The B-24, built at five plants across the US serves as an excellent example of this. The largest factory; the mile long Ford production line at Willow Run in Detroit. In total, around 19,000 Liberators were built between 1940 and 1945, the most of any bomber ever. Around a third of those, including the one behind me, were built at Willow Run. Even by 1944, a B-25 cost only $142,194 and a B-26 $192,427. B-26 production ended in 1944 while the last B-25 was built in 1945. Ultimately 9,816 B-25s were built compared to 5,288 B-26s. A holed B-26 on the way back from a bombing mission over Europe. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) It got a bum rap from aircrews During World War II, Ford Motor Company built 8,685 B-24 Liberator bomber airplanes at its Willow Run plant, 35 miles west of Detroit. By the spring of 1944, employees on Ford's bomber assembly line could turn out a finished airplane every 63 minutes. Workers completed the 6,000th B-24 in September 1944 -- with considerable fanfare. By the end of the war, the B-17 was an obsolete aircraft which had been surpassed by another Boeing bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. The plane was pulled out of front-line service and used as a transport plane and even drones. While the US had less than 200 at the start of the war, more than 12,000 B-17s were produced by the end and served in 14 May 1945. Consolidated B-24M-15-CO "Brief", 44-42058, of the 494th Bombardment Group from Angaur, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire while taking part in a bombing raid over Koror, Korea. The bomber's left wing was struck by flak fire, destroying it and causing it to swing into the fuselage. BTW 3943 B-29s were built, 562 were lost, including 35 in Korea and these were all causes, combat and "other". If I do my math correctly that shows about a 14% attrition rate (about 10% combat) - not bad for an aircraft that served in 2 wars, fought jets, was the first sword of the Strategic Air Command (which meant being ready to fly 24-7 and More than 18,000 B-24s were built between 1940 and 1945, the largest total for any U.S. aircraft—some 10,000 by Consolidated-Vultee and the rest under license by Douglas Aircraft, North American Aviation, and the Ford Motor Company. Of this total, just under 1,700 went to the British. Consolidated B-24D-160-CO Liberator 42-72815 "Strawberry Bitch" on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The B-24D on display flew combat missions from North Africa in 1943–1944, and was eventually sent to storage after the war to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona. In 1959 the aircraft was taken out of storage and flown to .

how many b 24 bombers were built