World War II FactorIes

• Ford and Chrysler, in Michigan, were the first to help the war effort by building tanks and Jeeps in World War I.

• Different plants built components for the M1 tanks. The U.S.A. produced lots of M1 tanks for the Army. They used assembly lines to build Jeeps and tanks.

• In WWII Ford built the Willow Run plant to produce airplanes for the war effort.

• The plant Ford built at Willow Run had an assembly line that was a mile long. Willow Run had its own airfield. It employed 30,000 workers. It could make a Liberator airplane in one hour.

• The first completed B-24 came off the assembly line at Willow Run on May 15, 1942. On June 28th, 1945 production Run ceased - 8,685 planes had been manufactured.

Ford Willow Run Plant

• The Liberators flown by the crew while in training at Pueblo, and in combat in Italy, were manufactured at the Ford Willow Run plant in Michigan.

These p-51 Mustang

fighters were being

built in Detroit,

Michigan.

Also they were

being prepared

for test flight.

• In the year 1940 , the city of Grand Rapids was one airfield that was scheduled to grow North South East and West. WW2 pilots needed more buildings at the airfield.

Rosie the riveter

encouraged the women

to help keep the

company going so their

husbands could keep

their jobs.

Millions of men joined the armed forces, more workers were needed to fill their places in the factories. This changed the traditional views of women. Job opportunities in munitions factories for working-class women allowed them to earn a much higher wage than before.

Guns and Ammunitions

The Thompson M1 carbine was a gun they used in World War 2.

"In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised." LGEN George S. Patton, Jr.

• S.E. Overton Company in South Haven, Michigan made the M1 Carbine gun stock. They made munitions during the war to keep their company going.

The tragedy of factories in WWII is that because the war was going on many factories couldn’t sell the things they made. The triumph is that the Michigan factories started to make things for the war. The factories made jeeps, tanks, planes, and munitions for World War II to help the war effort and to save their factories.

Tragedy and Triumph