Building a bomber plane in just a day

mookiemookie · 09-13-10, 09:01 AM

So the plane was a metal frame covered in linen? Amazing.

TLAM Strike · 09-13-10, 10:01 AM

Impressive but in the US the Ford plant at Willow Run had a B-24 coming off the line every 63 minutes...

Weiss Pinguin · 09-13-10, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Impressive but in the US the Ford plant at Willow Run had a B-24 coming off the line every 63 minutes...

And you could get one in any color as long as it was black, right?

Raptor1 · 09-13-10, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Impressive but in the US the Ford plant at Willow Run had a B-24 coming off the line every 63 minutes...

But were these B-24s actually built in 63 minutes or were sufficiently large numbers built in parallel over a longer period of time?

TLAM Strike · 09-13-10, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weiss Pinguin

And you could get one in any color as long as it was black, right?

I don't know all the pictures from back then were in black and white...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raptor1

But were these B-24s actually built in 63 minutes or were sufficiently large numbers built in parallel over a longer period of time?

I thought that too then I looked at the numbers and it was almost a "bomber an hour"

Jan 1941 to Aug 1945 = 236 weeks
8,800 B-24 Manufactured at Willow Run = 37 Aircraft a week average = 5 Aircraft a day avg.

...and thats just the B-24! They made C119s as well.

Sailor Steve · 09-13-10, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

They made C119s as well.

But not at the same time. The first C-119 didn't enter service until 1947 - two years after the B-24 ceased production.

And no, no-one that I'm aware of built a B-24 from start to finish in one hour. Or in twenty-four hours for that matter.

TarJak · 09-13-10, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Sorenson’s production goal at Willow Run was enormous, its achievement prodigious. His task was to increase production output from a craft production rate of a bomber every thirteen days to a mass production rate of a bomber an hour. And, in two days less than a year from ground breaking, he had produced the First Center Wing Section for the airplane in a still unfinished factory. By April 1944, he was producing four hundred and sixty-two bombers at the rate of one every 59.34 minutes.

The enormous accomplishment of Sorensen and the men and women from Willow Run can only be fully appreciated when one realizes that in 1941, before Ford entered the aircraft industry it required 201,826 man-hours to manufacture a single B-24 bomber. In March 1944, Sorensen’s Willow Run Procedures of mass production had reduced those man-hours to only 17,357.

Reading this from the Book Willow Run Colossus of Industry by Warren Benjamin Kidder, I'd say that even at the peak production rate they did not have 17,357 people working on each plane, the figure required to get a B24 built from start to finish. The production per hour has to have been based on completions per day not on start to finish each aircraft.

Platapus · 09-13-10, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Impressive but in the US the Ford plant at Willow Run had a B-24 coming off the line every 63 minutes...

Well, logistically speaking a B-24 coming off of the line every 63 minutes does not mean that it only took 63 minutes to build the plane. It just means with the parallel assembly lines working together there was 63 minutes between finished aircraft.

When you think about it, 63 minutes to build an aircraft is a bit hard to believe considering adhesives, epoxy, and other sealing material needed to cure (no crazy glue in WWII).

Where that number came from is that at its peak production the Willow Run facility could turn out 600 B-24's per month working 24 hours a day

600 Aircraft / 720 hours = 50 minutes actually. But again, that is not the same as saying that it only takes 50 minutes to make a B-24.

bookworm_020 · 09-13-10, 06:54 PM

Remember the average times may only reflect when it was at peak operating efficiency. I believe there was a joke going around about Willow Run at one time that it was misnamed, it should have been called "Will It Run?"

The Wellington record is pretty impressive by itself, this was in a country that was being bombed every night and under the treat of invasion.

A record that I can also remember is the speed of HMS Dreadnought was built. 1 year and a day was Fishers claim, but she was only read for trials, and wasn't fully ready for another 2 months.

TLAM Strike · 09-13-10, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

A record that I can also remember is the speed of HMS Dreadnought was built. 1 year and a day was Fishers claim, but she was only read for trials, and wasn't fully ready for another 2 months.

As I recall a Liberty ship could be built in about 40 days, the record was 4 days.

papa_smurf · 09-14-10, 12:56 PM

For those in the UK, BBC Four has a program tonight about the building of the Wellington bomber at 8pm.

Gerald · 09-14-10, 01:02 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/

clive bradbury · 09-14-10, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

As I recall a Liberty ship could be built in about 40 days, the record was 4 days.

If this is a 'USA vs. UK efficiency battle' post TLAM, please compare like-with-like.

A merchant ship with 1940s production techniques, compared with an Edwardian battleship...give me a break.

Also, your 'four days' was

(a) not true (check the actual fitting-out period for that ship), and
(b) a publicity stunt just like the 24-hour British Wellington

09-13-10, 09:01 AM	#1
mookiemookie Navy Seal Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 9,404 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 1	So the plane was a metal frame covered in linen? Amazing. __________________ They don’t think it be like it is, but it do. Want more U-boat Kaleun portraits for your SH3 Commander Profiles? Download the SH3 Commander Portrait Pack here.

09-13-10, 10:01 AM	#2
TLAM Strike Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Rochester, New York Posts: 8,633 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 6	Impressive but in the US the Ford plant at Willow Run had a B-24 coming off the line every 63 minutes... __________________

09-13-10, 06:54 PM	#9
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Remember the average times may only reflect when it was at peak operating efficiency. I believe there was a joke going around about Willow Run at one time that it was misnamed, it should have been called "Will It Run?" The Wellington record is pretty impressive by itself, this was in a country that was being bombed every night and under the treat of invasion. A record that I can also remember is the speed of HMS Dreadnought was built. 1 year and a day was Fishers claim, but she was only read for trials, and wasn't fully ready for another 2 months. __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

09-14-10, 12:56 PM	#11
papa_smurf Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: High Peak, Derbyshire Posts: 2,851 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	For those in the UK, BBC Four has a program tonight about the building of the Wellington bomber at 8pm. __________________

09-14-10, 01:02 PM	#12
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,254 Downloads: 553 Uploads: 0	Good thinking Papa Smurf! http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/ __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie