Video of B-24's being made by Ford
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Thanks for this.
The Willow Run plant was actually one of the most controversial for the US government. In reality the car manufacturing process put into place at the plant did not lend itself well to aircraft production, particularly for the very complex B-24: the military resisted going with Ford, then only paid him after the plant was already completed. They might have been better to save their money. Willow Run took much longer to get up to speed than other plants, with some extremely challenging early development problems.
And while automotive production techniques yielded some impressive production achievements and performance, the plant was also the slowest at producing B-24s. By the time it got up to speed the B-29 was already entering full production, making the B-24 obsolete. The large problem with the plant was that it also could not easily incorporate major design changes. Whereas other aircraft saw continual improvement, the B-24s at willow run were made to one standard, that had to be extensively reworked after production ended.
The Willow Run plant was actually one of the most controversial for the US government. In reality the car manufacturing process put into place at the plant did not lend itself well to aircraft production, particularly for the very complex B-24: the military resisted going with Ford, then only paid him after the plant was already completed. They might have been better to save their money. Willow Run took much longer to get up to speed than other plants, with some extremely challenging early development problems.
And while automotive production techniques yielded some impressive production achievements and performance, the plant was also the slowest at producing B-24s. By the time it got up to speed the B-29 was already entering full production, making the B-24 obsolete. The large problem with the plant was that it also could not easily incorporate major design changes. Whereas other aircraft saw continual improvement, the B-24s at willow run were made to one standard, that had to be extensively reworked after production ended.
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