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About Trucks, Tanks and Bombers

The numbers of tanks, trucks and bombers produced by the American automobile industry during World War II are staggering. Michigans best-known wartime achievement was the Willow Run Bomber Plant built by the Ford Motor Company near Ypsilanti. Although Henry Ford initially opposed peacetime military production, in early 1941 he proposed building a factory where one heavy bomber could be mass produced every sixty minutes. The federal government agreed, and in April 1941 construction began on the largest assembly plant built up to that time.

No single American industrial operation received more attention than Fords bomber plant. Hailed as one of the seven wonders of the world, Willow Run was described as the damnest colossus the industrial world has ever known. But Willow Run had its critics, especially since the first B-24 bomber was not finished until September 1942. By wars end, the tens of thousands of workers at Willow Run delivered over 8,500 bombers.

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