Plastic Model Club | Willow Run Bomber Plant IPMS Chapter | Ypsilanti Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943 GMs Chevrolet Division assembled rear-engine Corvairs in a converted warehouse on the grounds during a 10-year run beginning in 1959. Thursday May 4th, 2023. Equities Group Holdings offered to buy the former Powertrain plant from the RACER Trust. [41], The B-24L was the first product of the new, downsized Liberator production pool. The plant initially built components. for half of all B-24s assembled that year. PBS to air documentary about Ypsilanti's legendary Willow Run B-24 [21], By the end of 1943 there were six different temporary projects in the vicinity of Willow Run: two dormitory projects, two trailer projects (one renting trailers, and another for privately owned trailers; each with community laundry, shower, and toilet facilities), and two projects with apartments for couples or families, West Court and the Village. Ford built 37 planes in January, 70 in February, 96 in March, and 146 in April. The automaker had . Kaiser-Frazer moved into Willow Run and built civilian-style Jeeps, Henry J sedans, and C-119 cargo planes until going under in 1953. Each kit -- consisting of 80 percent of the parts for a finished B-24 -- was shipped via two tractor-trailers. Gift of Ford Motor Company. Labor shortages made women essential to war industries, and the government actively recruited them to join the workforce. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. "A Historical Perspective.". . Crew size was up to ten, and range was up to 3,000 miles. 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. Women and men were paid the same rate for the same work. By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . 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. Sorensen stayed up all night formulating a B-24 assembly process on the backs of Coronado Hotel placemats. Quirk Farms was purchased by automobile pioneer Henry Ford in 1931. Sorensen protested that Willow Run could not function under these strictures. 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. Meanwhile, Ford was savaged in the Detroit press because it took too long. 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. those represent the end of the plant. The main building would be more than a mile long with dual, parallel assembly lines. The plant at Willow Run was also beset with labor difficulties, high absentee rates, and rapid employee turnover. Truman headed a presidential committee charged with eliminating wartime production waste, and Willow Run's struggles worried him. Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time. Highway improvements came in September 1942 when the Willow Run Expressway opened between the plant and Detroit. Willow Run's problems came under a microscope in April 1942 and again in February 1943, when Senator Harry S. Truman visited the plant. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. While there were many injuries, it is notable that Willow Run did not record a single fatality while the factory was in service. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. 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. They were producing a custom-made plane put together as a tailor would cut and fit a suit of clothes. Search our website to find what youre looking for. The company came back to the government with a counter proposal: it wouldn't just build parts for the B-24, it would build complete airplanes using the automaker's highly refined techniques. They would be built elsewhere. 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. 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. [36][37], While the planes were being serviced and made ready for overseas movement, personnel for these planes were also being processed. At its peak, Willow Run employed more than 15,000 women -- some 35 percent of its total staff. Charles Sorensen, seen here earlier in his career, traveled to Consolidated's San Diego plant with Ford president Edsel Ford. By Tim Trainor. The Fisher Body division also operated at Willow Run Assembly until its operations were assumed by the GM Assembly Division in the 1970s. Hundreds bought their first pair of shoes upon arrival. Ford built the factory and sold it to the government, then leased it back for the duration of the war. [3][41], The B-24M was the last large-scale production variant of the Liberator. 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. Willow Run Lodge, Housing for Willow Run Bomber Plant Workers, 1945 During that time, the Ford Motor Company produced almost half of the B-24s built--8,685 out of 19,256. The housing shortage Sorensen complained about arose from his choice of a sparsely populated rural setting 30 miles west of Detroits labor poolan island in Michigan mud, as one writer viewed it. Future of historic Willow Run plant uncertain - mlive.com After the war, these residences served students attending the nearby University of Michigan on the G.I. We . Work Experience of Willow Run Workers 1075 - Jstor Charles Sorensen boasted that Ford would produce B-24s at the rate of one each hour. A 175,000-square-foot section, where B-24s were gassed up and towed out the door, was spared for the future home of the National Museum of Aviation and Technology. Eighty years ago this month, workers began clearing land near a small creek in Ypsilanti Township to make way for the largest factory in the world, the Willow Run Bomber Plant. General Motors produced the Chevrolet Corvair at the Willow Run plant sniffed Dutch Kindelberger, president of North American Aviation. Access the "best of" at The Henry Ford and other great visit planning resources. generations. 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. 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. At its peak, Willow Run employed more than 42,000 people. Baseball games at the on-site recreation field took away some of the strain during off-duty hours. Mr. Ford's steadfast leadership helped the company to make good on its promise. A technological marvel for a new age of aerial warfare, the B-24 was now obsolete. 