The first B-24 bomber rolls off the assembly line at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Ypsilanti. In December 1940 the federal government asked the Ford Motor Company to build 1,200 B-24 bombers. Ford's chief engineer, Charles Sorensen, quickly devised a yet-untried scheme of mass-producing planes. The government agreed to the plan, and in April 1941 construction began on what will become the world's largest assembly plant. The plant will produce 8,600 planes. By early 1944 bombers will come off Willow Run's mile-long assembly line at the rate of one an hour. Michigan's other auto companies are also producing war materiel. By the end of World War II, Chrysler's Warren Tank Plant will have made 25,000 tanks, while in Kingsford, the Ford Motor Company will have manufactured over 4,000 gliders. Known as the "Arsenal of Democracy," Michigan—with only four percent of the nation's population—will lead all other states in the production of war materiel.

Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
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