Willow Run B24 Production Exhibit, Michigan
www.YellowAirplane.com

The Willow Run Airport History, B-24 Bomber Plant and Airport Construction

B-24 Liberator Bombers - Story of the Worlds Largest Factory in WW2.

Willow Run, Colossus of American Industry, written by Warren Benjamin Kidder.  A true story of the production of the B-24 Liberator and the building of the Willow Run Airport  Bomber Plant.  

Ejecutar el Willow Bombardero de plantas y al aeropuerto,
B-24 Libertador Bombers - Historia del universo ms grande de la fbrica en WW2.

Willow Run is a book that was written by my friend Warren Benjamin Kidder about the B-24 Liberator, WW2 Bomber Production Plant and Airport near Detroit Michigan.

The following pages tells about this great factory and production plant where the WW2 B-24 Liberator was built which uses many references from this book.  This book is about the Willow Run manufacturing plant for the B-24 Liberators in the pastoral countryside east of Ypsilanti, Michigan, near the Village of Denton just outside of Detroit..  Ben Kidder was the last person to live on the Willow Run property before Ford Motor Company built the famous B-24 bomber plant.  Ben actually met Henry Ford a couple of times and Mr. Ford knew Ben also.  I've read a lot of this book, Willow Run, and it is very surprising that the Ford plant could complete these B-24 Liberators with a new B-24 's coming off of the assembly line every 56 minutes.  This book, Willow Run, tells the whole story in great detail.  The B-24 Liberator was built by license of the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in San Diego, California.  My Aunt was one of the workers at the consolidated Aircraft Company in San Diego building the B-24 Liberators.  She was at my house today, here in Macomb.  C. Jeff Dyrek.
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Jet Fighters WWII Fighters WWI Fighters NASCAR Ships Spacecraft Tanks Be sure to read on and click on the right arrow below  
to see some exciting pictures  
of the Willow Run B-24 Manufacturing Plant built by Henry Ford
 

 

This is the cover from the Book

Willow Run
Colossus of American Industry
 
by Warren Benjamin Kidder


The Factory was designed and build by Charles E. Sorensen.

"Without Sorensen's Mass Production of the B-24 Bomber
The Air War against Hitler's Third Reich
Would have Been Impossible."
(The Eighth Air Force)

In the following pages you will
see the many photo's and the history of the  
Willow Run B-24 Liberator Manufacturing Plant

Start the Willow Run Tour Below

willow run, b-24 liberator manufacturing plant in detroit michigan
Photo Scanned by C. Jeff Dyrek

 

This is the
Willow Run Home Page

Learn about the Willow Run Airport History and the History of the building of the B-24 Liberator.  Click the Arrow Below

  Or Click Here to see the New Movie, Willow Run about   
  " The Eighth Air Force in WW2 "
 

The following is an excerpt from a letter from the
8th Air Force to Ben Kidder.

F.C. "Hap" Chandler
President

Dear Ben:

Thank you for taking the time to visit our matchless Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. It was a pleasure to work with you regarding the history and "Time Line" of the Mighty Eighth during World War II.  Your book, "Willow Run"  Colossus of American Industry is a classic and much needed addition to the history of the Mighty Eighth's activities during World War II.  It has been very helpful to our year long study of the accomplishments of the wartime 8th Air Force as, without the production of large numbers of B-24 bombers, the air war against the Third Reich would have been impossible.

 

 Henry Ford's 80 Acre Factory with a mile long assembly line.
Employed more than 40,000 people.

Click Here's Warren Benjamin Kidders New Book, The Mighty Eighth Air Force

Click Here's the Movie Script for Willow Run

When Japan’s Admiral, Irsoroku Yamamoto bombed Pearl harbor, and destroyed all of the US battleships laying in anchor, he said:

"I FEAR all we have done is to awaken a sleeping Giant."

What the Admiral did not know was that his giant, was already awake and building the largest industrial factory in the world with a production line more than a mile long at Willow Run, where Henry Ford would employ 40,000 people to Mass produce the twenty ton, four engine, B-24 "Liberator" bomber at the unbelievable rate of one every hour.

The B-24 would be flown by the Mighty Eighth Air Force to defeat Hitler in his war against England which, in just a few short days after Pearl Harbor, would be declared by America’s President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to be America’s war as well.

In Sheer magnitude and complexity, Sorensen’s production of the B-24 Liberator bomber at Willow Run would represent the greatest achievement of the industrial age in war or peace.

In the South Pacific, Sorensen’s B-24s would be used by General MacArthur, for his island hoping battles to open way for the atomic bomb to be dropped on Yamamoto’s own Japan and bring about an end to the war that, he himself, had started at Pearl Harbor.

