Our industrial might during WWII...

PALADIN85020

PALADIN85020

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I found this video incredibly fascinating. It's a war-time film of Henry Ford's Willow Run, Michigan assembly plant for B-24 bombers. Using techniques learned from automobile production, this plant was turning out B-24s at the rate of one bomber every 55 minutes!

As the planes rolled off the assembly lines with over one million parts per plane, Ford's own aircrews thoroughly tested the planes before turning them over to the Army Air Forces.

It's often said that America's industrial might helped turn the tide to our favor in WWII. The Willow Run plant is one of the best examples of our prowess in production. I think if Hitler knew he would be up against this kind of capability, he would have backed off pursuing a war he was doomed to lose.

I hope that modern-day America could equal this kind of ability if needed. It may become vital someday.

Here's the video. Enjoy!

John

B-24 Liberator Willow Run Assembly Plant - YouTube
 
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Admiral Yamamoto did have a good idea what U.S. industrial capability could do, as he had traveled and studied here. He is said to have told the Japanese government that if a war against the U.S.A. couldn't be ended in six months our industry and resources would overwhelm an enemy. He thought he could guarantee that much, but no more.
 
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The other ironic part of this is that the planes were built by a Nazi sympathizer ( Henry Ford ) to bomb the Nazis. Guess the ol' might buck won him over - although in a time of war the Gov't could have forced him to do so anyway.
 
In the late 80's or early 90's, one of the Battleships had a 16" Gun and/or turret explode. At first the Captain tried to blame one of the seaman for being suicidal, but turned out the 1943 production barrels were no longer trust worthy. A friend of mine was ordered to locate, bid and have replacement barrels made. He discovered that there was no manufacturer in the U.S.A. that could cast or forge a barrel that long, nor was there any factory capable of boring and rifling them. He then checked with our allies. Still No Joy! I ask if the Russians still could do it in one of their obsolete factories. He had already checked, they couldn't either. Those old gun were retired and replaced with cruise missile launchers (Tomahawk's I believe). So no, we can't replicate the weapons of the past. We have superior weapons, that are within our current manufacturing abilities. We must make sure that our political and military leaders use tactics and strategies that are just as current! Warships can engage target 1000 miles away... at the cost of a million dollars a shot, but there was nothing like the football field sized crater a few thousand dollars could buy from a 16" gun! Ivan
 
We can sink the biggest ships with a single drone. I imagine we have "drone" torpedos that could do the job, also. Lord knows what else we have.
 
I seriously doubt that we could ever build another Saturn V rocket that sent us to the moon. Not many Tool and Die makers left in the USA, nor are there many students learning the craft. It's amazing to think that during WWII there were no computers to design the machinery of war. Today it takes months and millions of dollars to just build one F-16 jet. Most of the technology, some of which used to be secret, that has gotten us to where we are today has been sold to China and other countries.
 
PALADIN85020 said:
I think if Hitler knew he would be up against this kind of capability, he would have backed off pursuing a war he was doomed to lose.

John

B-24 Liberator Willow Run Assembly Plant - YouTube
Click to expand...

Maybe so, John, but then that would have required reasonable/logical thinking; and he wasn't known for that.

Don't have time right now; but I'm definitely going to look at that video; I'm sure it's fantastic.

Regards,
Andy
 
America at her best!!

She immediately turned from domestic production to military production in all areas!!

That will never happen again....................sad!
 
chief38 said:
The other ironic part of this is that the planes were built by a Nazi sympathizer ( Henry Ford ) to bomb the Nazis. Guess the ol' might buck won him over - although in a time of war the Gov't could have forced him to do so anyway.
Click to expand...

Sympathizer and notorious anti-Semite. Yeah, nice bit of irony, or whatever.
 
I don't know that Henry was a Nazi sympathizer, but he definitely was a pacifist. His production manager talked him into going along and making the bombers. Making them indoors allowed the panels to be fabricated ahead of time. In California they were made outside and the rivet holes had to be hand drilled due to the sun heating up the aluminum panels. Ford Motor Company was in danger of being taken over by the US Government if they had not voluntarily aided in the war effort.
 
