Ken a B24 Fan,
I thought I'd post a couple more photos from my collection within the Willow Run Plant.  I chose these two which show the famous "tax turn" with B-24E's (already in olive drab and defined green houses) from 1943 and a similar photo from a slightly different vantage point of B-24J's in September of 1944.  The short version of the "Tax Turn" (one of many little names given to the Ford Willow Run  Plant by the media) is that the mile long plant was built in the shape of the letter "L" with the longest leg (approx 3/4 mile) running from west to east in Washtenaw County, Michigan.  To avoid running into Wayne County, the plant took a right angle turn to the south for the remainin 1/4 mile of the final (finish) assembly, inspecion and fueling.  This gave a tax advantage to Ford keeping he plant in one county.  Two turntables were used to pivot the ships for the last leg.  Today, at the GM Powertrain Transmission Plant at Willow Run, my office sits between where the two turn tables formerly existed.  Going forward, I'll post further threads and photos, if there is an interest in "the Arsenal of Democracy" folks who made up the "Greatest Generation."  I also post under the name "WillowRun" on the  B-24 PB4Y Research Web:       http://b24bw.proboards33.com/
"They are not forgotten."        WillowRun

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

Steven,

Thanks for posting this and the pictures. For those of us who love B-24's, the mere mention of Willow Run puts a little warmth in the heart. Hope to see more of your posts here.

A friend and I visited the Yankee Air Museum about 3 or 4 years ago. I well remember the last Willow Run hangar there (a maintenance hangar back in the day?). Our visit was two days before a huge "Thunder Over Michigan" fly-in and symposium, featuring Gunther Rall that year. Even though things were very hectic, people took time to talk to us and let us clamber around inside Yankee Lady. What a great bunch of people.

We were VERY sorry to hear about the fire, but it looks like things are moving ahead now.

Reed Hammans

Steve, A bit of trivia.   I went through R-2800 school at Willow Run. We were aware that the B-24s were being made there but were never in the area.

Since Willow Run is maybe 160 miles from my home, I hitchhiked home on the weekend.  One Friday night, a semi picked me up. I had never seen such an outfit.  The drivers told me that there was an entire B-24 in the trailor with the exception of the engines. They were headed for the west coast.

The tractor was something else!  Two heavy duty Ford truck engine side by side gave it plenty of power.  That thing walked through the Irish Hill and the driver 'grabbed a gear' once!


                         Art Tait    3rd Air Force

ART - More trivia, (remember, folks, this was long before the Interstate Highway system) –widespread complaints about Will-It Run knockdown kit tractor trailers tying-up small town road junctions were so intense that they reached the Roosevelt White House. -Adrian

Adrian & Art,               I thought I had a photo of an actual "truck-in-transit" about which Art was speaking, but the best I could find was a USAAF/Ford promotional photograph of an early B24E "knockdown."  (I've been having a bit of a problem lately setting up and sending photos, so I hope these open okay).   I can imagine the drive through the Irish Hills of Michigan back then, as it still is quite a drive today, especially in bad weather!  I've also attached one of my "favorites," the "final stop."  This beautiful B-24M is at the fueling depot (notice the door behind has been lowered), the fueling  has probably been completed,  the final walk-around finished and the hanger door is open for it to roll onto the tarmack of the adjacent Willow Run Airport.    "They are not forgotten!"      WillowRun

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

OOOPS,   Thread did not show attachments!   If it doesn't attach this time, Gentlemn, I am having  computer trouble and apologize.  It will be corrected!  WillowRun

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

  Steven    Your photos are fantastic. This brings a question I’ve had for a while and it seems that now is a good time to ask: How much did a B-24 cost right off the assembly line? Prices may have differed between the models but basically how much did one cost? How many of them were built?                           Don

Steven:

Again, great photos. You're right, the photo of the B-24M is gorgeous. It made the venerable Liberator look modern and purposeful.

Thanks for sharing them.

Ken

PS: FYI. Your photo TAXTURN44 for some reason only shows as very tiny when I open it. All of the others are large and great to view.

Ken Alexander
Son of 1st Lt. Clair B. Alexander Jr.
Pilot, B-24s: 10/12/1944 - 04/24/1945
15th AF, 49th Wing, 461st BG, 764th BS
Torretta Airfield, Cerignola, Italy

Interesting picture of an early E model. Original pitot tube location and no astrodome.

