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. Click the drop-down menu below and make your selection. Every fluorescent light bulb in the plant must be taken out before the building can be torn down. [1][35], After their manufacture, the next step in the process was the delivery of the aircraft to the operational squadrons. [29] They discuss "cultural inadequacy theory", stating that "industrial culture provides no criterion by which either a manufacturer or a government official can determine in advance when a manufacturer should divert his own capital to housing and other community services and when he shall rely on the capital of others for such facilities and services". >> the willow run plant is in the process now of being demolished. Willow Run Bomber Plant - The Henry Ford 20900 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI 481245029, Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation Overview, Teacher's Choice @ Giant Screen Experience, Henry Austin Clark, Jr. Graduate Internship, Clark Travel-to-Collections Research Fellowship, Diversity and Inclusion Internship Program, Teacher's Choice @ Giant Screen Experience, Educator Professional Development Overview, 6000th Ford B-24 in Flight over Detroit, Michigan, September 13, 1944, B-24 Bomber in Flight, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1944, Ford Rouge Plant Administration Building from the Ford Rotunda, Dearborn, Michigan, 1936, Henry Ford at Willow Run Bomber Plant Construction Site, 1941, Flow Chart for B-24 Production at the Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1944, Charles Sorensen and Others Viewing a Scale Model of the Willow Run Bomber Plant, July 1941, Interior of the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant during Construction, 1941, Aerial View of the Ford Motor Company Willow Run Bomber Plant, September 1945, Workers Arriving and Departing by Bus at Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, Crowd at Dedication of Tri-Level Highway Overpass, Willow Run, Michigan, 1942, Willow Run Lodge, Housing for Willow Run Bomber Plant Workers, 1945, Employees in Classroom at the Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, B-24 Fuselage Assembly Line, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, B-24 Bombers on Assembly Line at Ford Motor Company Willow Run Bomber Plant, January 1943, Senator Harry S. Truman and Ford Executive Charles Sorensen with B-24 Liberator at Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, B-24 Engine Assembly Line, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, B-24 Bomber Wing Assembly, Ford Motor Company Willow Run Plant, 1944, Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943, Women Riveters at Willow Run Bomber Plant, Michigan, 1944, Employee Handling the Material Flow for the B-24 Bomber, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1944, Chefs Preparing Food at Willow Run Bomber Plant Kitchen, 1942, Hangar Hospital, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, Baseball Game at Willow Run Bomber Plant Recreation Field, September 1944, Comparing Cast and Welded Part with Pieced and Riveted Part to Improve Production, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1944, B-24 Liberator Assembly Line at Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1944, Portrait of Edsel Ford by Pirie MacDonald, 1934, B-24 Bomber Assemblies Being Loaded Into a Trailer, Willow Run Bomber Plant, circa 1943, 6,000th B-24 Bomber at Ford Motor Company Willow Run Plant, September 9, 1944, Henry Ford and President Franklin Roosevelt Touring the Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942, Ford Institutional Advertisement on the B-24 Bomber, "Watch the Fords Go By! . While there were many injuries, it is notable that Willow Run did not record a single fatality while the factory was in service. According to legend, this arrangement allowed the company to pay taxes on the entire plant (and its equipment) to Washtenaw County, and avoid the higher taxes of Wayne County where the airfield is located; overhead views suggest that avoiding encroachment on the airfield's taxiways was also a motivation.[18]. Skeptics scoffed at the idea that Ford Motor Co. could mass-produce Willow Run - B24 Liberator - Military History of the Upper Great Lakes [36][37], While the planes were being serviced and made ready for overseas movement, personnel for these planes were also being processed. Willow Run ran two nine hour shifts. 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. It sat 35 miles west of Detroit, at a site without existing highway or streetcar connections. Part of the airport complex operated at various times as a research facility affiliated with the University of Michigan, and as a secondary United States Air Force Installation. The Fords built seven of these: The first at Greenfield Village, Michigan, was completed in 1929. Sorensen stayed up all night formulating a B-24 assembly process on the backs of Coronado Hotel placemats. Women represented approximately one third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. Some riveted parts were replaced with cast pieces to simplify and speed their manufacture. 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. "A Historical Perspective.". But just when that milestone seemed possible, the government drastically cut its order for B-24s. 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. With the weight reduction and more powerful engines, it also had a much longer range than earlier models. [8] In 2014, the Yankee Air Museum moved into the bomber factory. 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. Ford's Willow Run Factory - Warfare History Network In only one month, Ford had hired 2,900 workers but had lost 3,100. [7] Indeed, the majority of the plant was demolished in late 2013 and early 2014. The plant's kitchen prepared nearly 10,000 rolls each day. Contact Us Foxconn Technology Group 550 sizes, and it weighed 18 tons. The B-24J incorporated a hydraulically driven tail turret and other defensive armament modifications in the nose of the aircraft. plant, each paid the same 85 cents an hour as their Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. 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. Crew size was up to ten, and range was up to 3,000 miles. [8], Coordinates: 421428N 833304W / 42.241N 83.551W / 42.241; -83.551. According to the Benson Ford Research Center, the camp offered: "farm training, self-reliance, management, and salesmanshipthe boys governed themselves, appointing a foreman and field foreman from their own ranks. History of Willow Run Bomber Plant : CSPAN3 - Archive Search our website to find what youre looking for. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member workforce became a model of diversity for future generations. More than 3,200 feet long and 1,279 feet across at its widest point, the plants 80-acre interior exceeded the Empire State Buildings floor space by 20 percent. 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. 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]. Paperwork was handled, necessary specific B-24 life support equipment was issued and some technical training for supporting the aircraft accomplished. The plant held the distinction of being the world's largest enclosed "room." For those unable to endure a long commute, the federal government constructed housing on nearby farmland purchased from Henry Ford. 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 B-24 and the Willow Run Bomber Plant | Flickr High school graduates worked the line next to 70-year-olds. Ford Motor Company had reinvented the concept with the Model T's moving assembly line. [40], The B-24E was the first variant of the B-24 that underwent primary manufacture by Ford at Willow Run. Copyright 2023. Company Description: Pegatron offers a wide range of electronics products in computing, communications and consumer electronics segment, including notebook PCs, desktop PCs, motherboards, cable modems, smartphones, set-top boxes, and automotive electronics, among others. The largest of these hangars could house 20 B-24s at once, and included a control tower, a cafe, and a hotel. This was done at Willow Run by 1st Concentration Command (1st CC). 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. Steel dies proved more precise, longer lasting, and perfectly safe. They would be built elsewhere. 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. 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. What is your previous experience with unions? * Carr, Lowell J., and Stermer, James Edison. Sixty-seven feet long, the B-24 had 450,000 parts and 360,000 rivets in 550 sizes, and it weighed 18 tons. [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]. [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]. The water is treated in a modern treatment plant completed in 1939. Ford struggled to get Willow Run running at full potential. those represent the end of the plant. Between them, there was a shelter for more than 15,000 people, roughly the number of people living in Ypsilanti at the time. Employee training was a constant process at Willow Run. It was constructed in 1941 by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft. you can see the two big hangar doors behind me. 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 . Quirk Farms was purchased by automobile pioneer Henry Ford in 1931. [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. PBS to air documentary about Ypsilanti's legendary Willow Run B-24 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. Faces of Detroit: War: Lunch at Willow Run Ford Motor Company. In 1941, Henry Ford had his company build a factory at Willow Run in the Detroit area. [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940[2] and was completed in 1942. Rosemary was among 200,000 southerners who flocked to southeastern Michigan for factory jobs, including 9,500 employed at Willow Run. 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 iconic Rosie the Riveter may seem to be simply a fiction from the past but she has a name - and an important history. The Willow Run Expressway also connected with the Detroit Industrial Expressway, built at the same time. 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. The plant initially built components. As the problems continued into 1943, critics took to calling the plant "Will it Run.". 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. Planes were assembled outdoors, exposed to a hot sun that distorted parts out of shape. The first two extensions were to October 1, 2013, and then to November 1, 2013. Perhaps the most impressive breakthrough at Willow Run was Ford's technique for assembling the B-24's center wing section. Mass production of B-24s must rely on continuous assembly flow, or they couldnt be built at all. Over the course of the war, the hospital handled more than two million medical cases. 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. ", Willow Run Bomber Plant Manual, 1943-1944, 1947 Kaiser-Frazer Advertisement, "One Every Minute is Not Enough! Meanwhile, Ford was savaged in the Detroit press because it took too long. The holding cost of the Powertrain plant is enormous. Visit our updated. you can see the two big hangar doors behind me. For webinar sponsorship information, visit www.bnpevents.com/webinars or email webinars@bnpmedia.com. Ford had no say in the matter; production chaos ensued. Sorensen, Edsel Ford and Henry Ford well understood the difficulties in precision mass production. GM also produced vehicles next door at its Willow Run Assembly plant beginning a few years later, in 1959. Charles Sorensen's brash "one plane every hour" claim was no longer an empty boast. The first of these apartments were ready for occupancy in August 1943. 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 first Ford-built Liberator rolled off the Willow Run line in September 1942; the first series of Willow Run Liberators was the B-24E. