Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant Built with Taxpayer Funds, Private Profits

Ford Motor Company breaks ground on the Willow Run bomber plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan, on April 17, 1941. The facility, the largest factory under one roof in the world at over 3.5 million square feet, is built entirely with government funds through the Defense Plant Corporation but operated by Ford for private profit under cost-plus contracts that guarantee profit margins regardless of efficiency.

The Defense Plant Corporation (DPC), a government entity created in 1940, finances the plant’s $200 million construction cost (equivalent to over $4 billion in 2024 dollars). Ford operates the facility but makes no capital investment of its own. The company receives management fees and retains proprietary manufacturing knowledge developed using public resources.

Henry Ford, who had previously expressed sympathy for Nazi Germany and accepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Hitler’s government in 1938, leverages the war emergency to expand his industrial empire at public expense. Ford initially resists producing under government contract, preferring to maintain full corporate control, but the lure of guaranteed profits ultimately prevails.

Production at Willow Run initially disappoints. The plant takes two years to reach full production, far longer than promised. During this period, Ford receives guaranteed payments while delivering fewer bombers than projected. Critics, including members of the Truman Committee, question whether the massive public investment is justified by Ford’s performance.

At peak production in 1944, Willow Run produces B-24 Liberator bombers at a rate of one per hour, demonstrating American industrial capacity. However, the plant’s legacy extends beyond military production. The DPC model of government-funded, privately-operated defense facilities becomes standard practice, ensuring that taxpayers bear the capital costs of defense production while corporations retain the profits, technological knowledge, and facilities after the war ends.