Consolidated maintained control over design changes and so did the Army Air Corps (retitled U.S. Army Air Force in June 1941). One thousand planes a day: Ford, Grumman, General Motors and the Managing the utilities and slowly shutting them off has been Lewis' biggest challenge, as the building is hard-pressed to give up its secrets. The airport is now home to cargo airlines, charter flights and corporate jets. Consolidated had built each wing with its own temporary jig to hold the structure in place. Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. [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. Truman was unimpressed -- he didn't want excuses, he wanted finished bombers. [8], Coordinates: 421428N 833304W / 42.241N 83.551W / 42.241; -83.551. Only 56 airplanes were built in all of 1942. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. Its goal was to apply auto-making mass-production principles to . Visit our updated. In 2013, the Museum was able to purchase 144,000 square feet of the Plant. By the mid-1920s, a local family operating as Quirk Farms had bought the land in Van Buren Township that became the airport. Specialized employees -- riveters, for example -- received training in these classrooms as well. The plant at Willow Run was also beset with labor difficulties, high absentee rates, and rapid employee turnover. He went on to oversee operations at the companys River Rouge complex where 100,000 workers could produce 10,000 cars a day, from raw materials to finished products. For the next six months, Sorensen shuttled 70-man teams of engineers and draftsmen back and forth on 2,300-mile trips from Ford headquarters to the Consolidated works in San Diego to immerse themselves in B-24 design, engineering, parts and components. [3], Upon the introduction of the B-24J, all three of the Liberator manufacturing plants converted to the production of this version. sniffed Dutch Kindelberger, president of North American Aviation. Skeptics dismissed mass production of a plane this enormous and advanced as a carmakers fantasy that would crash and burn when repeated design changes disrupted assembly lines and junked expensive tooling. While assembly workers formed the heart of Willow Run's workforce, there were numerous administrative, clerical and support staff members too. Work Experience of Willow Run Workers 1075 - Jstor Not given to understatement, he proclaimed that the one-level superstructure would be the most enormous room in the history of man.. [7] The 175,000-square-foot (16,300m2) portion of the original bomber plant that Yankee seeks to preserve is less than 5% of the massive facility, comprises the end of the former B-24 assembly line at the far eastern edge of the property, and contains the two iconic bay doors from which the finished Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers exited the plant during World War II. Four 1,200-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines assembled by Buick Motor Division shook the earth as the newly minted war machines cast aloft on test flights. Click the drop-down menu below and make your selection. "[12], Henry and Clara Bryant Ford dedicated a series of churches, the chapels of Martha and Mary as a perpetual tribute to their mothers, Mary Ford and Martha Bryant. Sociologist and professor Lowell Juilliard Carr and James Edson Stermer of the University of Michigan studied the sociological conditions at Willow Run arising from the wartime surge in the worker population in their book of 1952. To care for the plant's workforce, Willow Run maintained an on-site hospital with eight doctors, 40 nurses, and a dentist. PEGATRON CORPORATION Company Profile | Taipei City, Taiwan [36][37], While the planes were being serviced and made ready for overseas movement, personnel for these planes were also being processed. The Story of Willow Run highlights several of the steps involved in building the aluminum-intensive aircraft. A typical month saw as many workers quit as were hired, and 8,200 more were drafted into military service. [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. We . we intend to save that. UAW Local 898, 8975 Textile Rd, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. wrbpipms@gmail.com. GM used the building to store files until an undetermined time, where it was sold to the Cherry Hill Baptist Church. Riveting was an essential craft at Willow Run. The main building would be more than a mile long with dual, parallel assembly lines. Sorensen, Edsel Ford and Henry Ford well understood the difficulties in precision mass production. those represent the end of the plant. Apart from a new tail turret, the B-24M differed little from the B-24L. This was done at Willow Run by 1st Concentration Command (1st CC). How Detroit Factories Retooled During WWII to Defeat Hitler - History The Willow Run bomber plant made aviation, industrial and social historyalong with new B-24s by the hour. This section was known as Willow Run Village. Ford Motor Company had reinvented the concept with the Model T's moving assembly line. Mr. Ford's steadfast leadership helped the company to make good on its promise. 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. 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. Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. 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. He may have been right. In 1968, General Motors began reorganizing its body and assembly operations into the GM Assembly Division (GMAD). 