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. Paper (Fiber product) 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 could not guarantee that precision parts built by Ford would fit in airplanes built by Consolidated under those conditions. May 2023 WRBP Meeting -. we intend to restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. Sorensen blamed delays on doing business with the government, treading through a maze of conflicting priorities and regulations, rancorous labor relations and wildcat strikes, housing shortages and erratic delivery of essential materials. Blacks and other minorities were welcomed and so were immigrants. Every American automaker turned its workforce and facilities to military production during World War II. Watch on. The Willow Run bomber plant made aviation, industrial and social historyalong with new B-24s by the hour. 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 option to Walbridge has since lapsed and the property remains available for purchase and redevelopment. B-24 Liberators line the airfield at Willow Run Airport in this June 1945 photo. The Story of Willow Run highlights several of the steps involved in building the aluminum-intensive aircraft. This covered 90 parcels of land[20] totaling 2,641 acres (1,069ha). Some 2,500 were parked in an Arizona desert awaiting the day when their aluminum skin and innards would be smelted into ingots for production of coffee percolators, toasters, pots and pans, and myriad other consumer and industrial products to satisfy the ravenous maw of Americas peacetime economy. Ford now planned to build 650 planes each month -- one every 45 minutes. By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . 1, Specialty Press. Also constructed at this time was the Parkridge Community Center. [49] The majority of the $8 million goal reflects separation costs to make the preserved portion of the plant viable as a standalone structure. 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. Sorensen and his team methodically broke the complex bomber plane into 11 major assemblies, and then further divided these into 69 sub-assemblies. Many fled after their first day, traumatized by the smell, constant clanging and motion of machinery, and overpowering size of the place. This section was known as Willow Run Village. The copper wiring and electrical fixturesthe veins and arteries of the plantare the first to be stripped away. Ford recruited workers throughout the Midwest and South. Employees Assembling Bomber at Willow Run Plant, March 1943 When Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, only 7,400 employees remained on the Willow Run payroll. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In 1968, General Motors began reorganizing its body and assembly operations into the GM Assembly Division (GMAD). That hulking plant was idled in the early 1990s, putting about 4,000 people out of work. 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. for half of all B-24s assembled that year. 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. RACER Trust has been supportive of the campaign, even reconfiguring engineering and demolition plans to save cost for the museum. restore a piece of the building, about 175,000 square feet. 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. This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. The B-17 had a six-year history of design, development, testing and limited production. 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. It's all narrated with a fantastic mid-Atlantic accent that perfectly fits the . 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. The bomber plant adjacent to the airport produced the famed World War II bombers in a plant built by Henry Ford. The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. Up to 8,000 students per week completed training and reported for work. Production steadily increased, reaching the magical plane-per-hour pinnacle in mid-1944 while accounting for half of all B-24s assembled that year. 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 skilled women who accomplished this work -- at Willow Run and elsewhere -- inspired the symbolic "Rosie the Riveter" character. Willow Run ran two nine-hour shifts. Sixty-seven feet long, the B-24 had 450,000 parts and 360,000 rivets in Named "Lily's Pad",[53] the break spot was equipped with posters that catered to the male fantasy, an air conditioning unit, rope lights, a TV and a list of restaurant takeout phone numbers. [17], Architect Albert Kahn designed the main structure of the Willow Run bomber plant, which had 3,500,000 square feet (330,000m2) of factory space, and an aircraft assembly line over a mile (1600m) long. The main building would be more than a mile long with dual, parallel assembly lines. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. Each kit -- consisting of 80 percent of the parts for a finished B-24 -- was shipped via two tractor-trailers. No B-24s were mass-assembled until the final weeks of 1942, more than a year after the plant opened, when 56 came off the line. Five main contractors hurried the project along, and parts of the plant began production in September 1941. In early 1941 the Federal government established the Liberator Production Pool Program to meet the projected demand for the B-24, and the Ford company, joined the program shortly thereafter. 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. The building is currently being used to house and protect of the Museum's large aircraft . [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. [46] The campaign attracted national, and even international, attention from media outlets that include many major news dailies in the US as well as National Public Radio, The History Channel magazine, National Geographic TV, The Guardian and the Daily Mail, the latter two of the UK. Automobiles of the era had 15,000 parts and weighed around 3,000 pounds. 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. In some places, the bulbs had been simply painted over and left in their sockets as GM quickly re-tooled assembly lines. Like many successful technology companies, LITEON outgrew the garage to become a leader of its chosen industry through years of hard work. The massive plant turned out 8,645 Liberators vs. 9,808 manufactured by four factories of Consolidated, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. Ypsilanti's oldest claim to fame: a bomber plant unlike any other
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