B-24 Liberator Models, Production and Assembly Plants

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a 4-engine, twin-tail heavy bomber designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego. Its first flight was on December 29, 1939, and it began service in 1941.

The B-24's spacious, slab-sided fuselage was built around a central bomb bay with two compartments that could accommodate up to 8,000 pounds of ordnance each. The B-24 provided excellent service in a variety of roles due to its large payload and long range.

B-24 Liberator Production Recap by Model and Assembly Plant

A total of 18,493 Liberators were built, more than any other aircraft in World War II. Several factories produced the Liberator:

Original Consolidated plant in San Diego
A second Consolidated plant in Fort Worth
Ford Motor Co. at Willow Run, Michigan
North American Aviation in Dallas
Douglas Aircraft Co. in Tulsa

The table shown below represents a recap of B-24 Liberator production by model, and by manufacturing plant. Numbers represent our best research on the subject; there are minor variations in numbers reported by other sources and outlets.

B-24 Model	Consol-idated San Diego (CO)	Consol-idated Fort Worth (CF)	Ford Willow Run (FO)	North American Dallas (NT)	Douglas Tulsa (DT)	Total Number Built
Early Models (XB-24, YB-24, B-24A, etc.)	34					34
B-24D	2,381	305			10	2,696
B-24E		144	490		167	801
B-24G				430		430
B-24H		738	1,780		582	3,100
B-24J	2,792	1,558	1,587	536	205	6,678
B-24L	417		1,250			1,667
B-24M	916		1,677			2,593
Liberator I	20					20
Liberator II	139					139
Liberator III	260					260
LB-30	75					75
TOTAL	7,034	2,745	6,784	966	964	18,493

Consolidated B-24 assembly line at Fort Worth

Willow Run Plant in Michigan

The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator.

The architect was Albert Kahn, who worked along side Ford designer Charles Sorensen. Six months and $47 million dollars later, the Ford Willow Run B-24 Liberty Bomber Plant was ready for training a work force. With 3.5 million square feet of factory space, it was one of the largest factories in the world. The plant featured an assembly line which was a mile long and included a unique 90 degree turn.

On October 1, 1942, the first plane was completed and christened "The Spirit of Ypsilanti."

The Willow Run Airport, with six runways to test planes, was also completed in 1942. At the peak of production, the assembly line was producing a Liberator an hour.

On June 28, 1945 production ceased, after 8,685 planes had been manufactured.