Ford built Liberators in 55 minutes

[killjoy1]

Thought I would post this video on B-24's.

Ford built a plant to mass produce them.  Hitler had no idea you could make bombers this fast.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKlt6rNciTo?rel=0

Does the ball turret on the AH B24 lower after takeoff?  I never knew that.

[earl1937]

Thought I would post this video on B-24's.

Ford built a plant to mass produce them.  Hitler had no idea you could make bombers this fast.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKlt6rNciTo?rel=0

Does the ball turret on the AH B24 lower after takeoff?  I never knew that.

Convair (Consolidated merged with Vultee in 1941 to form Convair) set up an additional factory in Fort Worth, Texas, and 30,000 workers built 3,034 additional Liberators there. Additionally, Douglas Aircraft Corporation built about 964 B-24s in its factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and North American Aviation built about 966 in Dallas, Texas. The largest Liberator factory was Ford's huge new factory built at Willow Run, Michigan, which turned out 6,792 completed aircraft and 1,893 disassembled, crated airframes for final assembly elsewhere. In 1944, the Willow Run factory alone turned out 92,000,000 pounds (42,000,000 kg) of airframes, nearly equaling the production of the entire Japanese aircraft industry that year, or almost half of the entire German output. Peak production by all factories produced a B-24 every 55 minutes. These factories and several major depots also performed many conversions, often of hundreds of aircraft. This lead to more than sixty different designations for variations of the B-24 airframe. There were bomber, patrol bomber, reconnaissance, cargo, tanker, trainer, experimental, civil, and other variants.

[colmbo]

If you know what to look for you can tell a Ford built Liberator apart from the others.  Windows in the nose were different for one thing.

A lot of the Vets I talked to about the B-24 said the Ford built airplanes weren't as good of quality as those built by Consolidated.

Another oddity about B-24s...on most of them the nose wheel doors opened outward when the gear is down....on some the doors opened inward so no door was exposed when gear was down.

When we gave rides in the airplane we would let the passengers get up and move around as soon as the gear was up.  The brief to them said when told to take seats you should go back where you were for takeoff.  Most pax were seated in the waist area with 1 or 2 seated near the nav station aft of the flightdeck.  We were giving a ride and told the Flight Engineer to "set them down" since we were in the pattern and about to lower the gear.  He gave us the clear and shortly after we selected gear down. Now the nosewheel on the -24 rotates about 250 degrees or so up into the fuselage.  When gear down is selected the nosewheel swings over the top, pops the doors open and drops into position...very dramatic if you're down in that area (one of the things I did when working up on the airplane, crawled around and watched things work so I'd have a clue if things didn't work at sometime).  Anyway, we selected gear down and heard the nosewheel drop out followed by a scream.  Huh?!  The B-24 is very, very noisy...well over 100 db in the cockpit yet we managed to hear someone scream.  Hmmm.   Sent the FE to check and he found one of our Pax had decided to hide in the nose for the landing not realizing the bottom of the airplane was going to open when the gear went down.  The FE yelled at him to stay put (didn't want him crawling past the gaping nosewheel hole) so he "cowarded in place" until we were on the ground.   

And yes, the turret retracts into the fuselage for landing and takeoff.  If not it would drag when the aircraft was rotated for takeoff.

[colmbo]

A fun read is a book titled "Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory".  It's a story about two school teachers who take summer jobs building B-24s in the Consolidated plant in San Diego.  Enjoyable read.

[Brooke]

When we gave rides in the airplane

I *loved* my ride in it.  Must be incomparably greater to fly it! <S>

[colmbo]

Must be incomparably greater to fly it! <S>

I have to admit I much preferred being in the front over the back!!  And at first it was all about me getting to fly the airplanes but very, very quickly  it became about the veterans who flew these aircraft during WWII.  I was so very fortunate to be able to meet and talk to so many of them.  How lucky?  We had dinner one night with Bob Morgan (Memphis Belle) and Paul Tibbets (Enola Gay).  And it wasn't just the well known folks, it was the everyday airman that "did his job", guys like Al and Frank.



These guys were B-24 waist gunners.  They were shot down, aircraft spinning out of control with them pinned in the waist unable to bail out.  They thought they were going to die but a wing came off the airplane and they were thrown out through a waist window where they opened their parachutes.  They were captured and spent the remainder of the war as POWs.  The winter of '44-'45 they were forced to march as the Russians closed on their camps.  After giving them a ride in the airplane they thanked me!  I had to explain they owed me nothing, I thanked them for their service.

