History

Due to the facility’s emphasis on bombers in the 1940s and 1950s, the neighborhood gave it the nickname “the bomber plant,” which still lasts today

The Air Force Plant 4 in west Fort Worth reportedly started operating on April 18, 1942, according to the Lockheed Martin website.

The building process took less than a year to finish and the facility needed a lot of lighting and air conditioning because it had no windows and needed to meet the mandated blackout conditions during wartime, which came to a monthly cost of $282,000 today money.

Due to the emphasis on bombers in the 1940s and 1950s, the factory acquired a local moniker that has lasted to this day: the bomber plant. While some of the plants were still under construction in February 1942, production of the B-24 Liberator started. In the end, Fort Worth manufactured 2,743 B-24s.

Additionally, the facility started building another bomber, the B-32 Dominator, toward the end of World War II. These four-engine bombers were all made in Fort Worth, in a total quantity of 124.

Fort Worth built nearly 400 B-36 Peacemakers, the first intercontinental bomber, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The B-36’s first flight took place in August 1946, and the Strategic Air Command (SAC) received its first operational B-36 in June 1948. The B-36J’s six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines gave it a cruising speed of 230 mph, while its four General Electric J47 engines allowed it to reach a top speed of 435 mph for short bursts of speed (thus the phrase “six turnings, four burning”) nuclear or conventional bombs weighing 86,000 pounds may be carried by the Peacemaker. Although the B-36 was never utilized in battle, it was a significant deterrent to enemy aggressiveness until it was eventually phased out in 1958.

The B-58 Hustler was first put into production in the late 1950s. The four-engine delta-winged aircraft, which made its first flight on November 11, 1956, was the first bomber in history built to maintain supersonic speeds throughout its mission profile. Convair produced 116 B-58s, including 30 test and prototype models and 86 operational aircraft. In the SAC between 1960 and 1970, hustlers flew. The B-58 set 19 world records for speed and altitude while also taking home five separate aviation medals. In 1970, the final B-58 was retired.

During World War II, more than 30,000 people, or nearly one in five Fort Worth citizens, worked at Air Force Plant 4.

The development and manufacture of the F-111, a supersonic, tactical attack aircraft, started in the early 1960s. The USAF F-111A first flew in December 1964, and the first production aircraft was delivered to the USAF in 1967. Fort Worth manufactured a total of 564, earning the company a new moniker: the “fighter factory.” 566 F-111s total, across all series, were produced. The F-111 was known as the Aardvark informally, but the name wasn’t given to it formally until it was retired in 1996.

When employment at AF Plant 4 peaked in the 1960s, some 30,000 people were employed there, primarily helping with the development and construction of the F-111 and its variants.

The RB-57F Canberra was a modest project created and constructed in Fort Worth during the 1960s. In fact, General Dynamics began converting 21 B-57 airframes —four of which were RB-57Ds— into RB-57Fs in 1963. This jet was a specially designed American strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Big Safari, a project of the Air Force. It was given to the Air Weather Service to conduct missions for atomic air sampling and weather reconnaissance and there are still three in use by NASA.

Early in the 1970s, the F-16’s development was underway. The F-16 was initially created as an air superiority day fighter that was compact, light, affordable, and engineered for great performance and simple maintenance. With its streamlined blended-wing body, fly-by-wire technology that kept the design stable, improved response time and boosted agility, and upgraded cockpit, the F-16 did just that and proved to be a game-changer among fighter jets.

The Fort Worth plant was a U.S. facility until the middle of the 1970s, an exclusive supplier to the Air Force. That changed with the F-16. The fighter was so inventive and effective that more than 4,500 of them were eventually constructed, 3,630 of which were in Fort Worth, for more than 25 countries. The F-16 production crew was able to deliver 30 jets per month at its highest production level in 1987. While there are still F-16s being produced today, the final one was delivered in September 2017.

The plant’s workforce had decreased to roughly 8,000 by the middle of the 1970s as F-111 manufacturing came to an end and the F-16 was still being developed. However, the number increased again in the 1980s, reaching over 30,000 by 1986, largely for the F-16.

The Fort Worth facility had to reinvent itself once more when the Cold War ended. The A-12 development program was canceled in 1991, which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs, and F-16 manufacturing had slowed by the early 1990s. Both the facility and the Fort Worth community were going through a difficult time.

