scott348

I'd have to dig around to find it, but the turbo hoods weren't installed until way, way late (fairly near the end) in production as Al mentioned.

Since I no longer have my Illustrated Parts Catalogs I can't cite an exact serial number but my best guess would be the M-30 (final) production Block. I know the hoods were to go on the B-24N. However it is possible that the photo was taken from a modified B-24 that had the hoods under test, so I didn't volunteer a serial in my first message.
 
Here are two photos that show what we are talking about.
 
Al
 

Some of you may have already seen this 10 minute video, but if you have not, it is well worth the view.  It deals with the women who became such an important part of the "Arsenal of Democracy" during WW II.  It especially centers on the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant.  It is quite obvious that without the "Rosies" our manufacturing capabilities would have been sorely weakened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQKvBPjxMo4

I want to see the video of the the munchkins installing the fuel tanks inside the wings
 

Steven,
Agreed…The 2100 mile range of the Lib also made it ideal for operations in the PTO. I won’t enter the war between the B’s as I believe the United States had the best bomber designs of all the Allied forces. The vast and rapid development of the military industrial complex allowed the U.S. to out produce any nation on earth. The sheer numbers produced in such a short period of time is testament to the accomplishments of as you put it the "Arsenal of Democracy". As Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is quote to have said after the attack on Pearl Harbor… "I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant". This became fact more rapidly than even Admiral Yamamoto could have dreamed. With FDR’s appointment of William S. Knudsen as head of wartime production there was no stopping the now awakened Giant!!!
Here’s a nice PDF on the “Arsenal of Democracy” regarding the rapid mobilization during the war
http://www.spiritof45.org/docs/Arsenal%20of%20Democracy%20media%20release%2012-28-11.pdf 
 
Photo attached of Lib’s and C-87 "Liberator Express Transports" being assembled at Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth, Texas.
Best Regards,
Scott M.

Henry Bedow (Bedon?) Working Inside the Wing of a B-24, 1943

THF24016 Typed on the back is “A little guy does a big job at Willow Run. A midget, Henry Bedon (Bedow?) is able to climb around inside the wing of a Liberator.” Ford Motor Co. Willow Run Bomber Plant.
http://www.flickr.com/pho...ehenryford/6127482194/

Dan,  Thanks for posting the link!  I've also included a short piece here about Robert Hardy, another one of 12 midgets/dwarfs (politically correct terminology for the 1940s) assigned to the FO WR Plant. The piece appeared in an article I wrote for the May 2010 edition of The 2ND Air Division Heritage Herald. Thought it would tie in well with your links/pix.  Along with the Rosies, Engineers, Air Crews, Maintenance and other support, these folks were absolutely invaluable to the wartime production at FO WR!
Even though the "Rosies" received most of the attention, there was another "specialized" group at Willow Run who were invaluable. These were the "little people" known in the 1940’s as midgets or dwarfs. These workers totaled 12 at peak production and were used primarily as "buckers" for the riveters and inspectors inside of tight areas although not limited to that. In the "assembly process," they were crucial at station 15 on both the "K" and "H" lines where the outer wings were mated to the center wing section.
Robert Hardy from Wyandotte, Michigan, who was a drummer in the Rose Troupe prior to the war, talked about this in an interview many years ago. "The Little People were assigned throughout the plant–wherever work needed to be done in tight places. The B-24’s wings went clear through the fuselage. The four engines and bomb racks were hung from the center wing, and the outer wings were attached to each side, forming a 110-foot-long wingspan. As the outer wings were mated, guys would drive rivets on the outside, and the little people would be inside bucking. I was lucky not to have been assigned there – the noise was so loud, I’d be deaf! Instead I got to work in inspection, checking flight controls, stabilizers, rudders and wing connections.
Hardy’s work was so well respected by not only Ford personnel but also by the AAF that allowed him to sign off on its inspections. Hardy says "he was generally treated with respect by his fellow workers." Although there was a no-strike agreement during the war years, "he stopped work one day to lead a demonstration of fellow inspectors, confronting supervisors who wouldn’t back them up when they found a problem in the plane’s construction." On his occasional visits to the plant floor, Henry Ford seemed to take to befriending Hardy but more than likely he was perhaps patronizing him. In Hardy’s own words, "He would visit the line, come over and talk to me, and often would bring celebrities with him. Once I even met Irving Berlin." 
 

There is mention of "little people" working at a Bell bomber plant in the interview on this link.    
 
http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/labor/wnp/wnpdocument/bellbomber/bellbomber.pdf
 
I think the Bell plant was working on B-29s.
 
There is a photo here taken at the "Downy Plant" on "Valiant"  basic trainer.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/machinery/industry.cfm
 
So not necessarily B-24s, but it looks like the practice was fairly common in the industry.

Dear lord thanks for the help…I now realize my politically correct thought of “Vertically challenged” would also be offensive!...
You have saved us all…
 
 "Who Knows this Crap"  !!!!!!!!!!!
  

Hay Terveurn
See there you go again!!!
All of the above challenges would be in correct format in my book…!
***
Sucked them out with a straw, how else would you do it without hurting the little fellows?        

25Kingman49

Photo attached of Lib’s and C-87 "Liberator Express Transports" being assembled at Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth, Texas.
Best Regards,
Scott M.

 
Scott
Your photo actually shows the Fort Worth modification line. The B-24s in the picture were all built at San Diego and then flown to CF for modification.
 
Al
 

Steven,
Actually, the picture in TBL is not the same one Scott posted but another shot taken a bit earlier. Note how the people are not in the same places. It was common for the plant photographer to shoot multiple photos of anything he was documenting. The B-24s have not moved, however. The plane closest to the camera is 42-40823. Moving on down the line we have 42-40835, 686, 842, 800, 831, 843, 816, 846, 941 and 42-63829. All of these modified ships came off the Mod Line in mid-June of 1943, which dates the picture. As you well know, if this was a production (assembly) line the serials would be in order.
 
Al