Another was the B-24 pilot who was shot down over Europe.  His family surprised him with buying a plane sponsorship in his name, then the entire family went for a ride in the -24.  I put him in the right seat and let him fly the airplane, first time he'd been in one since bailing out.  His family was able to see him at the controls....our eyes seemed to "sweat" a lot that flight.  The kicker is he was wearing the B10 jacket he bailed out in (stillhad the rip in it where it snagged as he bailed) and he had the wooden eating utensils he had carved and used while a POW.

It was great flying the airplane but I feel as if it was something I had to do, we owe the veterans that much.

[Brooke]

It is so great to meet those folks, as you say.  My great fortune is to live near The Museum of Flight in Seattle, which every few months or so, has panel discussions with WWII pilots and crew, where people get to meet them and hear their stories.  I feel so lucky for that. <S>!

[Scherf]

Much awesomeness in this thread.

[Rich46yo]

Ford built a plant to mass produce them.  Hitler had no idea you could make bombers this fast.

Fatso Goering had told him Americans were only good at making razor blades.

[earl1937]

I have to admit I much preferred being in the front over the back!!  And at first it was all about me getting to fly the airplanes but very, very quickly  it became about the veterans who flew these aircraft during WWII.  I was so very fortunate to be able to meet and talk to so many of them.  How lucky?  We had dinner one night with Bob Morgan (Memphis Belle) and Paul Tibbets (Enola Gay).  And it wasn't just the well known folks, it was the everyday airman that "did his job", guys like Al and Frank.

(Image removed from quote.)

These guys were B-24 waist gunners.  They were shot down, aircraft spinning out of control with them pinned in the waist unable to bail out.  They thought they were going to die but a wing came off the airplane and they were thrown out through a waist window where they opened their parachutes.  They were captured and spent the remainder of the war as POWs.  The winter of '44-'45 they were forced to march as the Russians closed on their camps.  After giving them a ride in the airplane they thanked me!  I had to explain they owed me nothing, I thanked them for their service.

Another was the B-24 pilot who was shot down over Europe.  His family surprised him with buying a plane sponsorship in his name, then the entire family went for a ride in the -24.  I put him in the right seat and let him fly the airplane, first time he'd been in one since bailing out.  His family was able to see him at the controls....our eyes seemed to "sweat" a lot that flight.  The kicker is he was wearing the B10 jacket he bailed out in (stillhad the rip in it where it snagged as he bailed) and he had the wooden eating utensils he had carved and used while a POW.

It was great flying the airplane but I feel as if it was something I had to do, we owe the veterans that much.

Outstanding I just wish there was some way that the young Americans of today could somehow "live" the years from 1941 to 1950 or so, then I believe we would have a much better country than we have today. To much "How can I live off the government", instead of independently supporting themselves. Regardless of your political leanings, without the attitude and character of Americans in the 40's and 50's, such as the men in Colombo's story, that was indeed, the greatest generation of Americans.

[Karnak]

Clarification on the thread title:

They built a B-24 every 55 minutes.  It took much longer than 55 minutes to build a given B-24.


The industrial effort to produce B-24s was simply incredible.  It was larger than any previous industrial effort I am aware of.

[GScholz]

Fatso Goering had told him Americans were only good at making razor blades.

A B-24 is just another kind of razor...

[earl1937]

Clarification on the thread title:

They built a B-24 every 55 minutes.  It took much longer than 55 minutes to build a given B-24.


The industrial effort to produce B-24s was simply incredible.  It was larger than any previous industrial effort I am aware of.

There were, at one time, with all the production lines involved in the B-24, 1 B-24 every 55 minutes, but not at any one production line. When the figures were put together, it worked out to be one every 55 minutes. With any production line of aircraft, the learning curve for each assembly person on production line was steep to begin with and as experience was gained, the amount of time to execute ones function on the line was greatly reduced. I think the time frame of 55 minutes was somewhere around early 44 to end of production, not the whole production run as a whole.
The only other production line which was of this magnitude was the "Liberty" ships which the ship yards around the U.S. were turning out.
One other amazing thing was that you could get your High School Diploma one day and 6 weeks later, on your way to France or someplace to "kill" someone for the U.S. One of the really great movies was "Saving Sgt Ryan", starring Tom Hanks and if you haven't seen it, you need to!

[GScholz]

Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates, Das Boot, Downfall, and Dark Blue World are the top "must see" war films of all time IMHO.

[Scherf]

Surely not Enemy At The Gates - the German "Stalingrad" is miles better.

I'm told Come and See is also on the must-see list, though I've not done so.

Sorry thread creep.