On April 12, 1945, the total output of aircraft engines built by Ford Motor Company for the war effort reached one hundred million horsepower.
Ford reached the milestone when its Rouge manufacturing complex churned out its 50,000 copy of the Pratt & Whitney’s 18-cylinder 2,000 horsepower engine – more than any other single manufacturer of large aircraft engines.
Since the plant’s conversion to defense work in 1941, Ford manufacturing expertise had pared the government cost per engine by 30 percent, releasing several thousand employees for other war work.
The Ford-built engines were used in many different aircraft—including P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, Martin Marauders, Douglas A-26 attack bombers, Vega Ventura medium-range bombers and Curtiss Commando transports—that contributed to Allied air supremacy in both theaters of war.
Ford reached the milestone when its Rouge manufacturing complex churned out its 50,000 copy of the Pratt & Whitney’s 18-cylinder 2,000 horsepower engine – more than any other single manufacturer of large aircraft engines.
Since the plant’s conversion to defense work in 1941, Ford manufacturing expertise had pared the government cost per engine by 30 percent, releasing several thousand employees for other war work.
The Ford-built engines were used in many different aircraft—including P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, Martin Marauders, Douglas A-26 attack bombers, Vega Ventura medium-range bombers and Curtiss Commando transports—that contributed to Allied air supremacy in both theaters of war.