Willow Run
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Located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, the Willow Run Plant was constructed during World War II by Ford Motor Company for production of the B-24 Liberator aircraft. The site of the plant was a farm owned by Henry Ford. He used the farm to provide employment for youths during the summer.
Ford Motor Company, like virtually all of the United States' industrial companies, directed its manufacturing output during World War II for Allied war production.
The firm developed the Willow Run site to include an airfield and aircraft assembly facility. The plant held the distinction at the time of being the world's largest enclosed "room." At its peak, in August 1944, Willow Run produced 428 B-24 aircraft or almost 14 for each calendar day.[1]
An interesting feature of the Willow Run plant was a large turntable two-thirds of the way along the assembly line where the B-24s would make a 90° turn before continuing to final assembly. This arrangement was to avoid having the factory building cross a county line and so be taxed by two counties. The neighboring county's taxes were higher.[2]
The airfield continues to operate as the Willow Run Airport. After the war, ownership of the assembly plant passed to Kaiser Motors and then to Ford rival General Motors, which still owns and operates part of the facility as Willow Run Transmission. The airfield is primarily used for cargo flights. The Yankee Air Museum is also located on the airport grounds. On October 9, 2004, a fire destroyed the museum's main hangar, H-2041.
The plant has given its name to a community on the east side of Ypsilanti, defined roughly by the boundaries of the Willow Run Community Schools district.
On the other side of the airport from the assembly plant were a group of World War II hangars, which were sold to the University of Michigan in 1946. The university operated Willow Run Laboratories (WRL) from 1946 to 1972. WRL produced many innovations, including first ruby laser and operation of the ruby maser. In 1972, demonstrations by Vietnam war activists forced the university to detach WRL from it.
After war production ended, the plant was used by a partnership of Henry J Kaiser and a man named Frazer. They produced both a Kaiser and a Fraiser car. Sometime later, Mr. Frazer left the business and Kaiser took over completely. The "Henry J" was one of the cars he produced in later years. It was also sold through Sears-Roebuck as an "Allstate". B-24s were not the only planes produced at Willow Run. From 1952 to 1953, the facility was used by Kaiser to assemble Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar" cargo planes.
[edit] see also
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis, David L. "They may save our honor, our hopes—and our necks." Michigan History, September/October 1993.
- ^ Weber, Austin. "A Historical Perspective." Assembly Magazine, 2001. B-24 Production
[edit] External links
- "Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy" by Jenny Nolan for The Detroit News
- Yankee Air Museum
- Michigan Aerospace Foundation
- A Bomber An Hour
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