Today in History: D-Day

The Allied Forces invaded the beaches of Nazi-controlled Normandy, France exactly 67 years ago on June 6, 1944. It marked the beginning of the end of World War II.

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Some fun facts about the San Fernando Valley during WWII:

The San Fernando Valley was greatly impacted by the war, in particular because it was one of the main hubs of the American aviation industry. The Lockheed Vega Factory was located in Burbank, as was United Airport (today called Bob Hope Airport), which was at the time the largest airport in Los Angeles.

The Lockheed plant, which employed up to 98,000 people at a time during the war and produced planes for the allied effort, had an enormous impact on the population of the East Valley. Due to all the workers needing housing, the population of Burbank grew from 34, 3337 in 1940 to 78,577 in 1950.

During the war the entire Lockheed facility was camouflaged to hide it from a possible Japanese air attack. All the major film studios, including Warner Bros., Disney and Universal, put their special effects people to work so the factory could be disguised to look like a regular suburban community from the sky using canvas and rubber.

During World War II, a prisoner of war camp for German, Italian and Japanese POWs was located in Griffith Park where the Traveltown Museum is today.

During the war Metropolitan Field in Van Nuys was renamed Van Nuys Army Airfield and a national guard unit was stationed there. After the war, it was renamed Van Nuys Airport and converted back to civilian use.