This was 6 months BEFORE Pearl Harbor!  Henry Ford was determined that he could mass produce bombers just as he had done with cars, so he built the WillowRun assembly plant in Michigan and proved it.  It was the world's largest building under one roof at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKlt6rNciTo?rel=0 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Run

"The first Ford-built Liberator rolled off the Willow Run line in September 1942; the first series of Willow Run Liberators was the B-24E."

"The [Willow Run] plant began production in summer 1941; the dedication plaque is dated June 16. The plant initially built components; Douglas Aircraft and the plane's designer Consolidated Aircraft assembled the finished aircraft. Remote assembly proved problematic, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators."

According to Max Wallace, Air Corps Chief General "Hap" Arnold told Charles Lindbergh, then a consultant at the plant, that "combat squadrons greatly preferred the B-17 bomber to the B-24 because 'when we send the 17's out on a mission, most of them return. But when we send the 24's out, most of them don't'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

"The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941."

Interesting that many of the companies that built aircraft for the Germans and the Japanese during the war and were basically car manufactures before the war are still operating today, eg: Mitsubishi etc among many others.

dorian wrote:

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Rolls Royce manufactured aircraft engines for the British during WW1 and WW2.

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And also engines for Military jeeps and armoured scout cars, used by Britain and allied Commonwealth Countries including Australia.

Ford and Willies made the engines for the US jeeps used during the war and the list goes on.  

GaryKelly wrote:

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There are DC3s still flying today.

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 Flew in a DC3 as an observer Gary over the northern coast of PNG and Irian Jaya when Rockafellas son went missing , some history on him if you google Rockafella Missing in PNG.  They reckoned that if he made it to shore the tribes in that part were cannibals so he may have ended up in a cooking pot....

They were widely used in New Guinea during WW2 delivering supplies on air drop to the troops, nicknamed "Biscuit Bombers". 

You must remember the classic Roll Royce Merlin, which powered the Spitfire and the Mustang, and many others. When I was in the Oz army , we still had Centurion  Tanks, with RR Metior petrol engines. 800hp, I drove one thru a wall.Turn the turret back and just point it.It takes a lot to stop a  47 ton centurion.  Bill

I believe I am right to say that there were more B24s built than any other war plane in history, somewhere around 18,469.  There are however only 6 or seven complete models remaining, with only a couple of fliers.

Australia started to take delivery of B24s in 1944, and it looks as if the last of them was disposed of in 1952. 

There is an almost fully restored B24 in Weribee, it has been assembled from parts found in many places, all done by volunteers. I have spoken to volunteers in the last few years who worked on or in B24s. It is well worth the time to go and see the B24, the hardware is fascinating, but the people far more so.

bill12 wrote:

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You must remember the classic Roll Royce Merlin, which powered the Spitfire and the Mustang, and many others. When I was in the Oz army , we still had Centurion  Tanks, with RR Metior petrol engines. 800hp, I drove one thru a wall.Turn the turret back and just point it.It takes a lot to stop a  47 ton centurion.  Bill

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I had a ride in a Centurion once Bill, holy hell you got tossed around a lot and had to watch hitting parts of your body if you didn't hold on tight to something, roughest ride I ever had!