De Land pool. Babcock airplane plant. Interior of the Babcock plant at De Land, Florida. When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, this was a dormant airplane plant. It was revived as a community project. Businessmen of De Land pooled their machines and resources, used this plant as a prime contractor to obtain war work, and now are producing over two-million dollars worth of war equipment in it. These motor repair racks, being turned out on a production schedule engineers termed "impossible" two months ago, are being built by former clerks, auto-mechanics and small shop operators who were caught by the impact of the war on their peacetime businesses