Ford Built - Ford Tough

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Mar 23, 2014 | 12:10 PM

4tl8ford

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From: Erie, pa

Ford Built - Ford Tough

Video: Inside the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant | Mac's Motor City Garage

Mar 23, 2014 | 12:34 PM

harleymsn

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Joined: Dec 2001

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From: Crossville, Tn

Cool film, thanks for sharing.

Mar 23, 2014 | 12:48 PM

toby tough

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From: Clitherall, MN.

Very cool. Doesn't it seem like the same guy narrates all those old school film clips. Maybe it's just me.

Mar 23, 2014 | 01:15 PM

Skalywag

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Joined: Jun 2012

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From: Frankfort, Ohio

Quote:

Originally Posted by toby tough

Very cool. Doesn't it seem like the same guy narrates all those old school film clips. Maybe it's just me.

I agree, that guy must have really gotten around. Sounds like every other old news reel I ever heard. How do you get a voice like that, must have been all the Lucky Strikes they used to smoke.

Mar 23, 2014 | 05:53 PM

tomrflorida

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Joined: Jul 2012

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From: West Palm Beach, Fl

I liked that thanks

Mar 23, 2014 | 06:04 PM

ChuckRob

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Joined: Mar 2012

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From: Prescott AZ.

That was very Good, Thanks. Now we can't even build a light bulb.

Mar 23, 2014 | 07:55 PM

FortyNiner

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Joined: Jun 2011

Posts: 4,995

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From: u-rah-rah Wisconsin

Thanks for the link. It's interesting to hear the take on the performance of Willow Run. The reality is that Ford was very slow to get ramped-up, in part, due to Henry's insistence on hard tooling everything. This delayed all production and made the routine engineering changes much more difficult, expensive, and time consuming to implement. Ford was the only aircraft producer that took this approach. Top production rates were not achieved until 1944 after a number of government interventions and Ford leadership changes.

The location of the plant was remote at the time and Ford refused to create a housing plan for the needed workers. This forced a commute of about a hour - problematic during gas rationing - and was a contributor to the site's labor issues. Ford did not sustain production at the factory after the war effort. The buildings went through a succession of owners - including GM - and has been in demolition mode for some while.

The airport facility has remained in operation for non-commercial flights. I've flown to WR a number of times on corporate aircraft. The location remains a challenge.

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Mar 26, 2014 | 12:23 PM

petemcl

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Joined: Nov 2011

Posts: 4,685

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From: Northville, MI

That plant is huge. Here is a link to a map:
http://goo.gl/maps/jM7Aw

While some of the assembly buildings are gone the long runways remain as does the main assembly building. If you zoom in around runway side of the main buildings you will see several aircraft including 2 large jet aircraft (DC-8s I think) which should give you an idea of the scale of the place. You have to zoom in as they don't show up in more distant views. Back in the Pentastar Aviation days we used to frequently fly out of there traveling to various assembly plants or meetings. Now most of the OEMs fly parts in and out of there to keep their more distant assembly plants running smoothly.