Building The B-24 Bomber During WWII "Story of Willow Run"

[motto (RIP)]

Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation were the designers and builders of the B24 Liberator but the demand was greater than they could supply and as with the Willys MB, Ford became involved in the manufacture of somebody else's product.

I had a friend who was a flight engineer on B24s and I recall him telling me of being sent to Tocumwal (NSW, Australia) to pick up a new aircraft and the crew were astonished to find that it was Ford built.

Even in those days the male population of Australia seemed to be divided into two camps, Ford or GM(Chev) devotees. The pro GM crew members were sceptical that Ford could build a decent aeroplane as "they couldn't even build a decent car". I understand that Ford built B24s performed just as well as Consolidated.

I have the hydraulic and armament manuals for the B24D and both are Consolidated Vultee publications but not entirely. The section of the armaments manual devoted to maintenance of the .50 calibre M2 machine gun was put out by Training Services, General Motors War Products and prepared by the AC Spark Plug and Frigidaire Divisions.

Everybody had a finger in the pie.

David