Mounted on a wood storage crib at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 19,1918. As the sign indicates, the "Spanish Influenza" was then extremely active in Philadelphia, with many victims in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the Naval Aircraft Factory. Note the sign's emphasis on the epidemic's damage to the war effort. The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic. It was an unusually deadly and severe pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin. Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients.