Ford's Willow Run B-24 Liberator Bomber Plant

(Satellite)

AssemblyMag (registerware)
Mike Briski posted

How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II

THE WILLOW RUN BOMBER PLANT MADE AVIATION, INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY—ALONG WITH NEW B-24S BY THE HOUR.

"The massive plant turned out 8,645 Liberators vs. 9,808 manufactured by four factories of Consolidated, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. Together they produced more of the slab-sided behemoths than any American warplane ever....Completed planes flew off to field modification centers for fixes, upgrades and customizing. Fifty variants of the aircraft were dispatched to allies throughout the world from these sites." This plant also produced kits of parts that were trucked to the other plants. [AssemblyMag (3 free uses before registeration)]

I recommend reading the AssemblyMag article, but chose a place and time when you can finish reading it because access is limited.

 

National Museum of World War II Aviation posted
B-24 Liberators are shown on the production line at Ford Motor Co.'s Willow Run plant in Michigan. The B-24 was the most-produced U.S, aircraft of World War II. A total of 18,500 were built, 4,600 by Ford. See our exhibit about the B-24 -- one of more than 100 exhibits and displays at the Museum, at the Colorado Springs Airport.

MotorCities National Heritage Area posted

On March 28, 1941,

Ford Motor Company

started clearing trees along hundreds of acres of land for what was to become its Willow Run plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Willow Run was the site where Henry Ford’s mass-production techniques would be applied to make B-24 bomber aircraft for World War II. #ArsenalOfDemocracy #ThisDayInAutoHeritage

George Moore: At one point because of all the problems getting it going people were calling it "Willet Run?"
[Some comments also provide information about Gray Marine Motor Co. and Chris-Craft supporting the war effort.]
Randall James Ellis: Worked at the Willow Run GM Transmission plant in 1994. The floor was slanted toward the hanger doors to that during the aircraft build could be manually pulled down the assembly line and out the doors.
Curtis Jurrens: The last section of the Willow Run plant was saved by the Yankee Air Museum for their museum. Great organization, and they put on a helluva airshow eveti summer, Thunder Over Michigan.
Jim Devitt: I understand they are now being forced to leave that location...very sad.
[And some comments discuss how Packard built aircraft engines under contract with Rolls Royce that were more powerful than the British engines.]

Chris Vasilow

Then GM rented a section after terrible hydramatic fire in 1953. Eventually they took over the entire facility. https://www.assemblymag.com/.../95000-americas-most...

Gary Stouffer: Consolidated Aircraft Co. SanDiego, sent my Dad(San Diego) and Lyle Angievine(B'ham/Atlanta after war and others to Willow Run to show Ford's people how to build the world's most efficient strategic bomber. Killer stories from then.
[Comments claim that they could produce a plane every 60, 56 and 45 minutes.]
Aaron Lesar: Plant building and logistics designed by Ford mastermind Charles Sorensen.

 

Historical Pictures posted 

During WWII, workers at the Henry Ford aircraft factory Willow Run built a staggering 8,685 B-24 bombers in three years!

No one had ever manufactured aircraft on such a scale before. At its peak in 1944, it produced a B-24 every hour.

Additional fun fact: Rosie the Riveter worked at this plant.

ThisDayInAviation

I don't know if this press was in this plant, but some of the comments are about this plant. And I assume all of the plants had similar presses.

Sean Brady posted
Lydia Martinez, aged 19, operates a hydro press that develops pressure up to 4,500 tons and speeds production of parts for Consolidated Aircraft's B-24 Liberators, PBY Catalinas, and PB2Y Coronados, 1942.
Laszlo Zagyva: They built one B-24 Liberator airplane every 63 minutes in a Ford factory.
Bob Darlington: Laszlo Zagyva A little misleading. It may have taken 5 days, but they'd still have a fresh new one coming out the back of the factory every 63 minutes when the planets lined up just the right way, and one starting every 63 minutes, with multiple days between start and finish.
Mark George: Bob Darlington Willow Run made batches of about 400 Airplanes. Then the next batch would include small improvements to the Aircraft. The engineers would constantly make improvements to the B-24 Liberators, during the entire war years of production. Some 12,000 improvements were made over the first ones to be built.
Laszlo Zagyva: https://www.thehenryford.org/.../digi.../expert-sets/101765/
Ken Andersen: The production in San Diego was almost the same, they would roll them out of the plant, start the engines, spin them on a compass rose on the tarmac, then ferry them to Arizona where modifications were installed. It was easier and faster to build them then install the mods than it was to revamp the production line to include the mods as they came in.
Pete Putman: Laszlo Zagyva - And the assembly line at Willow Run made a 90-degree turn so as to come out of the factory entirely in Washtenaw County and avoid the higher taxes in Wayne County. At least, that was the legend.
Laszlo Zagyva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2zukteYbGQ& very interesting video on this. It seems that it took ... quite long.