On December 3, just four days before Admiral Yamamoto<’s airplanes bombed Pearl Harbor, he could not have known that already finished paving the last of six concrete runways totaling 40,6447 feet on a 1,434 acre airport which required seventy five miles of drain tile, up to four feet in diameter, that he had started on July 22; And, that on December 11th he would produce his first B-24 bomber part in a still unfinished factory.

Sorensen continued building his 3,503,016 sq. ft. factory, and increased production until he achieved his goal of making the B-24s at the rate of one an hour, which the Eighth Air Force later discover was the same rate Hitler was shooting them out of the skies over Europe.

Sorenson’s production goal at Willow Run was enormous, its achievement prodigious. His task was to increase production output from a craft production rate of a bomber every thirteen days to a mass production rate of a bomber an hour. And, in two days less than a year from ground breaking, he had produced the First Center Wing Section for the airplane in a still unfinished factory. By April 1944, he was producing four hundred and sixty-two bombers at the rate of one every 59.34 minutes.

The enormous accomplishment of Sorensen and the men and women from Willow Run can only be fully appreciated when one realizes that in 1941, before Ford entered the aircraft industry it required 201,826 man-hours to manufacture a single B-24 bomber. In March 1944, Sorensen’s Willow Run Procedures of mass production had reduced those man-hours to only 17,357.

Without his vision to build Willow Run, and his ability to manufacture the B-24 at the rate of one an hour, the Allied Forces would not have had sufficient long range heavy bombers for their massive raids over Europe; and, to reopen the Atlantic Ocean, where Hitler’s submarines had taken control of the international waters and shipping lanes, destroying 750,000 tons of shipping during the first three weeks of March 1942.

Lack of long range heavy bombers had already brought about many early defeats in the Philippines. Including the "Bataan Death March," and without Sorensen’s vision and industrial expertise Hitler could easily have won World War II.

Every time I have written about Willow Run there has hovered in my mind the image of Charles E. Sorensen whose fate was so grandly conceived that he was destined to significantly change the course of twentieth century history.

 

 

The Ford Willow Run Factory and Airport, B-24 Plant at Willow Run, Michigan.

Click here for a Satellite Photo of the Willow Run Plant and Airport Today

Order Willow Run, the Book.
To Order  
Your Personal Autographed Copy, Send Check or Money Order to:

KFT Publishers,
3617 Christine Dr.
Lansing, MI. 48911

For Information Contact
Email: kidderfr@ATT.net Phone 517- 394-2849

Click Here's another Book Review about a B-24 Pilot in WW2, Jessie Pettey,
One More Mission, A Journey from Childhood to War.

 

  Click Here to go to the
YellowAirplane Online Museum

The Mighty Eighth Air Force World War II

The Mighty Eighth Air Force in Action during World War II.  Shows the building of the B-24 Liberator, Doolittle's Raids, Ploesti Raids, and a list of every mission flown by the Eighth Air Force.

The Might Eithth Air Force in Action in World War II

  See the B-24 Research Exhibit by John Bybee 

 

Military Aviation Sites
Little Friends 8th Air Force Fighter Groups by Peter Randall
Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-in   Great Warbird Videos

 

B-24 Liberator Movies     B-24 Liberator Aviation Art   B-24 Liberator Models     B-24 Liberator Books

 

Veterans,  Read This

 

