Since 1992, it has been home to the Yankee Air Museum. There were 24 lunch rooms located throughout the complex. Most controversial was Ford's decision to replace soft metal dies -- thought to be gentler on aluminum airplane components -- with hard steel dies. 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. In 1972, the University spun off WRL into the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, which eventually left Willow Run for offices in Ann Arbor. Although the jumping of an automotive company into aircraft production posed these quality problems, it also brought remarkable production rates. The others, completed in the 1930s, were located in Dearborn, Michigan (site of the Fords' Fair Lane estate); Sudbury, Massachusetts; two in Richmond Hill, Georgia (the Fords' winter home); Macon, Michigan; and Willow Run. The 60-year-old production czar viewed mass production of B-24s as the crowning achievement of his career. Their work guided custom designs of 1,600 machine tools and 11,000 fixtures, some 60 feet tall, that would stamp, mill, drill, broach and grind parts to thousandths-of-an-inch tolerances, each with repeatable precision. A documentary about the Ypsilanti Willow Run airport's legendary B-24 bomber plant will air Sunday on PBS . But when we send the 24's out, most of them don't. [48] On October 26, 2013, RACER Trust and the Yankee Air Museum again reached a third, and final, deadline extension agreement that gave Yankee until May 1, 2014, to raise the $8 million estimated as necessary to secure, enclose and preserve a portion of the original Willow Run plant for the Yankee Air Museum. They would be built elsewhere. For this reason, a series of Air Technical Service Command modification centers were established for the incorporation of these required theater changes into new Liberators following their manufacture and assignments. Deemed unfit for combat, they were assigned to training bases, reconnaissance patrols and transport duties. Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. Rivet gun operator Rosemary Will from Pulaski County, KY, appeared in a Ford promotional film, personifying thousands of women in the nations defense industry, collectively known as Rosie the Riveter. 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. This section was known as Willow Run Village. 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. Ford built the factory and sold it to the government, then leased it back for the duration of the war. 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. 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. 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 . Sadly, one of the people most responsible for Willow Run's success did not live to see it. Planes were assembled outdoors, exposed to a hot sun that distorted parts out of shape. Ford officials looked for every efficiency they could find in B-24 production. 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. Charles Sorensen, seen here earlier in his career, traveled to Consolidated's San Diego plant with Ford president Edsel Ford. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. Efforts to desegregate Willow Run Lodge and Village and build additional integrated housing were rebuffed by the Detroit Housing Commission and the National Housing Agency,[25] so noted African-American architect Hilyard Robinson was contracted to design an 80-unit community. The holding cost of the Powertrain plant is enormous. 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. [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. Modifications resulted from lessons learned in fighting fronts and from the need to modify the plane for its multiple roles. Construction on the Willow Run Bomber Plant began that spring and it soon became the largest factory under one roof in the world. The main building's "L" shape prevented its crossing into neighboring Wayne County. Willow Run Airport became a Midwest destination for passenger airlines until the late 1950s. Thought to be overly ambitious in its scope, the plant hoped to boost bomber production from one aircraft per day to one plane per hour. With so many young men drafted into the armed forces, Willow Run's workforce was unusually diverse for its time: African Americans, whites, older people, younger men unable to serve in the military, and -- most notably -- women. The Willow Run airport was to produce the B-24 bomber to support the Allied war effort. 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. Their shopping list included 12,000 of these aerial battleships to attack Germanys heartland, hammering military installations, bridges, factories, rail yards, fuel storage tanks and communications centers. As he spoke, the country had fewer than 3,000 warplanes in its arsenal, most obsolete. A technological marvel for a new age of aerial warfare, the B-24 was now obsolete. The Yankee Air Museum acquired a portion of the plant, for preservation and exhibit purposes, in 2013. Between them, there was a shelter for more than 15,000 people, roughly the number of people living in Ypsilanti at the time. An unknown number dwelt in the memories of plant foremen. The plant closed June 28, ending the Liberators brief but epic run, along with Fords presence in the aircraft industry. 