Liberator B24

[gregrobertson]

A friend in the US sent this to me ( he must have more time to trawl you tube than I do) I thought it was worth sharing. Impressive when you think of it. A B-24 every 55 minutes. Greg.

 

Subject: The Liberator B-24

 

This is well worth watching also note the commentator, interesting how they described things then.

 

The Genius of Henry Ford.

 

This was BEFORE Pearl Harbor!

 

Ford's B-24 Bomber Plant at Willow Run, MI.

 

Henry Ford was determined that he could mass produce bombers just as he had done with cars.

 

He built the Willow Run assembly plant and proved it. It was the world's largest building under one roof.

 

Even then FORD HAD A BETTER IDEA!

 

This film will absolutely blow you away - one B-24 every 55 minutes.

 

ADOLF HITLER HAD NO IDEA THE U.S. WAS CAPABLE OF THIS KIND OF THING.

 

 

 

[Neil_S]

A friend in the US sent this to me ( he must have more time to trawl you tube than I do) I thought it was worth sharing. Impressive when you think of it. A B-24 every 55 minutes. Greg.

Subject: The Liberator B-24

 

This is well worth watching also note the commentator, interesting how they described things then.

 

The Genius of Henry Ford.

 

This was BEFORE Pearl Harbor!

 

Ford's B-24 Bomber Plant at Willow Run, MI.

 

Henry Ford was determined that he could mass produce bombers just as he had done with cars.

 

He built the Willow Run assembly plant and proved it. It was the world's largest building under one roof.

 

Even then FORD HAD A BETTER IDEA!

 

This film will absolutely blow you away - one B-24 every 55 minutes.

 

ADOLF HITLER HAD NO IDEA THE U.S. WAS CAPABLE OF THIS KIND OF THING.

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKlt6rNciTo?rel=0.

Hi Greg,

 

Great video! Thanks for posting.

 

Are you aware of the B-24 Liberator restoration being done in a hangar just outside Werribee? Happy to take you down there if you are out my way.....

 

Cheers,

 

Neil

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

The B-24 was being shot out of the sky's over Europe when it first operated there. The Luftwaffe found a weakness and took them out with straight head-on attacks. They had little nose protection.

 

Henry Ford rang Charles Lindbergh, they were close friends and respected each others engineering expertise. Henry Ford had also been good friends with Lindberghs grandfather who had invented the dental bridge or denture. The B-24 needed a swiveling nose turrent, and it needed it now. Lindbergh assembled a team and got to work. Within two months the Liberator has a fully swivelling loaded nose turrent, that then made it more than a match for the Luftwaffas' straight-on attacks. It also saved many lives in future conflicts throughout the world where the B-24 saw service.

 

A couple of weeks ago I flew over a B-24 here in Australia, and no it wasn't the one being rebuilt. It was the "Texas Terror" wreckage which lays on a high rocky Craig on Hinchinbrook Island in North Queensland. It crash there in bad weather after suffering an engine failure, and while attempting to return to it's departure point Townsville. Thirteen lives were lost and a large aluminium cross now stands above the wreckage after being placed there some years ago by local area air cadets............Maj...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes the fact that that factory turned out completed bombers in that time, is simply astounding, and a further tribute to the manufacturing genius of Henry Ford. And you could have them any color, as long as it was silver !.....

 

There are a series of wartime photos in Townsvilles airport terminal during WW2. One of the shows about 10 Liberators lined up on the runway, all in gleaming silver shortly after their Arrival over the Pacific from the US. Many would have been lost during the conflict in PNG.

 

There is a fight on at the moment to save the original Ford Willow Run plant, where those bombers were built, lets hope they succeed.....Maj...