bulldogboy Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 "The Arsenal of Democracy" by A.J. Baime is the story of the Ford Motor Company's audacious endeavor to build B-24 "Liberator" four engine bombers for the U.S. Army Air Force during WWII. When the U.S. government approached Ford about using its knowledge of assembly line production to build the planes, Edsel Ford and Ford's top production man, "Cast Iron" Charlie Sorensen, jumped at the opportunity and proposed building a new plant and "building a bomber an hour". Until now the B-24s were being built in California one at a time. Edsel's father, Henry Ford, didn't go along with this plan; his belief was that the war was a European problem and that the U.S should stay out of it. Nevertheless, he didn't stop Ford from building the Willow Run plant and building the planes. The book not only tells the story of the B-24 it also delves into the social, political, and economic trends of the day and how the need for war materiel upended all these beliefs leading to serious tensions. In the end, Americans pulled together, deprived themselves of basic necessities, and built the equipment needed to win the war. For anyone interested in the history of WWII, this is a must read book. Once I started it, it was hard to put down. bulldogboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 But what goes untold is the quality problems that those mass-produced Ford B-24s had. Whereas the quality of the B17 was quite good, the B24 made few friends with the men who crewed them. And that's in addition to the fact that the design of Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" was less than stellar. This is all one reason why the Air Force chose the B-29 over the B-32. The only thing about the B-24 is it had a larger bomb load capacity then the B-17. The B-17 was actually based on the XB-15, which was a significantly larger aircraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Horse Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Never heard it was a "quality problem". Design issues yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1958 F.W.D. Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 Sounds like I just found a new book to look for Quote TWO STROKES ARE FOR GARDEN TOOLS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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