History of Air Force Plant 4, Fort Worth, Texas
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- Опубліковано 8 січ 2016
- This unclassified video is from the 1990s. It details the history of the construction and operation of Air Force Plant 4, which began producing B-24 Liberator heavy bombers in late 1941. Later products included the B-32 Dominator, the B-36 "Peacemaker," the B-58 Hustler, the F-111 "Aardvark," the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and portions of the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Claims to fame include Biggest Bomber (B-36), first double-supersonic bomber (B-58), first terrain following radar (F-111), and at just over 4,000 feet the longest building in Texas - probably.
My father R.H. Forsyth worked at the Plant for 46yrs, when he retired he also shutdown the tooling foundry! He worked there from '63-2009 continuously except for once back in 74 when we had to move to Tucumcari N.M. where he worked for Murdoch Tooling. He drove a van pool from Weatherford to Lake Worth for several years. I remember in '76 there was an open house at the plant it was awesome! that was the only time I ever got passed the Railroad gate. Sure do miss him.
My Dad went to work at the Ft Worth plant just after WW2 working on the B-36 when he retired they were building the F-16. He was a production supervisor.
They failed to mention a cute 'story' about the facility. In the video in two places you can see that the nose of the B-36 is being held up on a stand. The reason for that is the vertical tail was too tall to fit in the factory without dropping the tail down. So after the vertical tail was attached they 'dragged' the tail through final assembly and out the north end door. I worked at the facility from mid '75 to early '77. Saw the rollout of the first pre-production F-16 in December of '76 while the YF was performing the Paris Air Show flight program overhead. Pretty exciting stuff for a new aero engineer.
An excellent detail that many do not know, the too tall tail.
My dad, now 101, worked at Consolidated in Ft. Worth at age 19 from the time it opened in 1942 until he joined the Navy two years later. He talks of the day he looked up and President Roosevelt was in the back seat of a car a few feet from him, being given a tour of the plant. Dad rented a room in someone's house in Arlington Heights. Ate breakfast every morning at Rockefeller's on Camp Bowie. His time in the plant was a good experience.
My dad, Billy Louis Wood worked on the B-36, B-58, F-111,and F-16. He retired in 1992 after 43 years at the bomber plant.
Wow! The stories . . . . I bet they're amazing.
We lived a half mile from the end of the south runway at Carswell 1968 to 1976. I would watch all the B52s and KC 135s returning late afternoon and all the other amazing aircraft zooming around.
Thanks for sharing. My Dad and Grandfather both worked there and I live near Lake Worth!
Dept 145 center section fuselage. Helped build a heck of a lot of em.
80 to 90 same dept 145
I worked there almost 37 years now retired 1/22/80 to 11/01/2016 .F-16. F-22 F -35 . I loved it but retirement is better !
My Stepmom was a Rosie the Riveter at Air Force Plant #4 when it was the Consolidated B-24 Liberator factory. She worked on the empennage. She transferred to the B-36 Peacemaker program, working on all 3 prototypes and the early production run when she left to go back to the Family's East Texas dairy farm.
The old Air force guys had crazy style, the uniforms and covers, were individual expressions, all Cool!!
I worked at this location in the 1980' s as an inspector then Lockheed bought the plant and laid off 20K workers in early 90' s I was one of them. I had pride in building a world class F-16 fighter, still have fond memories.
Had the good fortune to be stationed at Carswell 73-76 and again 79-89 saw that belly landing Neil Anderson was an outstanding aviator, what impressed was the takeoff out of sight vertically while the F-4 chase was still rolling for take off. As an aside Carswell is the only US military installation with it's namesake buried on it, Major Horace Carswell was killed during ww2 his remains were recovered after the war and returned to Ft Worth for burial, the family visited the Cemetary where he was interred and did not like its condition and were intending to move the remains out of state. That was reported in the local news, the Commander 7th bomb wing then based at Carswell asked the family if they would consider reinterring him on the reservation they said yes, it did not take long for everything including the required act of congress, I attended the reinterrment as part of the representation of my Squadron
I once held sufficient security clearance and was involved in a business such that I got to visit the plant in the 1980s, in the F-16 era. It was a magnificent facility and staffed with the best of the best. Quality control was the finest in the world. 🇺🇸.
