AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Rumsfeld needs a History Lesson: The story of the Willow Run Plant

Mark Mulcachy of detroitbuildingtrades.org has written an excellent but concise history of the bomber plant in Willow Run Michigan that really is the symbol of America's transformation into the "Arsenal of Democracy" in World War II. If there is any case history that completely refutes Sec. Defense Rumsfeld's assertion that you fight a war with the army you have, Willow run is it. Here's an excert:

Architect Albert Kahn designed the Willow Run plant for Ford, which was an audacious and ambitious project by any measure. The assembly plant would be the largest in the world at the time, at more than a half-mile long and a quarter-mile wide. A system with 136 conveyors that would deliver parts where they needed to go in the building had to be designed for a complex, four-engine bomber for a company whose only experience was building cars. A road (I-94) had to be constructed for to get workers to the site.

The plant had to be built in a hurry - and it was. Construction started on the plant in April 1941 and was finished in September 1942. The next month, the first B-24 bombers built by Ford - with a mostly female workforce of "Rosie the Riveters" - were rolled off the assembly line and were flown to their destination from the runway.

According to Assembly Magazine, "More B-24s were built than any other combat aircraft in U.S. history. Several other plants churned out the airplane, including facilities in Fort Worth, TX, and San Diego. However, even under optimum conditions, those plants could only build one bomber a day." The Willow Run plant produced one bomber per hour by the end of 1943.

The Willow Run plant is currently being used by General Motors to manufacture automatic transmissions.


May 14, 2004