In 1944, the Dodge Chicago plant was the largest factory in the world under one roof, building giant engines for the B-29 Superfortress. This historic newsreel provides a rare look inside.
Begun in 1942 and completed in 1944, the Dodge Chicago plant covered 6.3 million square feet and 30 city blocks in the West Lawn area of Chicago. It was here that the Dodge division of Chrysler manufactured the majority of the Wright Cyclone R-3350 engines used in the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Nearly 4,000 B-29s were built, each one powered by four R-3350s.
The R-3350 was America’s largest and most powerful aircraft engine in regular use in World War II. With 18 cylinders displacing 3347 cubic inches, the massive twin-row radial was seven feet long, five feet in diameter, weighed 2700 lbs. and produced 2200 hp. Supercharged and employing an early form of direct fuel injection, the R-3350 was built to such precise tolerances that the 22-acre main assembly building required an air-conditioned climate control system—an engineering feat in itself at the time.
After the war, the plant was briefly home to the Tucker Corporation, then became a Ford assembly plant. Today, Tootsie Roll Industries and the Ford City shopping mall occupy portions of the gigantic facility, which was the final project of the Motor City’s master architect, Albert Kahn.
Engine test cells, Dodge Chicago plant
MCG is proud of the tremendous response to earlier video features here at Mac’s Motor City Garage that spotlight the auto industry’s contributions in World War II, including the Ford Willow Run bomber plant and the Packard Merlin plant. We’re confident you will enjoy this historic newsreel as well.
Once again, MCG has outdone itself( if that’s possible). I had no idea this went on, although it pre-dates me by 12 years. Again, I think of all the industries that were involved in making a plant like this operate, and I think of where the people that worked here, work today. Do we even have factories like this now? I can think of at least half a dozen in Milwaukee alone, that don’t exist now. As a quick sidebar, I used to pick up at the Tootsie Roll factory, and had no idea what went on there, but thanks to MCG, I do now. As a side sidebar, Tootsie Roll makes 64 million tootsie rolls A DAY! That’s a lot of damn tootsie rolls! Thanks again for the history lesson. Why we never learned this in school, where we should have( instead of the crap we were taught), I’ll never know.
It’s always depressing to see an abandoned factory. In my line of work I’m in 3-5 a year and every one is similar. What really brings a tear to my eye is seeing unwanted machinery being moved with with dozers/loaders into scrap dumpsters.
Hi Cletus, I hear ya, just south of Milwaukee, in Oak Creek, was the AC Spark Plug Co., HUGE facility, covered many city blocks, even had it’s own star observatory, did work with NASA for Apollo program, employed thousands, closed in 2008, sat empty for several years, then a few years ago, they came in and tore the whole place down. I always think of where all those workers went.
Hey there Howard. I hear you on the employee’s. Most of the closed plants we go into are small, 100 employee’s or less, in major metro areas. In those cases I would hope they can find other suitable jobs. 2 I have been at were major, 1000-3000 employees, in rural areas. Those facilitys were the only big player in the area. As the plants dwindled down, so did the town it was in. Both of those faciltys were union shops, and all operations were moved out of the country.
I’m not happy going into facilitys that are closing, but someone has to do it. I have gotten used to certain luxuries over the years, food-shelter-electric lights, so in we go.
The worst ever for me was 20-odd years ago, watching the machinists at Dura Corporation on their last job — crating up their machine tools to be shipped to the new plant in Mexico. -MCG
Absolutely fascinating. Right in the neighborhood where I lived until just a few months ago. Incredible piece. Thanks for presenting it.