willow run bomber plant employees

1250 B-24L aircraft were built at Willow Run. For Our Members-. Search our website to find what youre looking for. "A Historical Perspective.". The factory prompted the creation of the Washtenaw County Health Department and was a key part of America's "arsenal of . Among the 37 workers surveyed, nearly 10 percent were Negroes.4 Men as young as 19 and as old as 71 were employed; the age range for . 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. Women did everything from clerical work in the offices to riveting and welding on the assembly line. After the war, Ford sold the chapel to Kaiser-Frazer, who in turn sold it to General Motors as part of the purchase of the Willow Run bomber plant. Sorensen protested that Willow Run could not function under these strictures. That was the schedule six days a week. we intend to restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. Four engines powered the aircraft, and together its two bomb bays could carry up to 8,000 pounds of explosives. '"[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]. The main building went up in sections, with workers using plywood partitions to seal off finished portions from those still under construction. Here is his description of the visit and how he conceived the Willow Run bomber plant that eventually manufactured 8,800 of these aircraft. 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. The valves that would shut the water off to different parts of the plant have been hidden in the building's entrails. This young employee at the giant Willow Run plant uses her tiny flashlight to discover any internal defects in the tubing. The campaign to save a portion of Willow Run for the Yankee Air Museum was called SaveTheBomberPlant.org, and is centered on a fundraising website by the same name. The president and his advisers were convinced that long-range, high-altitude heavy bombers would be the decisive weapon in a war dominated by air power and industrial muscle. Dwarfs, whose physical stature had limited prewar employment opportunities, toiled inside wings, fuel cells and other confined spaces. Between June and December 1943, construction was completed on temporary "flat-top" buildings providing homes for 2,500 families. Consequently, newly constructed Liberators needed modifications for the specific geographic areas they were to be flown in combat. Camp Willow Run was for boys age 1719, mostly sons of dead or disabled WWI vets and those helping to support their families. The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. It also required the installation of two turntables to turn airplane fuselages 90 degrees near the end of the assembly line. Production for the B-24H at Willow Run was 1,780. Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. This was done at Willow Run by 1st Concentration Command (1st CC). That hulking plant was idled in the early 1990s, putting about 4,000 people out of work. Lloyd, Alwyn T. (1993), Liberator: America's Global Bomber, Pictorial Histories Publishing Co, Inc. O'Leary, Michael, (2003), Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Osprey Production Line to Frontline 4), Osprey Publishing, Weber, Austin. 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. The center includes a proving ground where smart cars react instantly to all manner of potentially dangerous and problematic situations. Frank B. Woodford, 'Willow Run Poses Problems,' New York Times, 19 April 1942, E10; Glenn H. Cummings, 'Biggest War Plant,' Wall Street Journal, 26 May 1942, 1; 'Ford Stand Stirs War Housing Issue,' New York Times, 28 June 1942, 25; Agnes E. Meyer, 'Detroit's Willow Run Area Is A Housing Nightmare ,' 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. [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940 [2] and was completed in 1942. 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 production. The automaker had . 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. The ungainly aircraft flew faster (300 mph) than the sleeker B-17, carried heavier payloads (four tons of bombs, later increased to six tons), and had greater range (3,000 miles). In 2011, A.E. Next WRBP Meeting -. Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time. Crew size was up to ten, and range was up to 3,000 miles. * Carr, Lowell J., and Stermer, James Edison. . Rugged and versatile, Liberators served in every theater of the war with 15 Allied air forces, stalking and destroying German U-boats in Atlantic shipping lanes, flying The Hump from India over the Himalayas to bring critical fuel and supplies to the besieged Chinese army, and dropping special agents into France and the Low Countries to organize sabotage operations against Nazi occupiers. Sorensen was shocked. Employee training was a constant process at Willow Run. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. Although the jumping of an automotive company into aircraft production posed these quality problems, it also brought remarkable production rates. WOO Network is a fast-growing Fintech startup and a deep liquidity network with a mission to empower individuals with the right to freely trade, invest, borrow and lend to better their lives. Bill. Willow Run stepped up outsourcing of parts production and subassemblies to almost 1,000 Ford factories and independent suppliers while focusing on building B-24s in more predictable designs that minimized shutdowns. Rivet gun operator Rosemary Will from Pulaski County, KY, appeared in a Ford promotional film, personifying thousands of women in the nations defense industry, collectively known as Rosie the Riveter. [8] In 2014, the Yankee Air Museum moved into the bomber factory. Charles Sorensen, seen here earlier in his career, traveled to Consolidated's San Diego plant with Ford president Edsel Ford. Media coverage hyped by Ford and military publicists wove extravagant tales of a mammoth industrial citadel where 100,000 dedicated workers would produce hundreds of Liberators each week to roar across the oceans and obliterate enemy sources and seats of power. In a strategic campaign, the airplanes and their crews attacked factories, railroads, harbors and -- as the war progressed -- cities in Germany, Italy and occupied France. RACER Trust has been supportive of the campaign, even reconfiguring engineering and demolition plans to save cost for the museum. 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. Like virtually all of the United States' industrial concerns, Ford Motor Company, by this time under the direction of Henry Ford's only son Edsel, directed its manufacturing output during World War II to Allied war production. It also provided a final inspection of the aircraft and made any appropriate final changes; i.e., install long-range fuel tanks, remove unnecessary equipment, and give it a final flight safety test. Easements were acquired from landowners across the county line in Ypsilanti Township where the Liberator plant (and eventually the airport terminal) would be built. By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . Thirty-eight tons of structural steel, five million bricks, and six months later, the $65-million colossus began churning out parts while equipment was still being installed and roof and walls remained unfinished. But just when that milestone seemed possible, the government drastically cut its order for B-24s. The resulting housing complexes were built in several different groups. At last Willow Run hit its stride in 1944. As the problems continued into 1943, critics took to calling the plant "Will it Run.". Following the success of the Save the Bomber Plant campaign, the Museum purchased a portion of the Willow Run Bomber Plant that produced B-24 Liberators during World War Two. The main building's "L" shape prevented its crossing into neighboring Wayne County. The B-24J incorporated a hydraulically driven tail turret and other defensive armament modifications in the nose of the aircraft. Plant construction started in March 1941. [44], By the time General Motors entered bankruptcy in 2009, manufacturing and assembly operations at Willow Run had dwindled to almost nothing; the GM Powertrain plant closed in December 2010 and the complex passed into the control of the RACER Trust, which is charged with cleaning up, positioning for redevelopment and ultimately, selling properties of the former General Motors.[7]. Kaiser-Frazer produced some 739,000 cars at Willow Run between 1947 and 1953, when the company acquired Willys-Overland and moved all operations to the Willys factory in Toledo, Ohio. Women represented approximately one third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. When Cherry Hill outgrew the little chapel and decided to build a new church, it sold the chapel to the Belleville Presbyterian Church for one dollar in July 1978. Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. The bugs were eventually worked out of the manufacturing processes, and by 1944, Ford was rolling a Liberator off the Willow Run production line every 63 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The plant was originally designed to be able to continue to operate if parts of it were ever bombedwhich resulted in dedicated water, compressed air and gas lines to different areas of the building.". [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940[2] and was completed in 1942. Part of the tour led them to a hidden room within the facility: "His [Lewis] adventures in the plantalways accompanied by multiple flashlightshave lead him to amusing discoveries: a secret break room stashed in the middle of the plant. most enormous room in the history of man.. This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. 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. 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. plant, each paid the same 85 cents an hour as their Changeovers required onerous delays and costly retooling. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. [3][4] The Birmingham Air Depot's primary mission was modifying Liberators from Willow Run. Buses were among the only practical solutions. By Tim Trainor. He was violently anti-union and there were serious labor difficulties, including a massive strike. 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. Employees at Willow Run celebrated the completion of their 6,000th airplane in September 1944. Architect Albert Kahn boasted that the Willow Run plant would be the Blacks and other minorities were welcomed and so were immigrants. Although officially retired, Henry Ford still had a say in the company's affairs and refused government financing for Willow Run, preferring to have his company build the factory and sell it to the government, which would lease it back to the company for the duration of the war. The Willow Run Lodge dormitories accommodated 3,000 single women and men, while Willow Run Village consisted of 2,500 family housing units. The Willow Run plant was formally dedicated on October 22, 1941, in a ceremony attended by Major Jimmy Doolittle of the U.S. Army Air Forces. 