Willow Run
Encyclopedia
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
and Belleville, Michigan
Belleville, Michigan
Belleville is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,991 at the 2010 census. It is the sister city of Machynlleth, Wales. Belleville is southeast of Ann Arbor and southwest of Detroit.-Geography:...
, was constructed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
for the mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
of the B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
military aircraft.
After the war, ownership of the assembly plant passed to Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operations to the Willys plant at Toledo, Ohio...
and then to Ford rival General Motors, which now owns and operates part of the facility as Willow Run Transmission
Willow Run Transmission
Willow Run Transmission is a General Motors factory in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. Opened in 1953, it produced Hydra-Matic automatic transmissions for use by General Motors and others...
.
Willow Run was used by GM to manufacture a number of models, including Chevy trucks (1956–58), the Nova and Caprice. It was also used to manufacture parts for the Vega subcompact. Perhaps the most well-known product assembled at Willow Run was the Chevrolet Corvair
Chevrolet Corvair
-First generation :The 1960 Corvair 500 and 700 series four-door sedans were conceived as economy cars offering few amenities in order to keep the price competitive, with the 500 selling for under $2,000...
. Most Corvairs were built there from 1960 through 1969.
GM's Fisher Body division was also located at Willow Run, and built bodies for the Chevrolet models assembled there.
In 1968, General Motors reorganized its body assembly divisions into the monolithic GM Assembly Division (GMAD). GMAD absorbed many Fisher body plants, but Willow Run was one of the plants where Fisher continued to build bodies until the 1970s.
On June 1, 2009, GM announced it would be closing the plant as part of its bankruptcy proceedings
General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization
The General Motors Chapter 11 sale of the assets of automobile manufacturer General Motors and some of its subsidiaries was implemented through section 363 of Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York...
.
The plant has given its name to a community on the east side of Ypsilanti, defined roughly by the boundaries of the Willow Run
Community Schools district.
History
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
. He had used the farm to provide summer employment for youths.
Ford Motor Company, like virtually all of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' industrial companies, directed its manufacturing output during WWII for Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
war production. The Ford Motor Company developed the Willow Run site to include an airfield and aircraft assembly facility. The plant held the distinction of being the world's largest enclosed "room." At its peak, Willow Run produced 650 B-24s per month by 1944. By 1945, Ford produced 70% of the B-24s in two nine hour shifts. Pilots and crews slept on 1,300 cots waiting for the B-24s to roll off the assembly line at Willow Run. Ford produced half of the 18,000 total B-24s at Willow Run. The B-24 holds the distinction of being the most produced heavy bomber in history.
An interesting feature of the Willow Run plant was a large turntable two-thirds of the way along the assembly line where the B-24s would make a 90° turn before continuing to final assembly. This arrangement was to avoid having the factory building cross a county line and be taxed by two counties. The neighboring county's taxes were higher.
After war production ended, the plant was used by a partnership of Henry J. Kaiser and Joseph W. Frazer. They produced both Kaiser and Frazer models beginning in 1947(including the compact "Henry J," which was also sold through Sears-Roebuck as the "Sears Allstate") until 1953, when Kaiser Industries purchased Willys-Overland and consolidated all passenger-vehicle operations at the former Willys-Overland plant in Toledo, Ohio. (At that time, Kaiser Industries phased out its Kaiser and Willys passenger-car lines, ending all but Jeep and Willys pickup/station wagon production by 1955.) Later in 1953, after a disastrous fire (on August 12) destroyed General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
Detroit Transmission factory in Livonia, Michigan, the plant was first leased to GM, and eventually sold to it, with the salvaged Hydra-Matic transmission tooling and machinery relocated to Willow Run, and put back into production just nine weeks after the fire.
B-24s were not the only planes produced at Willow Run. From 1952 to 1953, the facility was used by Kaiser to assemble Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar" cargo planes.
Sociologist and professor Lowell Juilliard Carr of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
studied the sociological conditions arising from the wartime increase in the worker population in his landmark book on Willow Run in 1952.
On the other side of the airport from the assembly plant were a group of World War II hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
s, which were sold to the University of Michigan in 1946. The university operated Willow Run Laboratories (WRL) from 1946 to 1972. WRL produced many innovations, including first ruby laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
and operation of the ruby maser
Maser
A maser is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. Historically, “maser” derives from the original, upper-case acronym MASER, which stands for "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"...
. In 1972, demonstrations by anti-Vietnam War activists forced the university to detach WRL from it.
The airfield continues to operate as the Willow Run Airport
Willow Run Airport
Willow Run Airport is an airport located in Van Buren Charter Township and in Ypsilanti Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, that serves freight, corporate, and general aviation clients...
. The airfield is primarily used for cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
and general aviation flights. The Yankee Air Museum
Yankee Air Museum
The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located near Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.-History:...
is also located on the airport grounds. On October 9, 2004, a fire destroyed the museum's main hangar, H-2041.
Guns made at the Willow Run GM Transmission Plant
During the Vietnam warVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
the military contracted with General Motors Hydramatic
Hydramatic
Hydramatic was an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the Hydramatic was the first fully automatic mass-produced transmission developed for passenger automobile use.-History:During the...
division at Willow Run to make its new M16 rifle
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
, and also a 20mm
20 mm caliber
The 20 mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition, commonly the smallest caliber which is unambiguously a cannon and not a heavy machine gun....
autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
. Gun production was stopped in the early '70s.
Chevrolet automobiles assembled at Willow Run
In addition to transmissions and guns, Willow Run assembled Chevrolet trucks from 1956-58. A new plant was built on the site for assembly of the new-for-1960 Chevrolet CorvairChevrolet Corvair
-First generation :The 1960 Corvair 500 and 700 series four-door sedans were conceived as economy cars offering few amenities in order to keep the price competitive, with the 500 selling for under $2,000...
, and two years later, the Chevy II. Other models assembled at Willow Run include the full-size Chevrolet Caprice
Chevrolet Caprice
The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors in North America for the 1965 through 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular American car in the sixties and early seventies....
.
See also
- World War II aircraft productionWorld War II aircraft productionThis table lists aircraft production during World War II by country and year.See Also:*German aircraft production during World War II*United States aircraft production during World War II...
- Yankee Air MuseumYankee Air MuseumThe Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located near Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.-History:...
- Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage CollectionYpsilanti Automotive Heritage CollectionThe Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in Ypsilanti, Michigan is a unique automotive museum that is home to production cars from the Willow Run Plant and Hudson Motors...
- Chevrolet CorvairChevrolet Corvair-First generation :The 1960 Corvair 500 and 700 series four-door sedans were conceived as economy cars offering few amenities in order to keep the price competitive, with the 500 selling for under $2,000...
External links
- "Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy" by Jenny Nolan for The Detroit News
- Yankee Air Museum
- Michigan Aerospace Foundation
- A Bomber An Hour
- Willow Run Airplane Plant WW 2 film about B-24 production