They presented the plan to Consolidated President Reuben Fleet and George Mead, procurement director for the Advisory Council for National Defense, who countered with an offer to produce a thousand sets of wings. Baseball games at the on-site recreation field took away some of the strain during off-duty hours. Completed planes flew off to field modification centers for fixes, upgrades and customizing. The option to Walbridge has since lapsed and the property remains available for purchase and redevelopment. The center includes a proving ground where smart cars react instantly to all manner of potentially dangerous and problematic situations. One pundit referred to it as a sprawling mass of industrial ambition. Folklore has it that Henry Ford decreed that the eastern perimeter of the windowless, L-shaped edifice not spill over into Wayne County, home to Detroit and all those rascally Democrats and union organizers. For webinar sponsorship information, visit www.bnpevents.com/webinars or email webinars@bnpmedia.com. The Air Force dictated more performance and safety upgrades for B-24s than any other American warplane. Production steadily increased, reaching the magical plane-per-hour pinnacle in mid-1944 while accounting for half of all B-24s assembled that year. Willow Run Assembly operated from 1959 to 1992 on a parcel to the south of the airport. The story of Willow run and the production miracle that produced as many as 25 B-24 bombers every day. Their shopping list included 12,000 of these aerial battleships to attack Germanys heartland, hammering military installations, bridges, factories, rail yards, fuel storage tanks and communications centers. Easements were acquired from landowners across the county line in Ypsilanti Township where the Liberator plant (and eventually the airport terminal) would be built. All true, but he didnt mention the hard steel dies he authorized, the same types used to slam auto parts into shape, damaged and defaced the softer aluminum, a metal comprising 85 percent of B-24 content. The B-24 and the Willow Run Bomber Plant | Flickr The plant was the embodiment of America's "Arsenal of Democracy" -- the enormous manufacturing capacity so vital to the Allies' victory. With global headquarters located in the Neihu Science Park in Taipei City, LITEON Technology looks toward sustainable and profitable growth as it expanses business in the high-tech industry. It's hard to imagine a factory that large churning out a complete heavy bomber every 55 minutes, but these workers accomplished exactly that. It appears that Camp Willow Run shut down after the 1941 season with the coming of the bomber plant, many of the boys went to work at the Willow Run village industry plant, and others moved on to the apprentice and trade school. Sixty-seven feet long, the B-24 had 450,000 parts and 360,000 rivets in Over the course of the war, the hospital handled more than two million medical cases. Willow Run - B-24 Brief history | Chevy Tri Five Forum The President and First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, visited Willow Run on September 18, 1942, where they joined Henry Ford, Edsel Ford and Charles Sorensen on a tour of the complex. Public bus lines offered 35 daily trips from Detroit, while private carriers offered 130. History of Willow Run Bomber Plant : CSPAN3 - Archive The plant held the distinction of being the world's largest enclosed "room." The plant at Willow Run was also beset with labor difficulties, high absentee rates, and rapid employee turnover. [3][41], The B-24H was the first variant produced by Ford at Willow Run in large numbers that went into combat. . Now signifying "the arsenal of democracy", at the outset Ford's Willow Run Bomber Plant was nearly a failure. By 4 a.m. he had configured floor space and time requirements for sequential assembly of the planes principal sections, each fabricated in choreographed progression through separate, self-contained cells. Production. Willow Run bomber plant. Inspection of more than a thousand The plant produced both Kaiser and Frazer models, including the compact Henry J, which with minor differences was also sold through Sears-Roebuck as the Allstate. Paper (Fiber product) Ford officials looked for every efficiency they could find in B-24 production. Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. The Willow Run Expressway also connected with the Detroit Industrial Expressway, built at the same time. The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. Willow Run's problems came under a microscope in April 1942 and again in February 1943, when Senator Harry S. Truman visited the plant. The bombings curbed Germany's manufacturing capabilities and wore down its citizens' morale. By Tim Trainor. Four engines powered the aircraft, and together its two bomb bays could carry up to 8,000 pounds of explosives. This covered 90 parcels of land[20] totaling 2,641 acres (1,069ha). It was an attempt to reverse the trend toward ever-increasing weight of the Liberator as more and more armament, equipment, and armor had been added, with no corresponding increase in engine power. Gift of Ford Motor Company. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member Its goal was to apply auto-making mass-production principles to . The team developed the B-24's build sequence from these divisions. The B-17 had a six-year history of design, development, testing and limited production. RACER Trust has been supportive of the campaign, even reconfiguring engineering and demolition plans to save cost for the museum. Along with the B-17, the B-24 formed the backbone of the Allies' air war over Europe. Inspection of more than a thousand separate tubing pieces composing the fuel, hydraulic, de-icing and other systems in a bomber is a highly important job. Their work guided custom designs of 1,600 machine tools and 11,000 fixtures, some 60 feet tall, that would stamp, mill, drill, broach and grind parts to thousandths-of-an-inch tolerances, each with repeatable precision. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. For the next six months, Sorensen shuttled 70-man teams of engineers and draftsmen back and forth on 2,300-mile trips from Ford headquarters to the Consolidated works in San Diego to immerse themselves in B-24 design, engineering, parts and components. It was an historic but ephemeral achievement. * Carr, Lowell J., and Stermer, James Edison. Unlike menacing B-24 Liberators that took off from the same spot, these silent vehicles are on a mission to save lives and prevent destruction. [48] On October 26, 2013, RACER Trust and the Yankee Air Museum again reached a third, and final, deadline extension agreement that gave Yankee until May 1, 2014, to raise the $8 million estimated as necessary to secure, enclose and preserve a portion of the original Willow Run plant for the Yankee Air Museum. Henry Ford's bomber plant being torn down - USA Today Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. The Yankee Air Museum acquired a portion of the plant, for preservation and exhibit purposes, in 2013. Visit our updated. Construction on the Willow Run Bomber Plant began that spring and it soon became the largest factory under one roof in the world. Each kit -- consisting of 80 percent of the parts for a finished B-24 -- was shipped via two tractor-trailers. It seems like a production miracle that the people working at Willow Run bomber plant were able to produce the B-24 Liberator at such tremendous speed. The delivery of seven YB-24Ns by Ford in June 1945 marked the end of Liberator production at Willow Run.[3][42]. Camp Willow Run was for boys age 1719, mostly sons of dead or disabled WWI vets and those helping to support their families. More than 18,000 were built. [26] The housing complex remained in use until 2016 as public housing when it was demolished and rebuilt with new modern units. "Decommissioning the plant is not an easy task. Search our website to find what youre looking for. '"[31], A 1943 committee authorized by Congress to examine problems at the plant issued a highly critical report; the Ford Motor Company had created a production line that too closely resembled an automobile assembly line "despite the warning of many experienced aircraftmen."[32]. restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. Ford Motor Company built everything from jeeps to generators during World War II, but nothing else was on the scale of Willow Run. The airport is now home to cargo airlines, charter flights and corporate jets. Linen (Material). This section was known as Willow Run Village. Consolidated maintained control over design changes and so did the Army Air Corps (retitled U.S. Army Air Force in June 1941). Willow Run is an Albert Kahn-designed World War II bomber plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan. How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II That was the schedule six days a week. Mass production of B-24s must rely on continuous assembly flow, or they couldnt be built at all. The automaker proudly promoted its B-24 efforts in magazine advertisements. The Yankee Air Museum was able to gain control of approximately 144,900 square feet of the plant,[54] and plans to develop a permanent home for the museum. Willow Run workers built 1,893 kits over the course of the war. The metal entry doors were also fashioned with magnets to effectively keep the door shut. Numbers climbed steadily throughout the year. . GM also produced vehicles next door at its Willow Run Assembly plant beginning a few years later, in 1959. Over the years, GM expanded the bomber plant by roughly half, into a nearly 5,000,000 square feet (460,000m2) GM Powertrain factory and engineering center. Photographic print. [11] The Willow Run plant featured a large turntable two-thirds of the way along the assembly line, allowing the B-24 production line to make a 90 turn before continuing to final assembly. Paperwork