Hacker CinemaThe Story of Willow Run
The Story of Willow Run
1945 · Film · documentary · 33 min
This Ford Motor Company promotional film describes its huge aircraft factory at Willow Run, east of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The plant made B-24 Liberator heavy bombers during World War II. At peak capacity, one four-engine B-24 rolled out the door every 55 minutes. The plant combined parts fabrication with final assembly under one roof, and employed up to 42,000 workers. This film also provides a detailed description of each stage of construction of a B-24, including parts manufacture, assembly, and flight test.
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One example of top down mobilization was the mass manufacture of aircraft for World War II. This Fox Business video [1] shows how Roosevelt's advisors found the top industry guys to analyze the artisanal manufacture of B-17 bombers, design and build an assembly line factory, and mass produce the bombers at a rate of one an hour.
After the war, Ford made a promotional film, "The Story of Willow Run" [2], that shows the progression from soybean farm to aircraft factory, the redesign of the bomber for manufacturing, and the assembly line processes. The YouTube comments from factory worker descendants are fascinating.
[1] https://youtu.be/zBj4uD1ODO0
[2] https://youtu.be/p2zukteYbGQ