I worked at GD on the F111B wing swivel up grade in the mid 70's. i was an electrician and was trained on the wing sweep control box up grades.
If my mom was still here she would love this vid
She worked for General Dynamics during the Vietnam Era and later went to work for LTV
Great footage
Ken Surratt ....My aunt worked at LTV back in the 60's; worked there a long time. Back then, one could work their entire career at one of these big aerospace contractors and then their children could do the same thing.
While working for GD in Flight Test Engineering after graduating TAMU in 76, I learned from many of "old timer green badges" at the Fort Worth plant that many a babies were conceived on second and third shift in the B-36s waiting for delivery on the flightline
I'm not surprised.
Great quality footage , thanks for uploading
B-32 was a beautiful plane, did the same job as B-29, and looked so much cooler.
Man, the production of this video takes me back. I spent years doing audio for hundreds of these types of productions. I believe that is Bob McGruder doing the V.O. This was probably completed at Video Post and Transfer or one of the Dallas area post production houses.
I detect a cheesy sounding string machine, a mellotron, and possibly a fender P-bass, maybe a drum machine too (plus usual stuff of course). Whaddaya say Mate, Cheers!
J Fortenberry My father worked there in the 40s. He was a sergeant
in the Army Air Corp.
Outstanding film. Very enjoyable.
Been there done done that then went to build commercial birds for the next 30 years. I miss building the war birds.
One correction. The F/FB111 is not the only aircraft to fill fighter and bomber roles. The deHavilland Mosquito did it first during WW2.
My grandpa here watching this with me said the C-87 was a death trap with leaky fuel lines and being grossly overweight that on take off if you loose an engine you will crash
Lived in Lake Worth 1/4 mile from the north end of Carswell AFB watch B-52"s 24/7 flying during the Cuban Missile deal in 1962 and the crashes of two of the B58"s in 63 and 65..
Thank you SO much 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Yet another indispensible contribution of the Texas Republic to the world and humanity.
Yep, Built in Texas by Texans !
My father built the F-7 Corsair 2’s in the LTV plant in Dallas Tx, for the Vietnam war, after retiring from U.S.A.F
Amen deep in the heart of Texas
BS Texas Republic? Bwwwwaaaa
I worked at Besly Products in South Beloit, Il in the 70's. We made the thread cutting tap for the nut that held the big bolt that the F-111 wing swiveled on.
kool!
They showed this at the "50 Years of Pride" open house for Employee families in 1992, just a few months before they had everyone but a skeleton crew laid off "indefinitely" and reduced the F-16 to four a year.
My mother retired from the avionics plant (later known as Elbit EFW) in the 2000's after starting there in 1978 as the F-16 was going into full production.
The big layoff didn't come until 1994. I was there until June 20. Came back in 2003 was laid off two more times and retired in 2020
All empty space now. I was there for the removal of all of the machinery as they finished the last C-17 stabilizer. We bought several of the large machines and moved them to Anaheim, where they still run 24/6 as of Jan 2021.
My grandmother worked there on the Liberator and later on the Mustang.
Love ❤️ the music
Besides making great aircraft they also operated the Air Force Electronic Warfare Evaluation Simulator, AFEWES at plant 4. For years all new Air Force radar jammers and warning systems had to go there as part of their test program before the were tested on flying aircraft. They would be building F-111 aircraft and across the street they might be testing the F-15 electronic warfare suite.
I had a Uncle who worked for General Dynamics in Fort Worth. Another who worked for Bell.
27:49 smile inducing scene.
40+ years, still work out of that plant.
Maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but having seen the video wherein the left wing if the B-24 comes off, that particular clip seemingly in every video about bombers in WW2, a thousand times give or take - I just realized that the bird wasn't shot down! It was the victim of friendly fire, or friendly bombing in this case. You can clearly see bombs falling all around the aircraft, and then the obvious strike when the wing disintegrates near the root. Am I wrong? Am I the last guy on Earth to finally figure it out?