was handled, necessary specific B-24 life support equipment was issued and some technical training for supporting the aircraft accomplished. [47], Building owner RACER Trust extended the original fundraising deadline (August 1, 2013) a total of three times since the Yankee Air Museum launched its SaveTheBomberPlant.org campaign. Planes were assembled outdoors, exposed to a hot sun that distorted parts out of shape. The first Ford-built Liberator rolled off the Willow Run line in September 1942; the first series of Willow Run Liberators was the B-24E. Overhead cranes would hoist completed sections onto the final assembly line for joining into a finished aircraft, the same way cars were put together, but on a grand scale in a massive new plant. The holding cost of the Powertrain plant is enormous. ", Willow Run Bomber Plant Manual, 1943-1944, 1947 Kaiser-Frazer Advertisement, "One Every Minute is Not Enough! Ford's production methods depended on a "fixed" design -- each design modification required expensive and time-consuming updates to the assembly line. The final B-24 bomber was produced at Willow Run plant on June 28, 1945. Ford Motor would not only build the bombers, it would supply the airfield as well; the farm at Willow Run was an ideal location for the airfield's runways, being under the personal ownership of Henry Ford (thus solving any land acquisition problem) and sited between the main roads and rail lines connecting Detroit with Ann Arbor and points to the west. Although Ford had an option to purchase the plant once it was no longer needed for war production, the company declined to exercise it, and ended its association with Willow Run. Before the first employee was hired, the factory stood as a national symbol of Americas fearsome production prowess. "It was a like a town of its own," said Rancour, 88 . They lived in tents, with a mess hall and a chapel on-site, and sold their produce from a roadside stand built by Ford. Of the seven chapels, this is the only one currently in use as a regular place of worship. Sorensen stayed up all night formulating a B-24 assembly process on the backs of Coronado Hotel placemats. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Watch on. Willow Run | Detroit Historical Society Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford passed away on May 26, 1943. Ford built 37 planes in January, 70 in February, 96 in March, and 146 in April. That hulking plant was idled in the early 1990s, putting about 4,000 people out of work. Because of the urgent need for shelter, the Federal Public Housing Administration took action and built temporary housing. Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time. That April, employees in two nine-hour shifts, working six days a week, produced 453 airplanes in 468 hours -- a production rate equal to one finished B-24 Liberator every 63 minutes. Willow Run produced 739,000 cars as part of Kaiser-Frazer and Kaiser Motors, from 1947 through 1953, when after years of losses, the company (now called Kaiser Motors after Frazer's exit from the partnership) purchased Willys-Overland and began moving its production at Willow Run to the Willys plant in Toledo, Ohio. Many fled after their first day, traumatized by the smell, constant clanging and motion of machinery, and overpowering size of the place. In addition, Henry Ford refused on principle to hire women. Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943. You must have JavaScript enabled to enjoy a limited number of articles over the next 30 days. [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940[2] and was completed in 1942. The company also develops, designs, and manufactures peripherals and components for its products. [7], For a period of time before the eventual demolition of Willow Run Assembly, portions were used as a warehouse, about a quarter of which was leased by GM as a facility for parts distribution.[45]. When Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, only 7,400 employees remained on the Willow Run payroll. These highways evolved into present-day Interstate 94. Early example of Lean. [21][22], In February 1943, the first dormitory (Willow Run Lodge) opened, consisted of fifteen buildings containing 1,900 rooms, some single- and others double-occupancy, with room for 3,000 people. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. Truman headed a presidential committee charged with eliminating wartime production waste, and Willow Run's struggles worried him. ft. building, which later became the GM Powertrain facility. A documentary about the Ypsilanti Willow Run airport's legendary B-24 bomber plant will air Sunday on PBS . As the US Air Force struggled to expand its airlift capacity during the Korean War, Kaiser-Frazer built C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo planes at Willow Run under license from Fairchild Aircraft, producing an estimated 88 C-119s between 1951 and 1953. During this reduction, there was rumor that Ford would repurchase the plant from the government . Among them were farmhands, secretaries, housewives, schoolteachers and grocery clerks. "A Historical Perspective.". Because of production delays encountered at Willow Run as a result of the inevitable difficulties and snags involved in the adaptation of automobile manufacturing techniques to aircraft, the B-24Es produced at Willow Run were, generally, obsolete by the time that it began to roll off the production lines, and most were relegated to training roles in the United States and hence few ever saw combat. The skilled women who accomplished this work -- at Willow Run and elsewhere -- inspired the symbolic "Rosie the Riveter" character. [6] In April 2013, a redevelopment manager for the RACER Trust said unused portions of the powertrain plant would likely be razed as a step toward redeveloping the property. Automobiles of the era had 15,000 parts and weighed around 3,000 pounds. The first B-24Ms were delivered in October 1944, and by the end of its production in 1945, Willow Run had built 1677; 124 Ford-built B-24Ms were cancelled before delivery. you can see the two big hangar doors behind me. No two were alike.. Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. Cafeterias provided meals to administrative workers in the plant's offices. Skeptics scoffed at the idea that Ford Motor Co. could mass-produce In addition to making automatic transmissions, Willow Run Transmission also produced the M16A1 rifle and the M39A1 20mm autocannon for the US military during the Vietnam War. This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. The residents of the Willow Run Camp planted, tended, and harvested field crops and collected maple syrup, selling their products at the farm market on the property. She was part of that migration, part of the 40,000 employees at the Ford-run Willow Run B-24 bomber plant and part of the great Arsenal of Democracy that Detroit and the Southeastern Michigan region became, cranking out airplanes, tanks, trucks, and weapons. Adjacent to the factory complex, Ford constructed a 1,484-acre airport with six runways and three aircraft hangars. we intend to save that. For those unable to endure a long commute, the federal government constructed housing on nearby farmland purchased from Henry Ford. The Yankee Air Museum resides on the airport grounds, occupying as of April 2013 a 47,000-square-foot (4,400m2) hangar and other properties. Steel dies proved more precise, longer lasting, and perfectly safe. The tri-level interchange seen here provided direct access to the factory for traffic traveling to and from the expressway. Instead, upstart automaker Kaiser-Frazer Corporation moved into the factory. [3][41], During June 1944, the Army determined that the San Diego and Willow Run plants would be capable of meeting all future requirements for Liberator production. GMAD required 16 years to completely absorb Fisher Body's operations, and Fisher would manufacture bodies at Willow Run Assembly until the 1970s; vehicles would roll off the line there until 1992. It was thought to be the largest factory under one roof anywhere in the world. How Detroit Factories Retooled During WWII to Defeat Hitler - History There were 24 lunch rooms located throughout the complex. This made the farmers dislike the plant and its employees because the farmers viewed Willow Run and its employees as attempting to change the established community. In on-site classrooms, newly hired workers sat through orientation lectures on the aircraft industry in general, the B-24's specific importance to the war, and the dire consequences should the Allies lose the fight. By 1945, Ford produced 70% of the B-24s in two 9-hour shifts. Thought to be overly ambitious in its scope, the plant hoped to boost bomber production from one aircraft per day to one plane per hour. The war's focus was shifting from Europe to Japan, where more-advanced B-29 bombers were needed. Birthplace Of Rosie The Riveter: The Willow Run Bomber Plant Click the drop-down menu below and make your selection. The massive plant turned out 8,645 Liberators vs. 9,808 manufactured by four factories of Consolidated, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. After Kaiser left, General Motors leased and then purchased Willow Run. . By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. No.2, Ziyou St., Tucheng Dist., New Taipei City 236, Taiwan +886-2-2268-3466 MARC and WRL produced innovations, including the first ruby laser and operation of the ruby maser, as well as early research into antiballistic missile defense and advanced remote sensing. Labor shortages made women essential to war industries, and the government actively recruited them to join the workforce. Consolidated had built each wing with its own temporary jig to hold the structure in place. [13], The Willow Run chapel of Martha and Mary now stands a few miles from where it was originally constructed, on property that used to be owned by Henry Ford's Quirk Farms. Bricker.