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 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. Yankee was originally granted until August 2013 (deadline was later extended) to raise the funds needed to purchase and separate a portion of the approximately 5,000,000 sq. After nearly a year of work, the cost to keep the plant shuttered and standing is $7 million annually. Lewis, charged with dismantling the facility, has found it's taken more detective work than he thought to shut the plant down. The errant flush caused Lewis grief as he tried to find the source of the sound. A thousand-member tool design group worked around the clock seven days a week for almost a year to create three-dimensional schematics of the planes 30,000 separate components, generating five million square feet of blueprints in the process. This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. But, as 1943 arrived, problems got solved and Willow Run turned a corner. 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. "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? Sorensen could not guarantee that precision parts built by Ford would fit in airplanes built by Consolidated under those conditions. Charles Sorensen's brash "one plane every hour" claim was no longer an empty boast. Public bus lines offered 35 daily trips from Detroit, while private carriers offered 130. [55] By mid-2014, the majority of the facility had been demolished and cleared. Because of the urgent need for shelter, the Federal Public Housing Administration took action and built temporary housing. Reality proved otherwise. plant, each paid the same 85 cents an hour as their The Fords built seven of these: The first at Greenfield Village, Michigan, was completed in 1929. With the weight reduction and more powerful engines, it also had a much longer range than earlier models. Equities Group Holdings offered to buy the former Powertrain plant from the RACER Trust. Crew size was up to ten, and range was up to 3,000 miles. [1] Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940 [2] and was completed in 1942. Of the seven chapels, this is the only one currently in use as a regular place of worship. With so many young men drafted into the armed forces, Willow Run's workforce was unusually diverse for its time: African Americans, whites, older people, younger men unable to serve in the military, and -- most notably -- women. Sorensen stayed up all night formulating a B-24 assembly process on the backs of Coronado Hotel placemats. The skilled women who accomplished this work -- at Willow Run and elsewhere -- inspired the symbolic "Rosie the Riveter" character. In the process, the boys were to learn self-discipline and the values of hard work, and benefit from the fresh air of the country.[11]. [3][4] Willow Run's Liberator assembly line ran until May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. Highway improvements came in September 1942 when the Willow Run Expressway opened between the plant and Detroit. 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. [13], The Willow Run chapel of Martha and Mary now stands a few miles from where it was originally constructed, on property that used to be owned by Henry Ford's Quirk Farms. The plant began production in summer 1941; the dedication plaque is dated June 16. The automaker had . The B-24 Bomber, officially known as the B-24 Liberator, was designed by Consolidated Aircraft Co., San Diego, California. The plant at Willow Run was also beset with labor difficulties, high absentee rates, and rapid employee turnover. [51], Michigan Live reporter Amy Biolchini toured the empty Willow Run facility in early 2013, observing:[52]. Specialized employees -- riveters, for example -- received training in these classrooms as well. [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. All Rights Reserved BNP Media. 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. No.2, Ziyou St., Tucheng Dist., New Taipei City 236, Taiwan +886-2-2268-3466 What is your previous experience with unions? 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. Early example of Lean. 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]. Some 12,000 women worked at the Willow Run bomber 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]. 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. . Winston Churchill called his specially outfitted B-24 the Commando. This was largely because of Henry Ford. 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 President and First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, visited Willow Run on September 18, 1942, where they joined Henry Ford, Edsel Ford and Charles Sorensen on a tour of the complex. 8,685 B-24's were built in Willow Run bomber plant (Story of Willow Run, p.70). Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time. Rugged and versatile, Liberators served in every theater of the war with 15 Allied air forces, stalking and destroying German U-boats in Atlantic shipping lanes, flying The Hump from India over the Himalayas to bring critical fuel and supplies to the besieged Chinese army, and dropping special agents into France and the Low Countries to organize sabotage operations against Nazi occupiers. The factory prompted the creation of the Washtenaw County Health Department and was a key part of America's "arsenal of . Production steadily increased, reaching the magical plane-per-hour pinnacle in mid-1944 while accounting for half of all B-24s assembled that year. Skeptics scoffed at the idea that Ford Motor Co. could mass-produce [41], The B-24L was the first product of the new, downsized Liberator production pool. Along with the B-17, the B-24 formed the backbone of the Allies' air war over Europe. By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . Employee training was a constant process at Willow Run. Rosemary was among 200,000 southerners who flocked to southeastern Michigan for factory jobs, including 9,500 employed at Willow Run. No two were alike.. It was an attempt to reverse the trend toward ever-increasing weight of the Liberator as more and more armament, equipment, and armor had been added, with no corresponding increase in engine power. We . 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. The plant was the embodiment of America's "Arsenal of Democracy" -- the enormous manufacturing capacity so vital to the Allies' victory. Photographic print. The university operated the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (MARC), later known as Willow Run Laboratories (WRL), from 1946 to 1972. Today "Rosie" remains a feminist icon and a powerful reminder of women's contributions to the American economy. The average daily pumpage in million gallons was about 1.68 in 1942, 1.70 in 1943, and 1.66 in 1944. 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 B-17 had a six-year history of design, development, testing and limited production. The Willow Run bomber plant made aviation, industrial and social historyalong with new B-24s by the hour. The first of these apartments were ready for occupancy in August 1943. Ford built 37 planes in January, 70 in February, 96 in March, and 146 in April. The Willow Run bomber plant, the world's largest factory and one of America's most-publicized plants, is on the outskirts of Ypsilanti, . This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties, Sociological study on Willow Run housing crisis, Army Air Forces support and post-production activities, Liberator variants produced at Willow Run, Redevelopment efforts and the Yankee Air Museum. 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. UAW Local 898, 8975 Textile Rd, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. wrbpipms@gmail.com. Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn't stop. 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. approximately 4 out of every 10 employees were women. 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. 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. Ford Motor Company. Only 56 airplanes were built in all of 1942. At the request of the government, Ford began to decentralize operations and many parts were assembled at other Ford plants as well as by the company's sub-contractors, with the Willow Run plant concentrating on final aircraft assembly. 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. Perhaps, when peace returned, customers would remember Ford's achievement when it came time to shop for a new car. 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 2013, the Museum was able to purchase 144,000 square feet of the Plant. 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. The museum would consolidate operations scattered on various parcels at Willow Run, and the Trust expects to clear the remainder of the plant for redevelopment. From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. Manufacturing costs were slashed as man-hours per plane plummeted. During that time, the Ford Motor Company produced almost half of the B-24s built--8,685 out of 19,256. [34] The B-24 holds the distinction of being the most produced heavy bomber in history. A ghostly, decaying reminder of the industrial and military history echoing within its cavernous expanse, Willow Run was demolished in 2014. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. 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 covered 90 parcels of land[20] totaling 2,641 acres (1,069ha). 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. 7:00 PM. Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing. Working with architect Albert Kahn, Ford officials envisioned a massive factory with bombers built on a moving line, just like Ford's automobiles. At last Willow Run hit its stride in 1944. Managing the utilities and slowly shutting them off has been Lewis' biggest challenge, as the building is hard-pressed to give up its secrets. Of the 1,000 apartments in West Court, some had no bedrooms and were called "zero bedroom" apartments, and the rest had one bedroom. By the end of the war, Ford had pushed 8,865 B-24 heavy bombers out the Willow Run doors for the Army . Its goal was to apply auto-making mass-production principles to . 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. While . The automaker proudly promoted its B-24 efforts in magazine advertisements. Automobiles of the era had 15,000 parts and weighed around 3,000 pounds. Over the years, GM expanded the bomber plant by roughly half, into a nearly 5,000,000 square feet (460,000m2) GM Powertrain factory and engineering center. The ungainly aircraft flew faster (300 mph) than the sleeker B-17, carried heavier payloads (four tons of bombs, later increased to six tons), and had greater range (3,000 miles). The plant initially built components. Each kit -- consisting of 80 percent of the parts for a finished B-24 -- was shipped via two tractor-trailers. Click the drop-down menu below and make your selection. Dwarfs, whose physical stature had limited prewar employment opportunities, toiled inside wings, fuel cells and other confined spaces. move the yankee air museum into . [8] In 2014, the Yankee Air Museum moved into the bomber factory. Despite how smoothly the plant ran, putting out a bomber an hour still wasn't an easy feat. That was the schedule six days a week. The airport is now home to cargo airlines, charter flights and corporate jets. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Feeding the thousands of workers at Willow Run was no small task. The standard workweek for all hourly employees was 54 hours, with time-and-a-half pay for each hour over 40. That was the schedule six days a week. Willow Run and its workers met their goal. 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. Approximately one-third of the plant's assembly line workers were female. those represent the end of the plant. Thursday May 4th, 2023. You can select the language displayed on our website. Expectations were crushed and the sarcastic appellation Willit Run gained wide circulation. [8], Coordinates: 421428N 833304W / 42.241N 83.551W / 42.241; -83.551. In response, the federal government built Willow Run Lodge, an on-site dormitory complex that could accommodate 3,000 single women and men; and Willow Run Village, with 2,500 family housing units. Browse our Buyers Guide to find suppliers of all types of assembly technology, machines and systems, service providers and trade organizations. Here is his description of the visit and how he conceived the Willow Run bomber plant that eventually manufactured 8,800 of these aircraft. Submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) to suppliers of your choice with details on what you need with a click of a button. You must have JavaScript enabled to enjoy a limited number of articles over the next 30 days. 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. 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. Access the "best of" at The Henry Ford and other great visit planning resources. [1][35], After their manufacture, the next step in the process was the delivery of the aircraft to the operational squadrons. In 2011, A.E. Women did everything from clerical work in the offices to riveting and welding on the assembly line. Visit our updated, This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. [36][38], Once production began, it became difficult to introduce changes dictated by field experience in the various overseas theaters onto the production line in a timely fashion. In addition, Henry Ford refused on principle to hire women. Sorensen protested that Willow Run could not function under these strictures. To care for the plant's workforce, Willow Run maintained an on-site hospital with eight doctors, 40 nurses, and a dentist. Ultimately, more than seven million square feet of floor space were completed for B-24 production at Willow Run. It was constructed in 1941 by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft. ", Demolition of the majority of the Willow Run facility began in December 2013. The aircraft manufacturer Douglas Aircraft, and the B-24's designer, Consolidated Aircraft, assembled the finished airplane. male counterparts. Linen (Material). Apart from a new tail turret, the B-24M differed little from the B-24L. Gift of Ford Motor Company. Ford recruited workers throughout the Midwest and South. By the mid-1920s, a local family operating as Quirk Farms had bought the land in Van Buren Township that became the airport. [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. Instead, upstart automaker Kaiser-Frazer Corporation moved into the factory. Kaiser also built two C-123 Provider airframes at Willow Run, which were scrapped before delivery, as a procurement scandal involving the company put an end to any chance for future Air Force contracts. Willow Run Bomber Plant, By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center. It's all narrated with a fantastic mid-Atlantic accent that perfectly fits the . In some places, water cascades from the rafters of the buildingsending a shower on to the oily floor below. During a January 1941 inspection tour of the Consolidated San Diego plant with Edsel Ford, gentlemanly 45-year-old company president and son of cantankerous autocrat Henry Ford, Sorensen belittled the operations deliberate, labor-intensive procedures. Women represented approximately one third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. "A Historical Perspective.". Quirk Farms was purchased by automobile pioneer Henry Ford in 1931. By mid-1944, the Willow Run assembly plant was producing one B-24 per houraccounting for half of all B-24s assembled that year. 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. those hangar doors represent the end of the plant, the end of the assembly line where 8700 b-24s rolled out. . A never-ending stream of water gurgles through the pipes to parts unknown like an underground stream. [26] The housing complex remained in use until 2016 as public housing when it was demolished and rebuilt with new modern units. The story of Willow run and the production miracle that produced as many as 25 B-24 bombers every day. 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.

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