Editing Downey, California (section)

====Aerospace====
[[Vultee Aircraft]] was Downey's largest employer during World War II producing 15% of all of America's military aircraft by 1941.<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' p. 107, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref> The company was a pioneer in the use of women in manufacturing positions and was the first aircraft company to build airplanes on a powered assembly line.<ref name="Parker, Dana T. p. 107-20"/> Vultee became a part of [[North American Aviation]] (later [[North American Rockwell]], then [[Rockwell International]] which was then bought by the [[Boeing]] company) whose facilities were the birthplace of the systems for the [[Apollo program|Apollo Space Program]] as well as the [[Space Shuttle]]. For over 70 years, Downey's Rockwell [[NASA]] plant produced and tested many of the 20th century's greatest aviation, missile, and space endeavors.

The seventy-year history of airplane and space vehicle manufacturing in Downey came to an end when the Rockwell plant closed in 1999. The plant was demolished and replaced by the [[Space Shuttle Columbia#Tributes and memorials|Columbia Memorial Space Center]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbiaspacescience.org|title=Columbia Memorial Space Center -|access-date=April 22, 2016}}</ref> Downey Landing shopping center, [[Promenade at Downey]] shopping center (the former [[movie studio]] site of [[Downey Studios]]), a [[Kaiser Permanente]] hospital, and a city recreation fields park.