Employees, however, sought out creative ways to bring in fresh business while utilizing current initiatives, which finally insured the plant’s survival in Fort Worth. Sales of the F-16 entered new regions in Asia and the Middle East. Before it was sent to Marietta for final assembly, the F-22 Raptor’s mid-fuselage was constructed in Fort Worth under a contract.

The world’s most technologically advanced multi-role fighter, the F-35, has been substantially developed and produced in Fort Worth over the past two decades. Nearly 70 F-35s were produced in Fort Worth in 2017, and in 2019 that number increased to nearly 160. Over many decades, that number may surpass 4,000 aircraft. The F-35 supports more than 170,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.

Photo by Edwards History Office file photo, Airman 1st Class Caleb Worpel U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, and Teddy Techer

The plans were given to the nonprofit organization The People’s Mosquito, which used them to repair a de Havilland Mosquito so that it could fly again

The Telegraph reports that only days before bulldozers were scheduled to destroy their hiding location, more than 20,000 engineering drawings and blueprints for the de Havilland Mosquito were discovered in a corner of a wartime factory.

The microfilm cards with the drawings on them are regarded as the most comprehensive collection of engineering drawings for multi-role aircraft. The plans were given to the nonprofit organization The People’s Mosquito, which used them to repair a Mosquito so that it can fly again.

The blueprints were discovered earlier in 2017 by an engineer just before the former de Havilland factory in Broughton, close to Chester, was scheduled for demolition, according to John Lilley, chairman of The People’s Mosquito.

He said: “He understood the tremendous historic value in these engineering drawings and how useful they could be. The building itself was soon to be demolished and the contents discarded. It’s incredible to think that they might have been lost forever.”

The organization, according to The Telegraph, aimed to restore a Mosquito night fighter that crashed at Royal Air Force (RAF) Coltishall in February 1949 while it was assigned to No 23 Sqn.

Ross Sharp, engineering director for the project, said: “As you can imagine, restoring an aircraft that is 70 years old presents several challenges, one of which is a lack of information on the building techniques, materials, fittings, and specifications. These plans enable us to glean a new level of understanding and connection with the brilliant designers who developed the world’s first, true, multi-role combat aircraft.”

When Sir Geoffrey de Havilland-designed Mosquito entered service in 1941, it was among the world’s fastest operational aircraft.

The plane was created from pieces of wood that were pressed and bonded together in molds to preserve limited metal supplies and for speed of production, earning it the moniker “The Wooden Wonder.” Exactly 7,781 were finally built, with the last one being completed on November 15, 1950. During World War II, 6,710 of them were supplied.

The public first learned about the Mosquito after a successful raid by four of them on the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo on September 25, 1942, which took place at the tail end of 1941. They were attacked by two Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190s that were in the air when they arrived while flying above Oslo with their bomb doors open. The Fw 190s gave up the chase 60 miles out to sea after losing track of the others after one was shot down.

The Mosquito was the ideal aircraft to conduct reconnaissance missions over Germany due to its rapid speed. Now the discarded drawings revealed early planes to carry torpedoes, possibly to attack the Tirpitz. There is also a design titled “Mosquito Mk I, Tropics” that shows how to store desert items in the rear fuselage.

Only three mosquitoes remain in flight today—two in America and one in Canada. Only a small portion of the estimated £6 million cost of the restoration has been raised thus far.

Mr. Lilley concluded: “No other aircraft has amassed such a remarkable combat record in so short a time, flying so many different types of mission and excelling in each one. Even today, it remains one of the world’s most successful multirole combat aircraft, and it was all British, made by men and women who only a few months earlier had been building furniture and mending pianos.”

Additional source: Royal Air Force

Photo by Crown Copyright, De Havilland photographer for Ministry of Aircraft Production

The 10,000 pounds Mk I bomb known as “Little Boy” dropped out of the bomb bay as the Enola Gay lurched.

On December 17, 1944, the 509th Composite Group was secretly established with the primary objective of deploying the first nuclear bomb.

Due to the secrecy of their mission, the team practiced at Wendover, Utah, and Tinian Island, in the Pacific, honing the performance of the crew and their B-29 Superfortress bombers.