My dad was running a Bullard multi matic 65,000lb chicken manufacturing torpedo noses. He worked 24/7 pumping out parts for the war. We also supplied the rest of the world with everything from arms, ammo to machine tools so they could fight this war too. My point is how soon the rest of the world forgets who bailed them out back then. The Germans on the battle field were brutal. The Russians went thru he'll too before they got there act together.
 
The US didn’t do an automatic switch from commercial to military manufacturing when we entered the war. Remember that going into the late 1930s most of our manufacturing was stagnant due to the effects of the Depression. It was programs like Lend-Lease that bought us time to build up our manufacturing capabilities. Designing and making tooling takes time. It would be more accurate to say that the more impressive feat was the post war switch from military to commercial manufacturing and not all companies made the switch successfully.

The other point that helped the US was that unlike Germany the US did not spend that much time and resources looking for new products. We made some improvements on existing designs of course but with the exception of the Manhattan Project we basically ended the war using the same weapons we went in with. This greatly simplified the logistics side of the war.
 
On veterans day about 15 years ago, I met an older customer with a question of whether he was a veteran. No, he answered, he never got the opportunity to help win the war. He did however tell me that at the beginning of the war, he was an engineer for Lockheed in California when Henry Kaiser met him and asked him to be his aide. He then proceeded to tell me stories of how Mr. Kaiser was literally able to point to an empty field and designate it a factory site and overnight it began to appear. If there were any bottlenecks or obstacles he was told to call the white House and talk directly to FDR if necessary.
After these stories, I told him that he did more than his share in winning the war and that I wish that he would give his story to a historian.
 
chief38 said:
The other ironic part of this is that the planes were built by a Nazi sympathizer ( Henry Ford ) to bomb the Nazis. Guess the ol' might buck won him over - although in a time of war the Gov't could have forced him to do so anyway.
Click to expand...

There is a big difference between thinking we should not go to war and in being a Nazi sympathizer. Remember the other side was the Commie Stalin. Henry Ford was an American first politically. You can Goggle American First to find out about them. Just because Ford was not a Communists sympathizer, did not make him a Nazi sympathizer.

The war was originally between the Communist USSR and the Nazi Germany, who both invaded Poland. Then for some unknown reason Britain and France jumped in to support the Communists.

They would eventually drag us into that war with the help of FDR who was actually supporting the Communist side long before we went to war. The world would be a far better place today had we just not got involved in Europe's war.

Hitler never wanted war with Britain or France or the USA. Hitler’s first and biggest military mistake, but certainly not his last, was not seeing that Britain France and the USA would side with the Communist.
 
That's not the only thing but it was a major contributor. We built more of everything than anybody and supplied all of our allies. Without all the pre-war (and illegal) help that we gave Britian, including 50 destroyers, and the Liberty ship later they probably would have fallen. We gave tanks, planes, trucks, jeeps, railroad engines, and much more to the USSR. But if it hadn't been for the Soviets bleeding Germany dry it is questionable if we could have won. We certainly would not have been able to fight Germany and Japan at the same time.
PALADIN85020 said:
It's often said that America's industrial might helped turn the tide to our favor in WWII.
Click to expand...
 
The willow run plant went on many years after the war.

Ford sold the building, the airport became a separate place and the factory was bought by GM. GM made all sorts of things in that location, including the famous Hydramatic M-16 rifle.

The building was recently shut and I think to be demolished?

I think if you search it you can find lots of information on the plant.
 
And if you think about it how about the fastest time to build a a Liberty Ship was 4 days, 15 hours and 29 minutes after the keel was laid down the SS Robert E. Peary.

Without them the war could not be supported. Thoughts and prayers for all the merchant marines that sail these ships, including my father, and to those lost at sea sailing them. He never talked about his trips, and I'm sorry I never asked about them.

If we ever had to start this type of production again we would be lost as we have lost many of these facilities that built everything for the war effort and mostly the shipyards.
 
The U.S. has not been so under industrialized in at least a hundred years.
What do we make? Fuel and personal conveyance, arms and food.
 
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