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. Since the 2010 closure of Willow Run Transmission, the factory complex has been managed by the RACER Trust, which controls the properties of the former General Motors. A never-ending stream of water gurgles through the pipes to parts unknown like an underground stream. Easements were acquired from landowners across the county line in Ypsilanti Township where the Liberator plant (and eventually the airport terminal) would be built. You cant expect a blacksmith to make a watch overnight, Women did everything from clerical work in the offices to riveting and welding on the assembly line. [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. most enormous room in the history of man.. In 1972, the University spun off WRL into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, which eventually left Willow Run for offices in Ann Arbor. >> the willow run plant is in the process now of being demolished. Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. The aircraft manufacturer Douglas Aircraft, and the B-24's designer, Consolidated Aircraft, assembled the finished airplane. Handcrafted versions were pressed into service in England, but the San Diego company lacked resources and methods for high-volume production of the largest, most complex airplane ever designed. Before the first employee was hired, the factory stood as a national symbol of Americas fearsome production prowess. DETROIT -- The public will get the chance to visit the former Willow Run bomber plant in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., one last time Saturday before the factory is demolished. The government's constant design changes to the B-24 were particularly troubling. Of the 1,000 apartments in West Court, some had no bedrooms and were called "zero bedroom" apartments, and the rest had one bedroom. Construction on the Willow Run Bomber Plant began that spring and it soon became the largest factory under one roof in the world. Factory golf and bowling leagues provided additional opportunities for relaxation. Each completed B-24 contained more than 300,000 rivets in more than 500 sizes. Every available room within miles was rented, including those with eight-hour shifts called hot beds. Contact Us Foxconn Technology Group 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. Together they produced more of the slab-sided behemoths than any American warplane ever. The Air Force dictated more performance and safety upgrades for B-24s than any other American warplane. 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. Well build the whole plane or nothing, Sorensen barked, accompanied by the audacious claim that Ford would assemble new B-24s every hour. It's hard to imagine a factory that large churning out a complete heavy bomber every 55 minutes, but these workers accomplished exactly that. RACER Trust has been supportive of the campaign, even reconfiguring engineering and demolition plans to save cost for the museum. Adjacent to the factory complex, Ford constructed a 1,484-acre airport with six runways and three aircraft hangars. Sixty-seven feet long, the B-24 had 450,000 parts and 360,000 rivets in How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II Still, aviation industry leaders scoffed when the War Department chose Ford Motor Co. to mass-produce Liberators. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. The Fords built seven of these: The first at Greenfield Village, Michigan, was completed in 1929. [26] The housing complex remained in use until 2016 as public housing when it was demolished and rebuilt with new modern units. By 1945, Ford produced 70% of the B-24s in two 9-hour shifts. The Ford Motor Company's Willow Run Bomber Plant began production in 1942 and continued until June 28, 1945. His sketches embraced the two fundamentals of mass production: standardized, interchangeable parts and continuous, orderly flow punctuated by stops at assembly stations where workers and machines performed repetitive tasks. Automobiles of the era had 15,000 parts and weighed around 3,000 pounds. By the mid-1920s, a local family operating as Quirk Farms had bought the land in Van Buren Township that became the airport. those hangar doors represent the end of the plant, the end of the assembly line where 8700 b-24s rolled out. With the pressures of wartime production schedules -- and the sense that victory itself depended on their efforts -- Willow Run's employees needed occasional relief from their burdens. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member The chosen site was farmland owned by Henry Ford on the eastern edge of Michigan's Washtenaw County, near a creek called Willow Run. Sorensen reviewed his concept at breakfast with Edsel, who responded enthusiastically to its vision and boldness and initialed it on the spot, as did Henry II and Benson, his two sons accompanying him on the trip. The tri-level interchange seen here provided direct access to the factory for traffic traveling to and from the expressway. The plant began production in summer 1941; the dedication plaque is dated June 16. the yankee air museum into it and show people what the history . South Lyon, Mich., resident Emma Rancour, who got a job at the Willow Run bomber plant at age 19 in 1943, was in awe of the plant's sheer size. In addition, Henry Ford refused on principle to hire women. Use this Artifact Card to share this great find with others. 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. In 2013, the Museum was able to purchase 144,000 square feet of the Plant. 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. Not given to understatement, he proclaimed that the one-level superstructure would be the most enormous room in the history of man.. Steel dies proved more precise, longer lasting, and perfectly safe. As American involvement in the war seemed more likely, the U.S. government approached Ford Motor Company about making parts and subassemblies for B-24 bombers. [40], The B-24E was the first variant of the B-24 that underwent primary manufacture by Ford at Willow Run. They lived in tents, with a mess hall and a chapel on-site, and sold their produce from a roadside stand built by Ford. You can select the language displayed on our website. According to Max Wallace, Air Corps Chief General "Hap" Arnold told Charles Lindbergh, then a consultant at the plant, that "combat squadrons greatly preferred the B-17 bomber to the B-24 because 'when we send the 17's out on a mission, most of them return. High school graduates worked the line next to 70-year-olds. The B-24J incorporated a hydraulically driven tail turret and other defensive armament modifications in the nose of the aircraft. Pilots, co-pilots, navigators and crew chiefs were assigned as a crew for each aircraft, sleeping on 1,300 cots as they waited for the B-24s to roll off the assembly line. The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. The center includes a proving ground where smart cars react instantly to all manner of potentially dangerous and problematic situations. 