8,685 B-24's were built in Willow Run bomber plant (Story of Willow Run, p.70). Considerable water was furnished to the Willow Run bomber plant from the Ypsilanti public-supply system during the period from August 1941 through March 1943. . The plant closed June 28, ending the Liberators brief but epic run, along with Fords presence in the aircraft industry. The building is currently being used to house and protect of the Museum's large aircraft . We . By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . The war's focus was shifting from Europe to Japan, where more-advanced B-29 bombers were needed. Ford proved that even the most complicated military machines could be built using the techniques it pioneered with the Model T. At war's end, Ford Motor Company chose not to exercise its option to buy the Willow Run plant. 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. The whole plane it would be, with the agreement that Ford would truck B-24 parts and finished sections called knockdowns to Consolidated plants in San Diego and Fort Worth and to Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa. Bricker.[33]. 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. Ford's production methods depended on a "fixed" design -- each design modification required expensive and time-consuming updates to the assembly line. The heavies of choice were the B-17 Flying Fortress from Boeing Airplane Co. and the B-24 Liberator from Consolidated Aircraft. Although the Ford Trimotor had been a success in the 1920s, the company had since shied away from aviation, and initially, Ford was assigned to provide B-24 components with final assembly performed by Consolidated at its Fort Worth plant, or by fellow licensee Douglas Aircraft at its Tulsa, Oklahoma, plant. Ford Motor Company had reinvented the concept with the Model T's moving assembly line. Along with the B-17, the B-24 formed the backbone of the Allies' air war over Europe. 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. For this reason, a series of Air Technical Service Command modification centers were established for the incorporation of these required theater changes into new Liberators following their manufacture and assignments. Efforts to desegregate Willow Run Lodge and Village and build additional integrated housing were rebuffed by the Detroit Housing Commission and the National Housing Agency,[25] so noted African-American architect Hilyard Robinson was contracted to design an 80-unit community. During this reduction, there was rumor that Ford would repurchase the plant from the government . After Ford declined to purchase the plant, it was sold to the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, a partnership of construction and shipbuilding magnate Henry J. Kaiser and Graham-Paige executive Joseph W. Frazer. Women represented approximately one third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. In 2009, General Motors announced that it would shut down all operations at the GM Powertrain plant and engineering center in the coming year.[6]. Gift of Ford Motor Company. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. The Air Force dictated more performance and safety upgrades for B-24s than any other American warplane. Still, aviation industry leaders scoffed when the War Department chose Ford Motor Co. to mass-produce Liberators. The university operated the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (MARC), later known as Willow Run Laboratories (WRL), from 1946 to 1972. No two were alike.. The salvaged Hydramatic transmission tooling and machinery relocated to Willow Run and were back in production just nine weeks after the fire.[43]. 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. High school graduates worked the line next to 70-year-olds. the yankee air museum into it and show people what the history . A parcel of land to the south of Powertrain was set aside for assembly operations that began in 1959, with a Fisher Body plant that built bodies for the Chevrolet models assembled there, including the Corvair and Nova. Highway improvements came in September 1942 when the Willow Run Expressway opened between the plant and Detroit. [3][4] Even then it would take nearly a year before finished Liberators left the factory. In the meantime, visitors to the Yankee Air Museum at the airport can see how the blacksmith made a watch and helped win a war. At peak production, the plant had a bomber come off the assembly line every 55 minutes, and the continued boost of one bomber produced a day was one bomber finished a day. male counterparts. [26] The housing complex remained in use until 2016 as public housing when it was demolished and rebuilt with new modern units. The Story of Willow Run highlights several of the steps involved in building the aluminum-intensive aircraft. The B-24 Liberator was a prolific bomber that was operated by multiple branches of the United States military as well as other Allied forces in the European and Pacific . Riveting was an essential craft at Willow Run. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member workforce became a model of diversity for future generations. From the Collections of The Henry Ford. A documentary about the Ypsilanti Willow Run airport's legendary B-24 bomber plant will air Sunday on PBS . However, he finally relented and did employ "Rosie the Riveters" on his assembly lines, probably more because so many of his potential male workers had been drafted into the military than due to any sudden change of principle on his part. Up to 8,000 students per week completed training and reported for work. Engineering Photographic Department, United States, Michigan, Charter Township of Ypsilanti, Ford Motor Company. The water is treated in a modern treatment plant completed in 1939. The Willow Run area wasn't prepared to house many of the 42,000 workers who arrived when Ford Motor Company established its bomber plant there during World War II. Paperwork was handled, necessary specific B-24 life support equipment was issued and some technical training for supporting the aircraft accomplished. Together they produced more of the slab-sided behemoths than any American warplane ever. The Fisher Body division also operated at Willow Run Assembly until its operations were assumed by the GM Assembly Division in the 1970s. During that time, the Ford Motor Company produced almost half of the B-24s built--8,685 out of 19,256. [41], The B-24L was the first product of the new, downsized Liberator production pool. [3][41], Ford had switched over to the single-tailed B-24N in May 1945, but the end of the war in Europe in the same month brought a rapid end to Liberator production; the contract with Ford was officially terminated on 31 May 1945 and orders for 5168 unbuilt B-24N-FO bombers were cancelled as well. Also constructed at this time was the Parkridge Community Center. restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. This covered 90 parcels of land[20] totaling 2,641 acres (1,069ha). 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. ft. building, which later became the GM Powertrain facility. AskUs", "Oral History Interview with John W. Snyder", "Ford May Convert Willow Run Into Huge Tractor Plant", "History of the original Willow Run Village", "They may save our honor, our hopesand our necks", AFHRA Document 00155775 1 Concentration Command History, AFHRA Document 00150138 AAFTC Technical Training Command, "Tucson International Airport's Historic Hangars", "History of the Willow Run Plant, Part 3", "Preservation group gets extension to raise money for historic Willow Run factory", "Willow Run bomber plant preservationists get more time to reach goal", "Yankee Air Museum signs deal for part of Willow Run Bomber Plant", "YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP: RACER Trust reaches demolition, development agreements for Willow Run plant", "Death of a factory: inside the Willow Run GM Powertrain plant for the last time", "Willow Run assembly plant demolition proceeding", "A Future NEW Home for the Yankee Air Museum", Detroit Edison Company Willis Avenue Station, Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse, Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District, Frederic M. Sibley Lumber Company Office Building, List of Registered Historic Places in Michigan, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willow_Run&oldid=1134554587, Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States, Motor vehicle assembly plants in Michigan, United States home front during World War II, Michigan State Historic Sites in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan, Articles with dead external links from September 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, military draft each month 8,200 workers drafted into military service, school the Aircraft Apprentice School had up to 8,000 students per week completed training and reported for work, dimensions More than 3,200 feet long and 1,279 feet across at its widest point, subassemblies parts production and subassemblies at almost 1,000 Ford factories and independent suppliers, This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 07:10. The Fords built seven of these: The first at Greenfield Village, Michigan, was completed in 1929. Designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California, the B-24 Liberator served in every branch of the armed forces during World War II. [3], Upon the introduction of the B-24J, all three of the Liberator manufacturing plants converted to the production of this version. 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. [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]. [36][38], Once production began, it became difficult to introduce changes dictated by field experience in the various overseas theaters onto the production line in a timely fashion. 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. The massive plant turned out 8,645 Liberators vs. 9,808 manufactured by four factories of Consolidated, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member [51], Michigan Live reporter Amy Biolchini toured the empty Willow Run facility in early 2013, observing:[52]. Some riveted parts were replaced with cast pieces to simplify and speed their manufacture. heavy aircraft. Labor shortages made women essential to war industries, and the government actively recruited them to join the workforce. At its peak monthly production (August 1944), Willow Run produced 428 B-24s with highest production listed as 100 completed Bombers flying away from Willow Run between April 24 and April 26, 1944. By mid-1944, the Willow Run assembly plant was producing one B-24 per houraccounting for half of all B-24s assembled that year.
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