“What I tried to do, initially, was to train individuals – then weld the individuals into a good, cohesive team to fly this B-29 better than anybody else was flying… that particular day,” said Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, 509th Composite Group commander, and orchestrator of the operational aspect of the original nuclear enterprise, the Manhattan Project, in an interview in 1966. “We were after perfection. I wouldn’t settle for anything less than a quarter of a mile of accuracy, and I wouldn’t stand for anything less than 20 seconds off on time. This became a challenge… and you’d be surprised at the pride these boys took in being able to qualify.”

In the article 509th Bomb Wing continues Assurance, Deterrence… 65 years later, Airman 1st Class Torey Griffith of the 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs explains how the first 509ers rose to fulfill these high standards without hesitation. The nuclear mission was only known to Colonel Tibbets and a small group of people above him.

“I kept telling [the crews] that the work they were doing, even though it might seem non-productive to them at the moment… because their contemporaries … were overseas fighting a war and they were still training,… their contribution would be something that had a good strong chance of ending the war,” said Colonel Tibbets. “Now, this was enough to raise their curiosity. It didn’t violate any security, and it gave them something to go on.”

“… with this type of training program, I think I produced the best B-29 crews in the 20th Air Force,” Colonel Tibbets said.

With the best crews in the U.S. and a squadron of 15 specially prepared “Silverplate” B-29s, Colonel Tibbets received orders from the White House to attack Hiroshima while the Army Air Forces (USAAF) were waiting.

“We got going down the runway [on Aug. 6, 1945] at 2:15 a.m.,” Colonel Tibbets said. “After we got the airplanes in formation, I crawled into the tunnel and went back to tell the men. I said, ‘You know what we’re doing today? This is an atom bomb we’re dropping.’ These guys were no idiots. We’d been fiddling ’round with the most peculiar-shaped things we’d ever seen.”

At 9:15 a.m., Colonel Tibbets and navigator Maj. Theodore van Kirk maneuvered the Enola Gay over the predetermined target. Maj. Tom Ferebee, a bombardier, spotted his target and awaited the ideal time.

Colonel Tibbets reported that the Enola Gay shook as the 10,000 lb. Mk. I bomb, often known as “Little Boy,” detonated outside the bomb bay. With barely 40 seconds to get as far away from the bomb as possible, he immediately banked the B-29.

Hiroshima’s 4.7 square miles were completely destroyed in less than a minute.

The Enola Gay was swiftly overtaken by the shock wave, which appeared as a ring of mist quickly extending from the detonation location, as it was being observed by tail gunner Staff Sgt. Bob Caron. The Enola Gay was shaken by the initial shock wave with a force of 2.5 Gs, according to accelerometers on board. A few seconds later, a second, smaller wave arrived.

Colonel Tibbets wheeled the aircraft back toward the construction site to review their work. Colonel Tibbets claimed he was still in awe of the devastation after being one of the select few to watch a film of the Trinity explosion, the first nuclear test conducted in the desert of New Mexico.

Griffith claims that it was challenging for President Harry S. Truman to decide to use atomic weapons. Germany, one of the first targets of a concurrent strike, had already declared defeat that spring.

However, the Pacific War was still going on. The threat of an invasion had little impact on the leadership in Japan.

President Truman had to decide whether to add to the millions of casualties already suffered throughout the conflict or try to put an end to it by employing the most potent weapon ever created.

“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima,” said the president in a public announcement. “It [was] an atomic bomb. We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”

The “Bock’s Car,” driven by Maj. Charles Sweeney of the 509th Composite Group, attacked Nagasaki on August 9 because Japan remained silent for three days following the attack on Hiroshima.

Truman outlined his reasons in his radio speech to the country on August 9, 1945, “We have used (the nuclear bomb) in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans,” he said.

Japan’s Emperor Hirohito stated in a radio broadcast on August 15, 1945, that “the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is true, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.”

On September 2, Japan formally submitted to the United States aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending the brutal six-year conflict.

Photo by U.S. Air Force, Enola Gay Tail Gunner S/Sgt. George R. (Bob) Caron, Mr.98 via Wikipedia and 509th photographer Pfc. Armen Shamlian / U.S. Air Force