Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff 
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075 
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Retired: USAF
NBA: Spurs
NFL: Niners
MLB: Giants
NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 25, 2013 3:23:39 GMT 9
This is a film made by Ford Motor Company, promoting itself and how it built the B-24 at the Willow Run plant.
Very interesting.
The Liberator in many ways was a better bomber than the B-17, but didn't get the press that the Boeing Bird did.
Jim Too
Subject: B-24
Bet you didn't know that Ford had its own pilots to test the B-24 Liberators it was building for the ARMY at the rate of one every 55 MINUTES!!
A little bit of history for aviation buffs.
This was BEFORE Pearl Harbor ! Ford's B-24 Bomber Plant at Willow Run, Mich. 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.
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.
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Post by Jim on Aug 25, 2013 5:34:12 GMT 9
It will never happen again, we have neither the facilities to harvest the raw materials, the capabilities to turn those materials into products to manufacture anything like the volume of B-24s produced by Ford. And sadly, I am not sure that the attitude of the WW2 generation- both civilian and military could be generated in sufficient volume to overcome. Even US Steel is gone, well, yes the Pittsburgh Steelers still exist, but that is all....... And most people under the age of 40 have no idea where their primary colored, stylized diamonds logo comes from.
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Post by Diamondback on Aug 25, 2013 5:46:34 GMT 9
Even if we could BUILD 'em, I'm not sure we could mobilize the manpower to CREW 'em anymore. Too many people today that only think "as long as they're not coming for me or mine" and not enough that understand Niemoller's Lament, and the fact that True Evil does exist and PREFERS to play people off one another until otherwise good people are so Balkanized they can't come together to muster effective resistance, and can be crushed one at a time.
Founders' Wisdom: "Hang together, or most assuredly hang separately."
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF
NBA: Spurs
NFL: Niners
MLB: Giants
NHL: Penguins
|
Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 25, 2013 6:07:40 GMT 9
It will never happen again, we have neither the facilities to harvest the raw materials, the capabilities to turn those materials into products to manufacture anything like the volume of B-24s produced by Ford. And sadly , I am not sure that the attitude of the WW2 generation- both civilian and military could be generated in sufficient volume to overcome. Even US Steel is gone, well, yes the Pittsburgh Steelers still exist, but that is all.......
We were still in the Depression of the 1930s, a manufactured Depression, and men were actually looking for work and anxious to go to work.
When Ford began building the Willow Run factory, so many people were hired, new housing developments, schools, churches, stores and other businesses had to be built for the workers.
That building didn't stop for many years.
The unemployment rate, officially, was 14.96%.
In 1941 it had dropped to 9.9%, and in 1942 it was 4.7%.
As the War continued, it had dropped to 1.9% in 1943, 1.2% in 1944 and 1.9% in 1945.
The rate stayed low until 1949.
1946 - 55.8% - 3.9%
1947 - 56.8% - 3.9%
1948 - 58.3% - 3.8%
1949 - 58.9% - 5.9%
Source: www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf
(United States Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Our manufacturing companies had not started to move production outside our national borders, nor had they begun to import all the things they now do.
Yes, Jim, there was a very different attitude.
Men, and some women, were willing to go to work, any work, rather than take a handout.
Plus the attitude that we had to stand for Freedom for our nation, even if the cost was high in dollars and lives.
Now, I agree with you, the attitude is not there, nor the desire.
I think Nikita Kruschev had it right when said: "We shall destroy you from within."
We now have close to 50% of our population dependent on the government, if it isn't already more than 50%, and that means there is probably not much desire to work for "Freedom" as our people did in 1941.
Sad, sad, sad.
Jim Too
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