The Greatest Factory Ever Built

Following December 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which finally drew the United States into the Second World War, the attack’s architect, Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, infamously lamented that: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” While in reality Yamamoto likely never said this, the sentiment proved shockingly prophetic, for almost overnight the outraged nation shifted its entire economy towards a singular goal: crush the Axis Powers. Factories which had once produced household goods like sewing machines, typewriters, and automobiles were converted over to churning out rifles, helmets, tanks, jeeps, aircraft, and other vital war weapons by the hundreds of thousands, while a huge force of non-combatant civilians - including record numbers of women - were hired to staff them. The result was a nigh-unstoppable “Arsenal of Democracy” that ultimately swamped the wartime economies of Germany, Italy, and Japan and guaranteed Allied victory. But one American wartime factory stood out among the rest: Air Force Plant 31 in Ypsilanti (ip-si-lan-tee) Township, Michigan - better known as Willow Run. At peak capacity in April 1944, a complete B-24 Liberator heavy bomber was rolling out this facility’s doors every single hour - a staggering feat of industrial production that has yet to be matched. This is the story of the greatest factory ever built.

Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor/Pilot: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices