Air Force Plants NC (NAA-K company ID, [1] Government Assembly Plant No. 2, [2] facility ID #2503) [3] was an aircraft production facility established during World War II adjacent to Fairfax Field near Kansas City. Although operated by North American Aviation, the plant was built and owned by the United States government. [4]
North American Aviation's president had inspected the field by December 1940 when the US government approved construction of a Kansas City production plant to produce B-25 Mitchell bombers for the USAAF and PBJ-1D bombers for the US Navy. Survey work began in December, the city of Kansas City, Kansas, purchased the airport in February, [5] and the plant's groundbreaking was on 8 March 1941. [1] Contract W535 AC 19341 [1] for the initial production of 1,200 B-25D (NA-87) bombers was approved on June 28, 1941; [6] production began in December 1941.
Fairfax's first B-25D was accepted by the USAAF in February 1942 (the first production block was B-25D-1). North American provided parts for the first 100 Fairfax B-25Ds from AFP #09 in Inglewood, California, and the company had a test flight office at Fairfax. [7]
A USAAF Modification Center was built at Fairfax Field from May–October 1942 [1] for altering the plant's B-25s. The plant's "high bay" expansion was completed for a 1942 North American contract (never implemented) to build 200 Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers at Fairfax alongside B-25 Mitchell. The expansion began in July 1942 on the east side of the bomber plant and added 350 ft × 1,060 ft (110 m × 320 m) of floor space with twice the height of the existing final assembly bay (completed in March 1943). After several outbuildings were added to the modification center, in October 1944 it became an adjunct[ clarification needed ] to the final assembly line.
Employment peaked at 24,329 in October 1943, and the first Fairfax B-25J was accepted in December 1943 (555 B-25Js were in the first production block: B-25J-1-NC.) D model production ended in March 1944 with block 35 (B-25D-35-NA) and after North American's California plant ended B-25 production on July 7, 1944; Fairfax was the sole source for B-25 Mitchells and set a January 1945 record with AAF acceptance of 315 Fairfax aircraft.
Planning for Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter production included a visit in February 1945 by two Lockheed representatives, and in April Lockheed shipped a P-80 to the bomber plant for study. Work began on building jigs for P-80 production, space was cleared for P-80 production in the high bay, and the B-25 assembly line was shortened.[ specify ]
B-25J production - which was scheduled to continue through December 1945 - was terminated on August 15, the day after V-J day. Fairfax had built 2,290 B-25Ds (152 Navy PBJ-1D variants) and 4,318 B-25Js of the ~11,000 produced. The federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation set up a depot in the Fairfax district to liquidate war surplus not sent to depots or elsewhere for government use (reusable materials like aluminum and steel were reclaimed.) Seventy-two incomplete but flyable B-25Js were sold to the public.
The Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Plant [8] adjacent to Fairfax Field, [9] was initiated with the "November 7, 1945 [announcement] that General Motors had signed a five-year lease for the former bomber plant" [10] which had several interior railroad spurs from the north. [8] "The reconverted factory finished its first automobile in June 1946", [7] and in 1953 when the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighter was unveiled, its assembly line was in the same 53 acres (21 ha) building as the automotive production line. [9]
General Motors produced 599 F-84Fs at the Fairfax plant; the aircraft and vehicle production lines running parallel simultaneously. GM purchased the plant in 1960,. [11] [12] In 1985 production started in the new General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant built on runways of the closed municipal airport. [13] Production at the former Air Force Plant ceased in May 1987 and the structure was razed in 1989.
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The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II, and after the war ended, many remained in service, operating across four decades. Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 B-25s were built. These included several limited models such as the F-10 reconnaissance aircraft, the AT-24 crew trainers, and the United States Marine Corps' PBJ-1 patrol bomber.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seated, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Allied propaganda claimed that it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P-38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night fighter, and a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks. The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers, or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of the aerial film captured over Europe.
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.
The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II.
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Fairfax Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory at 3201 Fairfax Trafficway, Kansas City, Kansas. As of June 2021, the 4,900,000 sq ft (460,000 m2) plant employs over 2,100 hourly and salaried employees. Employees are represented by UAW Local 31.
The Fairfax Industrial District is a manufacturing area of Kansas City, Kansas, on the Goose Island river bend of the Missouri River. The US 69 Missouri River Bridge provides access to the district from Missouri's Platte County and Riverside community. The district's General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant is a current facility in the district which has remnants of the runways used by the defunct Fairfax Municipal Airport and Fairfax Air Force Base.
Royal Air Force Attlebridge or more simply RAF Attlebridge is a former Royal Air Force station located near Attlebridge and 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Norwich, Norfolk, England.
The 19th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force formation. Its last assignment was with Eighth Air Force at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1988.
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1 April 1944. The subsequent highest priority campaigns were against V-weapon installations and petroleum, oil, and lubrication (POL) plants. Additional CBO targets included railyards and other transportation targets, particularly prior to the invasion of Normandy and, along with army equipment, in the final stages of the war in Europe.
Fairfax Municipal Airport was a Kansas City, Kansas airfield from 1921 that was used during 1935–1949 by the military. Federal land adjacent to the airfield included a WWII B-25 Mitchell plant and modification center and a Military Air Transport terminal. After being used as a Cold War-era Air Force Base, it was used for airliner servicing by TWA and for automobile and jet fighter aircraft production by General Motors, which built a 1985 Fairfax Plant over runways when the municipal airport closed.
Blitz Week was a period of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aerial bombardment during the 1943 Combined Bomber Offensive of World War II. Air raids were conducted on six of seven days as part of Operation Gomorrah, against targets such as the chemical plant at Herøya, Norway, which produced nitrates for explosives; and the AGO Flugzeugwerke AG plant at Oschersleben, Germany that assembled Focke-Wulf 190s. The Kassel mission on July 28, 1943 was the first use of P-47 Thunderbolt auxiliary fuel tanks.
The 448th Supply Chain Management Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 448th Fighter-Bomber Wing, stationed at Hensley Field, Texas. It was inactivated on 16 November 1957.
Vitry-en-Artois Airfield is a regional airfield in France, located 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Vitry-en-Artois; 105 miles (169 km) north-northeast of Paris. It supports general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.
Air Force Plant 4 is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility in Fort Worth, Texas, currently owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. It is home of the F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft. Military aircraft have been manufactured here since 1942. Plant 4 is adjacent to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, formerly Carswell Air Force Base.
Air Force Plant 6, known during World War II as the Bell Bomber Plant, is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, currently owned by the United States Air Force and operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. The plant, originally occupied by Bell Aircraft, began operation in April 1943 and was intended specifically to produce B-29 Superfortresses under license from Boeing. During the course of the War, the factory produced 668 B-29s for the United States Army Air Forces, and at its peak had a work force of approximately 28,000. After the War the factory was mothballed, but with the United States's entrance into the Korean War, in January 1951 the plant was turned over to Lockheed who began refurbishing B-29s. The plant remains in use today by Lockheed.
Fairfax Field was a wartime (WWII) facility of the United States Army Air Forces and later, the United States Air Force. The installation was north of Kansas City, Kansas. Used as a pre-war Naval Air Station, the United States Army Air Forces leased the municipal airfield and built an Air Force Plant and modification center for North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber production. Military use of the site continued as late as 1957 by the Strategic Air Command's 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group for bombing practice.
This is a partial list of notable accidents and incidents involving the Consolidated-designed B-24 Liberator. Combat losses are not included except for some cases denoted by singular circumstances. Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express and PB4Y Privateers are also included.
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