Btw born in 1937 I remember those b-24s roaring over the drive in movie where camp Bowie and Benbrook hiway split. On the way to WW 2 , those engines would drown out the sound. Does anyone remember the drive in’s name? I don’t.
I work there
1974-1985
I may be the only cowtown kid never to work at GD. All my friends did.
Nice pictures but this video needs a lot more dialogue.,.,.,.,.
My father worked there for many years.
Go GD I'm proud to say I worked there started 1980 only 6yrs it was great I might know you Mr.Rrobbins I was on the south end at gate 5. Best job ever had been retired for 6 yrs.my father worked there when it was Carwell air force base an he took me to a big plane opening when I was little and I got to go inside the planes it was so exciting.
The possibilities yet to come = F35 program
At 8:18 was that a friendly bomb that blew up the port wing?
No, that's footage of a later model B-24 taking a heavy flak hit to the wing root, which was a critical hit on the type.
The tires are huge on the aircraft in the photo I see here what plane is it?
It was the B36 as shown at 12:51
My mom was a part of the war effort, her job was to rivet the iwind-shields.in. on what aircraft I don't know,
8:15 ....is it just me, or am I wrong, but that Bomber looks like it got hit by friendly fire?
If you single-frame through that part it does appear that a bomb went through the wing. Don't see the bomb above the wing but does look to be under the wing. I'm sure this happened many times.
If you look closely you can see the plane above dropped bombs through his wing. With playback speed at 1/4 you can see it very well.
Wait, I thought the Liberators were built in Michigan by Ford? I’m confused.
Lib's were designed and first built by Consolidated in San Diego. They didn't have enough capacity there since they were building a lot of other things including PBYs. So the Ft. Worth plant was built and opened. Consolidated still didn't have enough capacity, so the design was licensed to Ford, and and some were built in Michigan.
Just like Boeing designed the B-29 and built a lot, but didn't have enough capacity, so Bell Aircraft made a whole bunch at a new plant in Georgia.
That was common for almost all of the big production items in WW II, from cans of soup onward. You needed lots of companies building each thing to get enough capacity.
Yes, and Boeing B-17s were built at the Douglas plant in Long Beach California.
Bouncing bomb at 9:47??
Could be. Looks like the aircraft was at very low level, which might have resulted in the bombs being armed with a short delay fuse to allow the bombers to exit from the blast zone. A bomb with a time delay fuse might easily skip off the ground.
I strongly suspect that is stock footage that was misapplied. That appears to be from a B-25, not a B-24. I don't believe that B-24's were used in the Pacific for that low-level attach mission, but A-20s and B-25's were. The bombs had delayed fusing so that the plane, typically running at about 100 feet, would be out of range before the bomb went off. Planes were supposed to fly offset from each other so that the bomb going off wouldn't get the following plane. Unfortunately, sometimes that happened.
Unclassified video? Don't you mean promotional video?
Could be promotional, or even self-promotional; still unclassified.
The B-24 on submarine duty ended the Nazi submarine rein of terror in the Atlantic thanks to an English officer who figured out where the subs had to be and when they would be there
I use to work in plant four at Propeller Assembly, Man we fucked around and smoked weed all damn day.
Loser.
Poor transfer from 16 mm film to 480i old standard TV
My mom work in the wing section of planes don’t remember which one
12:53 LOL
Those Wright's are loonies! They think they're birds! _Flying!_ PAH!
Fort worth why fort worth why
Hap Arnold didn't ask consolidated any such trite. They were told to build the ancient B17. They said they would use their experience building four engine flying boats to create a far better plane. Hap Arnold was put squarely in his place. Don't present properganda as history.
Three thousand miles in ten hours for a modified B-24????
Sounds like this is where CNN got its start.
Why I don’t see blacks working there? Is there any reason for that?
Outstanding film. Very enjoyable.