Historical Marker
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Plant No. 4
Fort Worth, Tarrant County · Texas
Erected 2008
Plant No. 4 needed an estimated 14,000 workers on three shifts, and they needed somewhere to live. In May 1942 the government announced 500 homes beside the plant, finished in white-painted asbestos siding and soon called the whites. The first 104 Liberator Village apartments opened for lease in February 1943. At its height the village held about 6,000 people in 1,500 apartments, with schools through the tenth grade, a shopping center and a child care center, because about 23 percent of the bomber workers were women. By 1953 the older section was slated for demolition.
What the plaque says
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Plant No. 4 Prior to WWII, the U.S. aircraft industry focused primarily on producing aircraft for civilian airlines; few manufacturers specialized in military airplane construction. In the fall of 1940, the War Department determined that expected future demand for military aircraft required new defense plants, not just expansion of existing sites. This form of home front industry and the application of its product toward strategic aerial bombing grew exponentially as a primary weapon toward defeating an enemy's ability to wage war. Although involved in pilot training, Texas had no large-scale role in aircraft manufacturing at this time. As America recovered from the Great Depression while moving closer to war, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce aggressively campaigned Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair) for a new plant. Their efforts proved successful and groundbreaking ceremonies took place here on April 18, 1941. The Austin Company of Cleveland, Ohio, built Convair Plant No. 4 in less than a year and the first B-24 (Liberator) bomber rolled off the assembly line on April 17, 1942 - 100 days ahead of schedule. More than 3,000 heavy bombers were produced here with a peak wartime employment of 32,000. The site also converted B-24 airframes into C-87 cargo/transports (Liberator Express), and later in the war, produced a limited number of the new B-32 heavy bombers (Dominator). Wartime mobilization was an important factor in the eventual Allied victory during World War II. This and other home front industries had a major impact on the local economy. Industrial growth brought new employers and workers to the community and added a modern industrial aspect to Fort Worth's existing Texas frontier reputation. Texas in World War II - 2008
Where it stands
32.76254, -97.44561 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 4.7 miA hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
- Kimbell Art Museum — 4.8 miLouis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
- Fort Worth Stockyards — 6.0 miThe brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
- Tarrant County Courthouse — 6.5 miA pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.