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The Fisher Body Detroit, MI Plant # 18 / Fleetwood in World War Two
Detroit, MI
1917-1993

This page added 1-13-2024.

Fisher Body Plant 18 was not built to make auto bodies as were the other Fisher Body plants.  It was built in 1917 at the intersection of West Fort Street and West End Street in Detroit, MI to produce aircraft for the American entry into World War One.  This plant was the predecessor of many factories built starting 23 years later in 1940 for the production of war goods as the country prepared for another World War.  This six-story Albert Kahn-designed building produced approximately 2,000 out of the 4,346 deHavilland DH-4s built under license in the United States.  Later, it would become known as the Fisher Body Fleetwood plant when it began producing the bodies for the Cadillac Fleetwood.  The plant stopped production of bodies in 1984 and was razed in 1993. 

This 1918 Fisher Body-built DH-4 is on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, OR.

The DH-4 was all wood construction, as this was the state of the art for the worldwide aviation industry during World War One.  The following photos were taken of a Dayton Wright-built DH-4 fuselage that is on display at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, FL.  This aircraft is awaiting restoration, allowing visitors to view the construction methods used in World War One aircraft.  Fisher Body Fleetwood built 2,000 aircraft just like this one.

Author's photo.

Author's photo.

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The Fisher Body Fleetwood Plant in Detroit, MI won the Army-Navy "E" Award four times during World War Two.

World War Two Products:  B-17 exhaust collectors and engine cowlings, B-25 exhaust collectors, B-29 exhaust collectors, XP-75 exhaust collectors and exhaust stacks, XB-19 and XB-39 aircraft parts and assemblies; M4, M10, and M26 tank parts; aircraft drop fuel tanks; P-80 aircraft tools; 90mm AA Guns tools; Combat Vehicle Parts

The Fisher Body Fleetwood plant was built in 1917 to make wooden aircraft.  By the time World War Two arrived for the United States in December 1941, wooden aircraft were obsolete, except for the DeHavilland Mosquito.  By 1941, aircraft were built using metals like aluminum and steel.  Fisher Body Fleetwood manufactured steel and aluminum components for the B-17, B-25, B-29, and XP-75.  There had been a major technology shift in the 23 years since the end of World War One.

B-17 Exhaust Collectors and Engine Cowlings:

The B-17G "Yankee Lady" is being polished for another airshow season.  The cowl flaps and exhaust collectors on this aircraft could very well have been built by the Fisher Body Fleetwood plant which was located 22 miles to the north east of this hangar at the Willow Run Airport in Bellevue, MI.  Author's photo.

The removable portion of the engine cowl has been removed on this engine.  The cowl flaps and exhaust collector are on the left portion of the engine.  On the right portion is the fixed portion of engine cowl.  Author's photo.

This image shows the individual exhaust collectors coming off of each cylinder.  The cowl flaps can also be seen.  Author's photo.

This is a portion of a B-17F cowl assembly being inspected at the Fleetwood plant.

Four sections of B-17 engine cowling sections are shown in this photograph. 

Workers are assembling a section of B-17 engine cowls. 

This image shows a fully cowled engine on the B-17F "Memphis Belle."  Note that the exhaust pipes on the outboard and inboard engines are routed differently due to the landing gear.  Fisher Body Fleetwood made two different types of exhaust collectors for the two different engines.  Author's photo. 

Two Fleetwood workers are using a fixture to assemble a B-17 collector. 

This image shows a fully assembled B-17 exhaust collector ring.

The known records for Fisher Body Fleetwood's production are only complete through June of 1944.  The plant continued to make the two products until B-17 production stopped in mid 1945. 

B-29 Exhaust Collectors:

Table 2 shows the anticipated production schedule for B-29 exhaust collectors.  This schedule may well have increased as the B-29 schedule increased as the war progressed.

The B-29 exhaust collector was an order of magnitude larger than that of the B-17 types.  Each exhaust pipe powered a General Electric turbo supercharger. 

This R-3350 B-29 engine is on display at the New England Air Museum at Windsor Locks, CT.  The display has the front exhaust collector attached to it.  Each R-3350 had 18 cylinders.  B-17 R-1820 engines had nine cylinders.  Author's photo.

The Museum built a special display hangar to display its B-29 named "Jack's Revenge."  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

B-25 Exhaust Collectors:  Fisher Body Fleetwood made 3,975 sets of B-25 exhaust collectors for the war effort.  Due to a shortage of the specified nickel-chromium base alloy Inconel, the collectors were made out of stainless steel. 

B-25 "Champaign Gal" is owned and operated by the Champaign Aviation Museum, Urbana, OH.  Author's photo.

The exhaust stacks on the B-25 are different than on the B-17 and B-29.  This image of the outboard side of the port engine shows a small exhaust collector to the front and above the exhaust outlet.  The collector is not connected to all of the cylinders.  Many of them have short exhaust stacks like the two shown at the bottom of the engine.  Author's photo.

This photo shows the exhaust collector on the outboard side of the starboard engine.  Author's photo. 

Shown here is the inboard side of the starboard engine.  There are four short exhaust stacks and no collector.  Author's photo.

The B-25's exhaust system contributed to it being a very noisy aircraft for the crew.  Also, because the exhaust was not run through a turbo supercharger, this contributed to the noise level in the aircraft.  The B-25's noisy exhaust caused many crewmen to become deaf after the war.

XP-75 and P-75 Components:  The Fisher Body Cleveland, OH Plant #2 built a handful of fighter aircraft.  In retrospect, it was one of those projects that fall into the category of "it sounded like a good idea at the time."   Eight XP-75s and six P-75s were built using components from several other fighter aircraft already in production to save costs.  By the time design work and tooling were completed, there were enough of other fighters types being produced to meet the requirements of the Army Air Forces.  Therefore, the project was cancelled in late 1944.  Besides that, it wasn't that great of an aircraft.  Hindsight is always 20-20!

Fisher Body Fleetwood was assigned to furnish exhaust collectors and stacks, reduction gear mounts, cartridge boxes, and empty shell casing ejector chutes.  Fleetwood supplied these component for the fourteen aircraft that were built. 

One Fisher P-75 Eagle still exists today and is part of the collection of aircraft at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Riverside, OH.  Author's photo. 

The engine of choice for the P-75 was the Allison V-3420.  Three of the four Fleetwood-produced exhaust collectors for that engine are shown in this photo.  A complete exhaust can be seen on the side of the engine and two collector pipes can be seen at the top.  This engine is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  Author's photo.

Fighter Aircraft Drop Tanks:  Fisher Body Fleetwood was one of many companies that produced disposable fuel drop tanks for both Army and Navy fighter aircraft.  The drop tanks shown here are on display at the National Museum of WWII Aviation in Colorado Springs.

Author's photo.

Author's photo.

Tank and Tank Destroyer Components:  Fisher Body produced M4A2 and M4A3 Sherman medium tanks, M10 Wolverine tank destroyers, and M26 Pershing heavy tanks at its tank plant in Grand Blanc, MI.  Fisher Body Fleetwood produced components for these armored vehicles.  The photos below show representative examples of each of these armored vehicles.  All were built by Fisher Body Grand Blanc.

M4A2(76) HVSS Sherman tank.  Author's photo.

M4A3(76) HVSS Sherman tank.  Author's photo.

M10 Wolverine tank destroyer.  Author's photo.

M26 Pershing heavy tank.  Author's photo.