1936-1941 ...architect Gordon B. Kaufmann
designed additional space for the rapidly growing Downey plant. By 1940 the plant had doubled in size. As World War II approached, activity at the Vultee plant, in both production and personnel, continued to increase. To protect the plant from possible enemy detection, most of the buildings were camouflaged to appear like surrounding farmland and orange groves. An antiaircraft gun was also emplaced on the roof of Building 1 to support antiaircraft operations that occurred near Paramount and 3rd Streets. Crosswalks were also built across Lakewood Blvd. to assist thousands of workers as they crossed the busy street. During the early 1940's the Vultee Valiant Basic Trainer was produced for the Army Air Corps.
Vultee was the first major manufacturing plant to use powered assembly lines producing more planes in a shorter span of time than any other similar plant.

1936-1941 In numbers of planes, the Valiant Basic trainer represented the largest order ever placed by the Army Air Corps. By July 1941, Vultee's plant in Downey was producing 15 percent of all the military aircraft in the nation. The company received  enormous military contracts to construct these basic training planes for Army, Navy, and Marine pilots; many of Downey's men went off to war; and hundreds of women joined the Vultee workforce. Vultee was the first military aircraft manufacturer to employ women directly in production. Women received exactly the same pay for equivalent work as men. Vultee's particular masterpiece  is what executives  exultantly describe as the first and truly powered assembly line in the industry. It consists of an overhead oval track, located at the head of the final assembly, from which dangle twenty-five cradles fed with raw fuselage frames. Continued 

Quotes and paraphrase from "Final Historic Buildings and Structures Inventory and Evaluation- NASA industrial Plant Parcels 1 and 2)

To protect the plant from possible enemy detection, most of the buildings were camouflaged to appear like surrounding farmland and orange groves.