While the Consolidated B-24 Liberator four-engined heavy bomber dropped more war tonnage and was built in greater numbers, the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" four-engined "heavy" left a longer lasting memory on American military aviation history for its part in World War 2 (1939-1945). The aircraft was a primary component of the famed Eight AirMarker has been snapped off of its post mount and is missing. Regarding Bell Bomber (B-29) Plant. Since the plant's reopening in 1951, it has produced a wide variety of aircraft, including the C-141, the C-5, the C-130 (still in production), the F-22, and currently components for the F-35. The plant is currently a Lockhead Martin facility. During World War II, Ford Motor Company built 8,685 B-24 Liberator bomber airplanes at its Willow Run plant, 35 miles west of Detroit. By the spring of 1944, employees on Ford's bomber assembly line could turn out a finished airplane every 63 minutes. Workers completed the 6,000th B-24 in September 1944 -- with considerable fanfare.
A prototype B-1B crashed in August 1984, killing one crew member and injuring two. A bird strike caused the crash of the first production B-1B on September 28, 1987. The B-1B’s engines were designed to ingest a four-pound bird without causing significant damage (1). In this case a B-1B engine ingested a 20-pound bird.
More than 18,000 B-24s were built between 1940 and 1945, the largest total for any U.S. aircraft—some 10,000 by Consolidated-Vultee and the rest under license by Douglas Aircraft, North American Aviation, and the Ford Motor Company. Of this total, just under 1,700 went to the British. HdkQpYT.