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. Kaiser-Frazer moved into Willow Run and built civilian-style Jeeps, Henry J sedans, and C-119 cargo planes until going under in 1953. 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. No.2, Ziyou St., Tucheng Dist., New Taipei City 236, Taiwan +886-2-2268-3466 Ford recruited workers throughout the Midwest and South. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Video: Inside the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant - Mac's Motor City Garage Up to 8,000 students per week completed training and reported for work. The Willow Run complex has given its name to a community on the east side of Ypsilanti, defined roughly by the boundaries of the Willow Run Community School District. In 2011, A.E. Engineering Photographic Department, United States, Michigan, Charter Township of Ypsilanti, Ford Motor Company. 1, Specialty Press. The average daily pumpage in million gallons was about 1.68 in 1942, 1.70 in 1943, and 1.66 in 1944. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. Watch Ford's Willow Run plant churn out a B-24 every 55 minutes Using lumber from hundreds of trees cut down to clear the site, contractors built temporary dormitories for single men and women, trailer parks, and prefabricated flat-top housing for families that, by the end of 1943, could house 15,000 employees. Equities Group Holdings offered to buy the former Powertrain plant from the RACER Trust. Despite intensive design efforts led by Ford production executive Charles E. Sorensen,[30] the opening of the plant still saw some mismanagement and bungling, and quality was uneven for some time. There was no sequence or orderly flow of materials, no sense of forward motion, no reliance on machined parts, he said. UAW Local 898, 8975 Textile Rd, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. [email protected]. approximately 4 out of every 10 employees were women. Production for the B-24H at Willow Run was 1,780. Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time. Sorensen was shocked. The War Department pitched in with funds for the Detroit Industrial Expressway, linking the city to the plant. The massive plant turned out 8,645 Liberators vs. 9,808 manufactured by four factories of Consolidated, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. Please click here to continue without javascript.. Increase Assembly Productivity With Cobot Automation, Manufacturing Cost Policy Deployment (MCPD) Profitability Scenarios: Systematic and Systemic Improvement of Manufacturing Costs, How Lean Helped GEs Turbine Factory Find Its Mojo, 2018 Assembly Plant of the Year: Ford Shifts Flexible Assembly Into High Gear. 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. This section was known as Willow Run Village. 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. [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940[2] and was completed in 1942. The first section of an 850-acre airfield adjoining the plant opened three days prior to Pearl Harbor, signaling the Liberators primary war mission: long-range flights over Pacific waters to bomb networks of enemy-held islands stretching from Australia and Guadalcanal to the Japanese mainland some 3,000 miles distant. Though the outside may appear to be a stubborn tool shed that won't open by pulling the handle, simply pushing the door open reveals a secret room hidden from prying eyes. [3], B-24Es built and fully assembled at Ford were designated B-24E-FO; those assembled at Tulsa and Fort Worth out of parts supplied by Ford were designated B-24E-DT and B-24E-CF respectively. For those unable to endure a long commute, the federal government constructed housing on nearby farmland purchased from Henry Ford. Charles Sorensen's brash "one plane every hour" claim was no longer an empty boast. 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. Easements were acquired from landowners across the county line in Ypsilanti Township where the Liberator plant (and eventually the airport terminal) would be built. While there were many injuries, it is notable that Willow Run did not record a single fatality while the factory was in service. Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. [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. The bomber plant adjacent to the airport produced the famed World War II bombers in a plant built by Henry Ford. Willow Run Bomber Plant - The Henry Ford Its goal was to apply auto-making mass-production principles to . There were 24 lunch rooms located throughout the complex. Every American automaker turned its workforce and facilities to military production during World War II. Every available room within miles was rented, including those with eight-hour shifts called hot beds. Although the jumping of an automotive company into aircraft production posed these quality problems, it also brought remarkable production rates. restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. [13], The Willow Run Chapel[14] was the one originally built for Camp Willow Run, and became the place of worship for the Belleville Presbyterian Church in 1979 after a series of handoffs. 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. Few new hires had ever been in a factory, so Ford built the Aircraft Apprentice School on the grounds to familiarize these industrial novices with tools and techniques of high-precision aeronautical manufacturing. Skeptics scoffed at the idea that Ford Motor Co. could mass-produce 8,685 B-24's were built in Willow Run bomber plant (Story of Willow Run, p.70). 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. Willow Run - B-24 Brief history | Chevy Tri Five Forum The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. Construction began April 18, 1941. generations. Explore our Digital Collections and curate your own set of artifacts to share with others. [50], Meanwhile, the remaining portion of the Willow Run property, which includes over 95% of the historic original bomber plant building, was optioned to Walbridge, Inc., for redevelopment as a connected car research and test facility. Highway improvements came in September 1942 when the Willow Run Expressway opened between the plant and Detroit. Willow Run bomber plant. Because of the many structural changes required to accommodate the nose turret, the first B-24Hs were delivered slightly behind schedule, with the first machines rolling off the production lines at Ford in late June 1943. The metal entry doors were also fashioned with magnets to effectively keep the door shut. Even with people driving 100 miles or renting every spare room between Ann Arbor and Grosse Pointe, the sheer size of Willow Run led inevitably to a housing shortage. In some places, the bulbs had been simply painted over and left in their sockets as GM quickly re-tooled assembly lines. In November 2016, RACER Trust sold Willow Run to an entity created by the State of Michigan, which leases the property to the American Center for Mobility (AMC).[9]. Gift of Ford Motor Company. 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.
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