[33]. Boyshad time for recreation as well as work, each camp had a baseball diamond and the boys participated in a softball league, there was also volleyball and handball, movies were shown, and each camp also hosted harvest dances, inviting nearby high school students to join. GMs Chevrolet Division assembled rear-engine Corvairs in a converted warehouse on the grounds during a 10-year run beginning in 1959. Copyright 2023. The two sides reached an accommodation during the first quarter of 1943. Sorensen protested that Willow Run could not function under these strictures. Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943, Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943 / back. A never-ending stream of water gurgles through the pipes to parts unknown like an underground stream. FDRs goal exceeded the total of all planes built in the U.S. since the Wright brothers 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, and he challenged the aviation industry to match that number in succeeding years. About Us - Yankee Air Museum Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing. Watch Ford's Willow Run plant churn out a B-24 every 55 minutes The bomber plant produced its first B-24J in April 1944; 1587 were built at Willow Run. However, in October 1941, Ford received permission from Consolidated and the Army to assemble complete Liberators on its own at its new Willow Run facility. Explore our Digital Collections and curate your own set of artifacts to share with others. Modifications resulted from lessons learned in fighting fronts and from the need to modify the plane for its multiple roles. PEGATRON CORPORATION Company Profile | Taipei City, Taiwan [23] The flat-tops contained four, six, or eight apartments with one, two, or three bedrooms. Willow Run After WWII - Military History of the Upper Great Lakes The airfield passed into civilian hands after the war and is now controlled by Wayne County Airport Authority. The Fords built seven of these: The first at Greenfield Village, Michigan, was completed in 1929. Still, aviation industry leaders scoffed when the War Department chose Ford Motor Co. to mass-produce Liberators. This young employee at the giant Willow Run plant uses her tiny flashlight to discover any internal defects in the tubing. The bomber plant adjacent to the airport produced the famed World War II bombers in a plant built by Henry Ford. Managing the utilities and slowly shutting them off has been Lewis' biggest challenge, as the building is hard-pressed to give up its secrets. The university operated the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (MARC), later known as Willow Run Laboratories (WRL), from 1946 to 1972. This was done at Willow Run by 1st Concentration Command (1st CC). While this was unfolding, Sorensen retained renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn to design a factory that would adapt Fords automotive assembly techniques to mass production of a giant aircraft. The U.S. government contributed $200 million to the project.Originally 975 acres of farmland owned by Henry Ford, the site was developed by the Ford Motor Company into Changeovers required onerous delays and costly retooling. [27] In May 2017, the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office recognized Parkridge Homes with the unveiling three historic markers signifying the importance to Ypsilanti history.[28]. The airfield, owned by the Wayne County Airport Authority since 2004, continues to operate as the Willow Run Airport and is primarily used for cargo and general aviation flights. Ford would eventually sell its land to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation's Defense Plant Corporation in July 1944, shortly after the Ford farms were transferred to the company's ownership. Women represented approximately one third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. The main building went up in sections, with workers using plywood partitions to seal off finished portions from those still under construction. He went on to oversee operations at the companys River Rouge complex where 100,000 workers could produce 10,000 cars a day, from raw materials to finished products. The Willow Run Plant had many initial startup problems, due primarily to the fact that Ford employees were used to automobile mass production and found it difficult to adapt these techniques to aircraft . The Willow Run bomber plant made aviation, industrial and social historyalong with new B-24s by the hour. The plant began production in summer 1941; the dedication plaque is dated June 16. Ypsilanti's oldest claim to fame: a bomber plant unlike any other [11], Later in 1953, after a fire on August 12 destroyed General Motors' Detroit Transmission factory in Livonia, Michigan, the Willow Run complex was first leased and then later sold to GM.
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