Line art drawing of the "Phoney Express II", courtesy Bob Reichard

An unfortunate and typical B-24 problem was nose wheel shimmy and strut failure...

A 747th Squadron B-24 coming in low.

A visit to the Willow Run Room at the Yankee Air Force Museum, Willow Run, Michigan. This shot was taken 6 April 2000, and although a bit dark, you can see the history on the walls. The entire time span of the Willow Run B-24 production story circles the room in text and photos, with considerable memorabilia. The fellow on the left is Roy L. Firestone, flight engineer on Melvin Waggoner's crew (35 missions, 744th); I am on the right (Roy J. Firestone, your webmaster). 

At Willow Run, the largest labor force ever assembled (42,000+) manufactured and assembled 1,225,000 parts for each B-24, including 4 1/2 tons of rivets per day, turning out one complete airplane every 50 minutes at its peak.

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