B-24 Liberator Links

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Listing of Bomb Groups

Click Here to go to the YellowAirplane Online Museum


Shelg i Run bombardues Bimt dhe Aeroportit,
B-24 lirimtar shprthyes - Histori t botve n fabrikn m t madhe t WW2.
الصفصاف فإن تشغيل المطار ومنفذ العملية النباتية ،
ب 24 المحرر مهاجمون -- قصة أكبر مصنع في العالم في WW2.
В Уилоу Пусни Бомбър завод и летище,
Б-24 Освободител бомбардировачи - История на света Най-голям завод в WW2.
El Sauce i Executar bombarder Planta Aeroport, B-24 Libertador Bombers - Histria de l'univers ms gran de la fbrica a WW2.
柳树运行轰炸机的植物和机场的B - 24解放者轰炸机-故事世界上最大的工厂WW2 。
柳樹運行轟炸機的植物和機場的B - 24解放者轟炸機-故事世界上最大的工廠WW2 。
Vrba Run The Bomber biljnu i Aerodrom, B-24 bombardera oslobodilac - Priča o Worlds Najveća tvornica u WW2.
V Willow Zorganizuj Bomber budovy a letiště, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Přběh světů Největš Factory v WW2.
Den Willow Run Bomber Plant og Lufthavn, B-24 Liberator bombefly - Historien om verdens strste fabrik i WW2.
De Willow Run Bomber Plant en Airport, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Verhaal van 's werelds grootste fabriek in WO2.
The Willow Run Bomber Taimede ja lennujaam, B-24 Liberator pomm - Story of maailmojen Suurimad tehases WW2.
Ang Willow Patakbuhin bombero Plant at Airport, B-24 tagapagpalaya Bombers - Story ng mundo Pinakamalaking factory sa WW2.
The Willow Run Bomber Kasvien ja lentokentt, B-24 Liberator pommikoneiden - Tarina maailmojen suurin tehdas vuonna WW2.
Willow Run Bomber Plant et de l'aroport, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Histoire de la plus grande usine du monde en WW2.
A Willow run bomb planta e do Aeroporto, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Historia do Universo Maior fbrica de WW2.
Die Willow Run Bomber Anlagen und Flughafen, B-24 Liberator Bomber - Geschichte der weltweit grte Fabrik im 2. Weltkrieg.
Η Willow Run Βομβαρδιστή Φυτικοί και αεροδρόμιο, Β-24 Liberator βομβιστές - Ιστορία της Worlds Largest Εργοστάσιο στο τέλος του 2ου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου.
מפציץ את Willow הפעלה פלאנט וכן התעופה, B-24 משחרר Bombers - סיפורו של העולמות המפעל הגדול ביותר של WW2.
इस Willow भागो बॉम्बर संयंत्र और हवाई अड्डा, बी-24 मुक्तिदाता बम - स्टोरी WW2 में सबसे बड़ा संसारों फैक्टरी की.
A Willow Run Bomber Nvny-s replőtr-, B-24 Liberator bombzk - Story of a Vilg Legnagyobb gyr WW2.
Willow Run the Plant dan Bandara Bomber, B-24 pemerdeka Bombers - Cerita alam Largest pabrik di WW2.
La Willow Run Bomber vegetali e aeroporto, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Storia dei mondi pi grande fabbrica in WW2.
爆撃機は、工場や空港ウィローラン、 B - 24爆撃機解放-ストーリー第二次世界大戦では世界最大の工場。
윌로우 실행 범인 공장과 공항, B 조 - 24 리버 폭파 범 - 스토리 WW2에있는 세계 최대의 공장.
The Willow Run Bomber Augu un Airport, B-24 Liberator Bombers - stāsts no pasaulē Lielākā rūpnīcā WW2.
The Willow Run Bomber Augalų ir oro uostas, B-24 Liberator BOMBONEŠIS - Story of the Worlds largest gamyklos WW2.
Il-Willow Run Bomber Pjanti u Airport, B-24 Liberator bombi - Story tal-dinjiet akbar fabbrika in WW2.
The Willow Run Bomber Plant og flyplassen, B-24 Liberator bombefly - Story av verdens strste fabrikk i WW2.
The Willow Run Bomber Roślin i lotniska, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Story of the Worlds Largest Factory w WW2.
A Willow Run Bomber Plant e do Aeroporto, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Histria do Universo Maior Fbrica de WW2.
The Willow Run bombardier Plantelor şi Airport, B-24 eliberator bombe - Poveste de lumi Cel mai mare fabrica din WW2.
Willow Выполнить Бомбардировщик завод и аэропорт, B-24 Освободителя Бомбардировщики - История мира Крупнейший завод в WW2.
Врба Рун Тхе Бомбер биљну и Аеродром, Б-24 бомбардере ослободилаца - Прича о Уорлдс Највећа фабрика у УУ2.
V Willow Spravte Bomber budovy a letisk, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Prbeh svetov Najvčš Factory v WW2.
The Willow Run Bomber rastlin in letališče, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Zgodba o svetovi Največja Factory v WW2.
El Sauce y Ejecutar Bombardero Planta Aeropuerto, B-24 Libertador Bombers - Historia del universo ms grande de la fbrica en WW2.
Den Willow Run bomberen Plant och flygplats, B-24 Liberator Bombers - historien om vrldens strsta Factory i WW2.
การวิล์ลอวรันเครื่องบินทิ้งระเบิดโรงงานและสนามบินบี-24 กู้อิสรภาพ Bombers - เรื่องราวของโลกโรงงานที่ใหญ่ที่สุดใน WW2.
Ardından alıştır'ı Bomber Tesis ve Airport, B-24 bombardıman uakları Liberator - Hikaye WW2 yılında dnya Byk fabrikasında.
Willow Виконати бомбардувальник завод і аеропорт, B-24 Визволителя бомбардувальники - Історія світу Найбільший завод у WW2.
Cc Willow Chạy bomber Cy v Sn bay, B-24 Liberator Bombers - Story of the Worlds Nh my lớn nhất trong WW2.

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