WWll Wing Nuts

[Chas B. Wolfson, SASS #11104]

> > Henry Ford was determined that he could mass produce bombers just as he had done with cars. He built the Willow Run assembly plant and proved it.. It was the world's largest building under one roof, even then FORD HAD A BETTER IDEA! This film will absolutely blow you away - one B-24 every 55 minutes. ADOLF HITLER HAD NO IDEA THE U.S. WAS CAPABLE OF THIS KIND OF THING. There is no way he could have even guessed. For those who live outside of Michigan , Willow Run is near Bellville, Canton and Ypsilanti , MI It's amazing that one B-24 came off the assembly line every 55 minutes Take a few minutes to watch this snapshot of history.

 

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/15654030/1604819366/name/bomber_plant.wmv

[Subdeacon Joe]

GReat find, thanks for posting it.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I retired as an aerospace engineer after 40 years of work. I made a study as part of my Master's Thesis called "Productivity on a Complex Aircraft Assembly Line:. I did a lot of research on the Willow Run plant and many other WWII assembly lines. If I remember correctly several WWII fighter lines produced at the rate of 1 every 15 minutes or less. Many recent production fighters (that are much more complex) have been produced at rates of more than 1 plane per day. When you look at today's complexity, this is astounding.

 

It a relates to what we called WBS...Work Breakdown Structure. Making and measuring the assembly build task at simple, small jobs. Jobs that are more complex require more people doing them. Thats why you see these long assembly lines in both auto & aircraft assembly plants. Henry Ford was the innovator and driving force behind this principle in the United States.

[Sergeant Smokepole #29248L]

I had a friend that was a tail gunner on a B-24 with 24 missions over Europe, was shot down ans spent 2 years in a German POW camp.

[S. Quentin Quale, Esq. SASS 9953]

German intelligence actually had a pretty good idea of U.S. production rates for a lot of stuff. When their estimates fo U.S. aircraft production (which, in fact, were low) were presented to Herr Schicklgruber he dismissed them as impossible and the result of Allied disinformation. Silly him.

 

SQQ

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Doubt if we have the manufacturing capability like that anymore( went to China and Mexico)

 

I was at Willow Run back in '89, there was an aircraft museum across the field from the plant at that point. Called themselves the Yankee Air Force. they were doing a 17-G at that point. There was a 52 and a bunch of others there as well. A 24 was sitting there, but was not going to be airworthy because the main spar had been cut.......

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I believe we could do it again...if we ever needed to. I doubt that we would ever have to. The problem is the raw materials, parts and components that would be required. The F-18 program that I worked on built 1 a/c per day working at about 60% capacity! Lots of robotics really gave us the ability to crank up the assembly line. Under todays philosophy of "just in time" manufacturing, the parts stream can dry up in a hurry.

[The Blarney Kid]

My father was a flight engineer/top turret gunner on B-24s in the 7th AF in the Pacific in WWII. I still have his campaign book from then.