More Trivia  Off Topic

I would like to tip my hat to the cooks at the R-2800 school at Willow Run. For my entire stay,6-8 weeks, I had just two meals that were bad although I will admit that I was a chow-hound.(G)

One evening, a group of 'entertainers' came out from Detroit. They arrived in time to sit down for the evening meal.  The menu was plain 'ol golush but every cook in the place must have dumped in a five pound sack of pepper.

Since I was a crew member on the China clipper that evening, I was able to stand and watch the diners.  What a circus.  You have seen people who would liberaly salt and pepper their food before even tasting it. Just one taste and frantic stirring took place.

The ladies in the visiting group failed to see the humor in the situation and were more than a bit miffed(G)

                         Art Tait   3rd Air Force

Don,
According to Allan Blue's book The B-24 Liberator, costs would have varied, but came down as production rose:  "Each B-24A cost $341,960; a typical B-24J cost $210,943.” (There are further cost breakdowns in a table, if you’re interested, e.g., for the airframe, “Government Furnished Equipment”, etc.)

As an aside, David R. Davis, inventor of the B-24’s wing, had an agreement with Consolidated dating from 1938 to receive a fee for each aircraft sold using his wing design. The original commission was $2,500 for each prototype, with a decreasing royalty percentage as sales increased. Mr. Blue notes that from 1 April 1943, the payment per Liberator was reduced from $92.71 (the going royalty rate of 1/16 of 1% of sales price) to $5.00 per plane. This rate held for the production balance of “17,383 of Davis-winged aircraft produced on and after that date.”

Reed

Don,  It looks as if Reed got the jump on me with the cost numbers, but he had used one of the same sources I would have used. that being Allan Blue's book.  In July of 1945, number 8685 rolled out of the southeast hanger door as the final production B-24.  (The success of the  Boeing B-29 Superfortress had made our beloved "Lib" obsolete.)  That must have been a tough day for all those folks!     "They are not forgotten!"
Steven 

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

Same problem for me, pictures are too small for 83 yaear old eyes to see!
RHD

Art and Adrian,     Hope this photo is better and opens a tad larger.   I'm still learning and haven't got the knack yet. 

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

Art,        Thought I'd share this late 1941 picture as you had mentioned it (R2800 P&W School)  in post #3 of this thread.  Although this photo is about "packing sub components for shipment to San Diego by truck separate from the airframe," I thought you, and those with an interest in WR, would appreciate it.  Note crates in rear.      Steven 

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

  Reed, Steven    I thank both of you for that information. The reason I find it so interesting is because our country was suffering from a depression when the war broke out. To come up with the overall financial cost of the war at a time when people were having a hard enough time feeding themselves. Then to decide where that funding would go to be the most effective. I can’t find words that would describe how great my parent’s generation was.                        Don

ART,   FINALLY, after almost three months, I've found the picture (plus others I've promised to share on line) in a safe place!  In the photo, the trucks are staged on the southern side of the plant in one of the many parking lots for their long hauls some to DT and others to CF.  I am trying to imagine these loaded trucks going through the two lane, winding, up and down roads of SE Michigan. especially thru the Irish Hills (US12).  On this hazy winter day, you can see the expanse of the plant.  There is little left back here except overgrown , crumbled concrete, weeds and lots of memories!   Steven

Attached Image(s)

Steven Puhl
Willow Run Historian
Willow Run: Home of 8685 Ford Built B-24 Liberators
Life Member: YANKEE AIR MUSEUM (YAM) "Where History Flies"
"They are not forgotten!"

Steve, those tractors sure look puny compared to what we see on the road today.    Really couldnt tell from the picture but it seems the one that I had a ride in, had a sleeper bunk.

I dont know if those trucks continued on US112 (now just US 12) or if they split off on US 131 at Mottville, Mi.  Both were routes to Chicago and beyoind. If they continued on US 112, it was a mean turn there at Mottville.  Over the years a goodly number of trucks crashed either coming or going.

Probably wasn't too much of a problem going through all those little burgs along US 112 but when a corner had to be turned, I imagine things got pretty sticky.

                           Art Tait   3rd AirForce

These are fantastic pictures.  Keep them coming.  Any plans to publish an album??