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. Copyright 2023. This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. Working with a scale model, they shifted equipment and work stations for maximum efficiency. Willow Run After WWII - Military History of the Upper Great Lakes Transportation history for an electronic age is underway at Willow Run at the American Center for Mobility, where carmakers, suppliers and high-technology companies have banded together to research, develop and test driverless cars that communicate with one another and with traffic signals to avoid accidents and adjust traffic flow. 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. 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. 80, Squadron/Signal Publications Inc. Johnson, Fredrick A (1996) Consolidated B-24 Liberator - Warbird Tech Vol. After Kaiser left, General Motors leased and then purchased Willow Run. With the weight reduction and more powerful engines, it also had a much longer range than earlier models. 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. 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. Perhaps the most impressive breakthrough at Willow Run was Ford's technique for assembling the B-24's center wing section. Changeovers required onerous delays and costly retooling. The Yankee Air Museum acquired a portion of the plant, for preservation and exhibit purposes, in 2013. [3], Upon the introduction of the B-24J, all three of the Liberator manufacturing plants converted to the production of this version. from 1959 to 1969. Modifications resulted from lessons learned in fighting fronts and from the need to modify the plane for its multiple roles. 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. Feeding the thousands of workers at Willow Run was no small task. Today "Rosie" remains a feminist icon and a powerful reminder of women's contributions to the American economy. The B-17 had a six-year history of design, development, testing and limited production. Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. The twin-finned, high-winged B-24 with its dual bomb bays and tricycle landing gear debuted in 1939 as a repurposed land model of Consolidateds bulky flying boats. It was constructed in 1941 by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft. It was thought to be the largest factory under one roof anywhere in the world. The salvaged Hydramatic transmission tooling and machinery relocated to Willow Run and were back in production just nine weeks after the fire.[43]. The 2023 Detroit Area Crosstown Challenge. Willow Run ran two nine hour shifts. WOO Network | LinkedIn No one had ever manufactured airplanes on such a scale before. 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. The plant's kitchen prepared nearly 10,000 rolls each day. No.2, Ziyou St., Tucheng Dist., New Taipei City 236, Taiwan +886-2-2268-3466 Instead, upstart automaker Kaiser-Frazer Corporation moved into the factory. Since 1992, it has been home to the Yankee Air Museum. That was the schedule six days a week. [8] In 2014, the Yankee Air Museum moved into the bomber factory. As he spoke, the country had fewer than 3,000 warplanes in its arsenal, most obsolete. Willow Run Bomber Plant - Warfare History Network The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was taking over the long-range bombing role in the Pacific Theater and no new B-24 units were programmed for deployment in the other combat theaters of Europe, the Mediterranean or in the CBI. There were seven known modification centers: the Birmingham Air Depot in Alabama; Consolidated's Fort Worth plant, the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Center at Tinker Field, the Tucson Modification Center at Tucson International Airport;[39] the Northwest Airlines Depot in Minneapolis; the, Martin-Omaha manufacturing plant, and the Hawaiian Air Depot at Hickam Field. move the yankee air museum into . [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. He may have been right. While assembly workers formed the heart of Willow Run's workforce, there were numerous administrative, clerical and support staff members too. Five main contractors hurried the project along, and parts of the plant began production in September 1941. The plant held the distinction of being the world's largest enclosed "room." 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. 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. Join Ernst Neumayr, Channel Development Manager from Universal Robots, and Jeremy Crockett, Business Manager for Automation from Atlas Copco, and discover how cobots can build your business and increase productivity in your manufacturing facility without multiplying the complexity of your processes! But just when that milestone seemed possible, the government drastically cut its order for B-24s. we intend to save that. [3][4] The Birmingham Air Depot's primary mission was modifying Liberators from Willow Run. The valves that would shut the water off to different parts of the plant have been hidden in the building's entrails. 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. 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. Sorensen was shocked. On October 31, 1945 Ford published a notice that cut its workforce from 1,400 employees down to 100 employees who would finish cataloging remaining parts and finish the records. 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. 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. "C-SPAN Cities Tour - Ann Arbor: Willow Run Bomber Plant", GM Powertrain plant and engineering center, Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, "Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy", "Willow Run Bomber Plant, Beginning Construction, 1940", "How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II", "Former GM Willow Run plant attracts $9 million offer from redevelopers", "Former GM Willow Run plant may be demolished", "Willow Run | Detroit Historical Society", "Do you have any information on Camp Legion and Camp Willow Run? 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 end of the assembly line where 8700 b-24s rolled out. Mass production of B-24s must rely on continuous assembly flow, or they couldnt be built at all. [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].
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