Trying My Hand at Forced Perspective

 A couple months ago, I got a model of a B-24 Liberator that had the markings of a plane that was built at the Willow Run Assembly Plant.  I posted pictures of it before but I wanted to do some pictures of it with some landmarks behind it.  With little river traffic today and it being a somewhat miserable day, I figured I would try my hand at some forced perspective.

Willow Run is about 5 miles or so away from Ypsilanti proper.  Henry Ford decided to build his B-24 plant there so that it would be in Washtenaw instead of Wayne County (better taxes at the time).  In 1940, it was determined that the United States would have to switch its production so that it would be on more of a war footing.

The aircraft manufacturers at the time did not have the capacity to increase production to what was needed.  It was also determined that using mass production techniques would increase construction several fold.  As a result, Henry Ford was one of the people asked if his company was up to the task.

Ford had some experience with producing airplanes in the 1930s with the Ford Tri-Motor but Ford really wanted to focus on cars but he said he would look into it.

Ford was selected to produce the B-24 Liberator.  It was not the most famous bomber of the war, but it was probably the workhorse of the war.  It was designed and developed by Consolidated out of San Diego.  Henry Ford visited to the Consolidated plant with his chief engineer to see if it was possible.  They determined it was possible, but some of the parts had to be redesigned to be more mass production friendly.  For instance, the number of parts in the landing gear was reduced from 29 to around 16.  Other changes were made to make the bomber more mass production friendly.

Ford was awarded the contract in 1940 and ground was broken on the Willow Run site later in the same year.  Production was started in 1941, but that was only for B-24 kits that would be assembled elsewhere.  Ford got final approval to assemble bombers later in 1941.

Initially, Ford had a number of issues starting production.  One of them was finding enough workers to work at Willow Run.  He also had some union issues once he got those workers.  He also had issues with the Army Air Force changing requirements as he built the bombers.

Eventually, he solved the labor issues.  He also solved the issues with changing requirements by building standard bombers and if the Army Air Force wanted something different, he would set bombers aside that could be reworked later.  By 1943, the factory was humming.  Eventually, one B-24 would roll off the line per hour.

This particular model is "Libra" and has a serial number of 42-52508, meaning that it was ordered by the US Government in 1942.  It was transferred to the 833rd Bombing Group in July of 1944.  This bombing group operated out of England.  The nose art was developed by a corporal out of Chicago.  He did nose art with other Zodiac signs.  This bomber would serve through the war and was scrapped sometime after.

It's a shame that the Yankee Air Museum couldn't get its hands on the real one.  Oh well.

I would have liked this picture more if it didn't start raining earnest.  But this means I will have to try some other day.