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. After the war, these residences served students attending the nearby University of Michigan on the G.I. generations. male counterparts. 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. Willow Run Bomber Plant - The Henry Ford It also required the installation of two turntables to turn airplane fuselages 90 degrees near the end of the assembly line. One pundit referred to it as a sprawling mass of industrial ambition. Folklore has it that Henry Ford decreed that the eastern perimeter of the windowless, L-shaped edifice not spill over into Wayne County, home to Detroit and all those rascally Democrats and union organizers. Because of the urgent need for shelter, the Federal Public Housing Administration took action and built temporary housing. Ford proved them wrong, not easily nor entirely, during a 2.5-year production run in a 3.5-million-square-foot factory built over Willow Run Creek near Ypsilanti, MI. Women did everything from clerical work in the offices to riveting and welding on the assembly line. By Tim Trainor. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. The 2023 Detroit Area Crosstown Challenge. Construction on the Willow Run Bomber Plant began that spring and it soon became the largest factory under one roof in the world. The Willow Run bomber plant, the world's largest factory and one of America's most-publicized plants, is on the outskirts of Ypsilanti, . Early example of Lean. Buses were among the only practical solutions. Charles Sorensen boasted that Ford would produce B-24s at the rate of one each 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. With the weight reduction and more powerful engines, it also had a much longer range than earlier models. Ford built 37 planes in January, 70 in February, 96 in March, and 146 in April. On November 3, 1943, employees celebrated as Willow Run turned out its 1,000th finished B-24 bomber. The B-24 and the Willow Run Bomber Plant | Flickr [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. 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. Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford passed away on May 26, 1943. Sorensen and his team methodically broke the complex bomber plane into 11 major assemblies, and then further divided these into 69 sub-assemblies. 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. WOO Network | LinkedIn B-24 Liberators line the airfield at Willow Run Airport in this June 1945 photo. A technological marvel for a new age of aerial warfare, the B-24 was now obsolete. Kaiser-Frazer moved into Willow Run and built civilian-style Jeeps, Henry J sedans, and C-119 cargo planes until going under in 1953. The remaining four hours were used to restock parts and change tooling. 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. 1250 B-24L aircraft were built at Willow Run. The plant was the embodiment of America's "Arsenal of Democracy" -- the enormous manufacturing capacity so vital to the Allies' victory. Between June and December 1943, construction was completed on temporary "flat-top" buildings providing homes for 2,500 families. During that time, the Ford Motor Company produced almost half of the B-24s built--8,685 out of 19,256. 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]. In only one month, Ford had hired 2,900 workers but had lost 3,100. ft. building, which later became the GM Powertrain facility. Hundreds bought their first pair of shoes upon arrival. Planes were assembled outdoors, exposed to a hot sun that distorted parts out of shape. Paper (Fiber product) The U.S. government contributed $200 million to the project.Originally 975 acres of farmland owned by Henry Ford, the site was developed by the Ford Motor Company into Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. A rough-hewn, hard-charging martinet, Cast Iron Charlie played a principal role in conceiving and designing the worlds first moving assembly line at Fords Highland Park plant bordering Detroit. 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. Paperwork was handled, necessary specific B-24 life support equipment was issued and some technical training for supporting the aircraft accomplished. The building is currently being used to house and protect of the Museum's large aircraft . The factory was nearly an hour's drive from Detroit, and the imposition of wartime gasoline and tire rationing had made the daily commute difficult. 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. Sorensen protested that Willow Run could not function under these strictures. Starting with 2,600 acres of Henry Ford's bare farmland, ground was broken on the 3.5 million sq.-ft. facility in April of 1941, and the first B-24 Liberator four-engine bomber flew off the giant Willow Run airfield in September of 1942. The first two extensions were to October 1, 2013, and then to November 1, 2013. The team developed the B-24's build sequence from these divisions. 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. GM first built transmissions at the plant, and later automobiles including Chevrolet's Corvair and Nova models. Watch on. >> the willow run plant is in the process now of being demolished. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The company resumed automobile production within a week. 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. For government officials, Ford offered significant advantages. Of the 1,000 apartments in West Court, some had no bedrooms and were called "zero bedroom" apartments, and the rest had one bedroom. 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. Sixty-seven feet long, the B-24 had 450,000 parts and 360,000 rivets in Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. PBS to air documentary about Ypsilanti's legendary Willow Run B-24 No two were alike.. The Willow Run airport was to produce the B-24 bomber to support the Allied war effort. 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 B-24H differed from earlier B-24s by having a second turret placed in the nose of the aircraft to increase defensive firepower. Like many successful technology companies, LITEON outgrew the garage to become a leader of its chosen industry through years of hard work. Most controversial was Ford's decision to replace soft metal dies -- thought to be gentler on aluminum airplane components -- with hard steel dies. 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. ", Willow Run Bomber Plant Manual, 1943-1944, 1947 Kaiser-Frazer Advertisement, "One Every Minute is Not Enough! Women and men were paid the same rate for the same work. Contact Us Foxconn Technology Group Willow Run Bomber Plant, By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center. 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 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. An unknown number dwelt in the memories of plant foremen. President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to American industrys war production efforts as the Arsenal of Democracy. Willow Run perfectly symbolized Roosevelts memorable phrase. Fifty variants of the aircraft were dispatched to allies throughout the world from these sites. Skeptics scoffed at the idea that Ford Motor Co. could mass-produce The salvaged Hydramatic transmission tooling and machinery relocated to Willow Run and were back in production just nine weeks after the fire.[43]. General Motors produced the Chevrolet Corvair at the Willow Run plant Willow Run ran two nine-hour shifts. 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. [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. [3][41], The B-24H was the first variant produced by Ford at Willow Run in large numbers that went into combat. 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. Dwarfs, whose physical stature had limited prewar employment opportunities, toiled inside wings, fuel cells and other confined spaces. was producing one B-24 per houraccounting Easements were acquired from landowners across the county line in Ypsilanti Township where the Liberator plant (and eventually the airport terminal) would be built. Ford Motor Company built everything from jeeps to generators during World War II, but nothing else was on the scale of Willow Run. 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. 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. 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. heavy aircraft. [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]. The influx of workers for the massive war . Ground-water supplies of the Ypsilanti area, Michigan The worksite Sorensen chose was a 1,875-acre Ford-owned tract that had been a farm camp for boys whose fathers were killed or disabled in World War I. Kahn had designed the Rouge and hundreds of other manufacturing facilities over a long and storied career. Willow Run - Wikipedia Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The tri-level interchange seen here provided direct access to the factory for traffic traveling to and from the expressway. But, as 1943 arrived, problems got solved and Willow Run turned a corner. For Our Members-. [6] In April 2013, a redevelopment manager for the RACER Trust said unused portions of the powertrain plant would likely be razed as a step toward redeveloping the property. 7:00 PM. 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. [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. Automobiles of the era had 15,000 parts and weighed around 3,000 pounds. Years later, that stretch would become a section of I-94. 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. The main building's "L" shape prevented its crossing into neighboring Wayne County. About Us - Yankee Air Museum Davis, Larry, (1987), B-24 Liberator in Action - Aircraft No. Submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) to suppliers of your choice with details on what you need with a click of a button. Working with a scale model, they shifted equipment and work stations for maximum efficiency. The story of Willow run and the production miracle that produced as many as 25 B-24 bombers every day. General Motors took over and produced transmissions until 2010, when the company declared bankruptcy and moved out. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. 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. [1][35], After their manufacture, the next step in the process was the delivery of the aircraft to the operational squadrons. The factory prompted the creation of the Washtenaw County Health Department and was a key part of America's "arsenal of . The water is treated in a modern treatment plant completed in 1939. you can see the two big hangar doors behind me. The B-24 Bomber, officially known as the B-24 Liberator, was designed by Consolidated Aircraft Co., San Diego, California. Ford production chief Charles Sorensen, driving force behind the B-24 program, possessed a crusaders faith and fervor in the primacy and benefits of mass production, and had the bona fides to back it up. Out of sheer necessity, Willow Runs 42,500-member 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. 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!