Shakespeare Company moved to Columbia, SC. although the Flexible Controls Division remained in Kalamazoo.  The current product line of Shakespeare Company, LLC in Columbia, SC is not at all similar to the fishing rods and reels it for which it was famous.  Today, the company makes polymers, lawn equipment, and marine and military electronics.  Columbia, SC re-named the road the factory is on to Shakespeare Road.  The factory is not far from where I did my basic training at Fort Jackson, SC.

• 1979 - The Shakespeare Company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of California-based Anthony Industries, Inc.

• 1981 - Speareflex bought the assets of Shakespeare’s cable operations and took over the Kalamazoo location.

• 1989 - Speareflex abandoned the Kalamazoo site.  Several older buildings on the north end of the property have been demolished, but the two buildings that face Kalamazoo Avenue have been redeveloped for other uses.

 Shakespeare and the Shakespeare Products Division won the Army-Navy "E" award three times during World War Two.
Both the parent company, Shakespeare, and its automotive parts division, Shakespeare Products Division, were considered to be one entity by the U.S. military in World War Two.

Shakespeare Company World War Two Products:  B-29 flight crew stand assemblies, PT-17, PT-22, BT-13, and T-6 throttle quadrant assemblies, Norden bomb sight components, Sperry .50 caliber automatic computing gun sight components, aircraft machine gun turret power take-off shafts and speed reducer shafts, M5 Stuart tank hand throttle cable assemblies, M2 Cletrac throttle cable/choke cable assemblies, and choke cable assemblies for the Clark Equipment Planeloader forklift trucks.

The company had one major contract for guns sight kits for the U.S. Navy totaling $810,000.

Ryan Aeronautical Corporation built 1,048 PT-22 trainers with Shakespeare throttle quadrant.  Author's photo.

A PT-22 throttle quadrant. 

The PT-17, BT-13, and AT-6 were the most used training aircraft used by both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Air Forces in World War Two.  Shakespeare Products built throttle quadrants for all three types of aircraft.

The PT-17 is the most famous of the American World War Two primary trainers.  Author's photo.

The BT-13.  Author's photo.

The AT-6.  Author's photo. 

A Shakespeare-built AT-6 throttle quadrant.

Cadillac, the Southern California Division of General Motors, and Massey-Harris built a total of  6,810 M5/M5A1 Stuart tanks.  Each on came equipped with a Shakespeare throttle hand control assembly part number PM1106.  Author's photo.

Cadillac built 1,778 M8 75mm gun carriages that also used Shakespeare part number PM1106.  Author's photo.

The M2 "Cletrac" was a high speed tractor that was designed and primarily built by Cleveland Tractor of Ohio.  John Deere was also built the M2 for a total of 8,610 units built.  The U.S. Army Air Force used them to move aircraft around at its bases all over the world.  Author's photo.

The Shakespeare Company of 417-427 North Pitcher Street in Kalamazoo, MI is listed as a supplier in the parts manual for the M2 high speed tractor.  The actual part or parts supplied by Shakespeare are not explicitly defined in the manual.  Most likely, the company supplied either a manual throttle or choke cable assembly or both.

Shakespeare supplied the manual choke controls for the Clark Planeloader Forklift truck built in nearby Battle Creek, MI.  This was its Model 1192-M-8 cable assembly.

The Ward LaFrance M1A1 had two Shakespeare Products components on it.  These were a hand control throttle part number SHA-8136256-T and distributor spark control part number SHA-8136256-P. Ward LaFrance built 4,925 M1 and M1A1 wreckers during World War Two.  Kenworth built another 840 M1A1s for a total of 5,765 total units built.  Author's photo.

The Norden M9 bombsight had over 2,000 parts in it, many of which were made by Shakespeare.  Author's photo. 


There were 52,083 M9 Norden bombsights produced by six different companies during World War Two.  Author's photo. 

Shakespeare made parts for the Sperry Type K-4 automatic computing gun sight that was used in the lower ball turrets of the B-17 and B-24.  Author's photo. 

Author's photo. 

Author's photo. 

Author's photo.

This is the B-17F Memphis Belle on May 17, 2018, 50 years to the date that she completed 25 combat missions over Europe.  This photo was taken several hours after the dedication of the Memphis Belle at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  Author's photo. 

 
The ball turret on the B-17 Memphis Belle was where the K-4 gun sight was located.  Author's photo. 

One source indicates that Shakespeare built the steel tube frames for the CG-4A gliders built by Gibson Refrigerator Company in nearby Greenville, MI.  The glider shown here is Gibson Refrigerator Company-built CG-4A serial number  45-27948.  It was one of 1,078 built by Gibson and is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  Author's photo.   

Shakespeare could have made fuselage sub-assemblies where they were welded together into complete units at the Gibson plant.  Shakespeare could have also made complete assemblies.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.


Author's photo.

The Shakespeare Plants:

Part of the Shakespeare plant on the north side of downtown Kalamazoo, MI still exists.  The five-story red brick building was one of several factory buildings that were in this location.  The tan stone building was the company headquarters and offices.  This view is looking northeast from Kalamazoo Avenue.  Author's photo.   

Currently, the former Shakespeare office building is a bar.  Author's photo.

Shakespeare's Pub opened for business in July 2003.Author's photo.

The name of the Shakespeare Company is still a part of the building.  Author's photo.

The next photos are looking at the west side of the former Shakespeare headquarters building.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This view is looking at the north side of the two remaining Shakespeare buildings.  Author's photo.

The street that borders the east side of the five story building is North Pitcher Street.  During World War Two, the address given in U.S. Army documents show the address of Shakespeare as being 417-427 Pitcher Street, which was this building.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This 1958 Sanborn map shows that Shakespeare took up a whole city block.