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Chrysler Corporation in World War Two
 Detroit, MI
1925-2014
Rest in Peace!

Last updated 1-12-2023.

Through all of the post-World War Two turmoil and difficulties, the name Walter Chrysler gave to his company always managed to remain in the title of the corporation in some manner, even after two bankruptcies.  Then, on December 16, 2014, Chrysler Group LLC announced it was now FCA USA LLC.  Also gone are Dodge Trucks, which played such an important part in the winning of World War Two.  That name disappeared from trucks in 2010, but still remains on the Dodge brand of cars. 

The one thing that really stands out about Chrysler during World War Two was its diversity of products not related to the core business of building cars and trucks.  Chrysler is probably best known for its Tank Arsenal in Warren, MI, its aircraft engine plant in Chicago just south of Midway Airport, and its Dodge Division line of trucks.  It also produced such items as anti-submarine netting, 15-40 man unit cook stoves (The troops needed to eat three times a day.), very important and difficult processing equipment for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, TN, along with airframe components for B-29 bombers including the "Enola Gay".

 The Chrysler Tank Arsenal on Van Dyke Avenue in Warren, MI received the Army-Navy "E" Award on August 10, 1942.  It was the first of its kind to be awarded after the Navy and Army combined their individual awards into one.  The plant added a star in February of 1943. 


Thirteen Chrysler Plants won a total of 37 "E" awards during WWII.

Chrysler World War Two Products:

Manhattan Project U-235 Separation Equipment - 406 X-100 Type 1, 1,942 X-100 Type 2, 1,418 X-100 Type 3, 826 X-100 Type 4.  These pieces of equipment took 100 railcars to ship from Detroit to Oak Ridge, TN.

Aviation -
300 A-20 Bomb Chute Assemblies, 364,871 Bomb Shackles, 568 B-29 Bomber Noses, 559 B-29 Wing Leading Edges, 4,752 B-29 Bomber Cowling Sets, 1,586 B-26 Nose and Center Fuselage Sections, 4,100 Douglas B-17 Cockpit Enclosures, 18,413 R-3350 Radial Aircraft Engines for the B-29, 688 Flight Station Cockpits for the Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon,  10,202 Landing Gear and Arresting Gear Sets for Chance Vought F4U,  907 Nose Cap Assemblies,  2,982 Propeller Balancing Stands, 163,290 Ski Pedestals, 5,669 Wing Center Sections for Curtiss SB2C.

Vehicles - 12,214 Partial Engine Assemblies, 9,965 Multi Bank M4 Tank Engines, 2,100 2 Speed Gear Boxes, 2,056 Grouser Kits, 22,207 Tanks, 3,272 Modified Tanks, 3,694 Modified Trucks, 1,542 1/2-Ton 4x2 Trucks, 6,216 1&1/2-Ton 4x2 Trucks, 72,286 1/2-Ton 4x4 Trucks, 255,193 3/4-Ton 4x4 Trucks, 43,278 1&1/2-Ton 6x6 Trucks, 15,000 3-Ton Trucks for China, 20,404- Fire Apparatus (This assumes these are fire trucks.)

Ammunition and Shot - 485,463,000 .30 carbine rounds of ammunition, 222,000,000 .50 Cores, 2,768,688,000 .45 rounds of ammunition, 3,000,000 20mm Practice Shells, 19,933,000 20mm Practice Balls, 671,446 3-Inch Shell Forgings, 1,989,801 20mm Armor Piercing Shot.

Other - 14,370 Air conditioning and refrigeration units, 238,109,000 Bearings, 30,095 Single 40mm air cooled Bofors Gun Mechanisms for the U.S. Army, 51,684 Single 40mm air cooled Bofors Gun Tubes for the U.S. Army, 14,442 Dual 40mm water cooled Bofors Guns for the U.S. Navy, 101,232 E48 Incendiary Bombs, 119,814 Industrial Engines, 21,131 Marine Engines, 62,192 Field Kitchen Cabinets, 233,118 Field Kitchens, 17,200 Gas and Oil Fired Furnaces, 29,589 Domestic and Export Water Heaters, 1,994 Anti-Submarine Nets,  156,585 20mm Oerlikon Gun Magazine Lever Assemblies, 9,002 Pontoons,  2,228 Marine Tractors, 328,367 4.5 Inch Rockets, 1,550 Searchlight Reflectors, 253 Smoke Screens, 37,932 Cook Stoves, 2,098 SCR-584 Anti-Aircraft Radar Antenna Mounts and Parabolic Antennas, 352 Air Raid Sirens, 8,307,540 Aluminum Forgings

Sperry Shipboard Gyro-Compasses - Dodge built 5,500 of these units which consisted of the main gyro that was installed down in the bottom of the ship.  This unit supplied the compass reading to several repeater units throughout the ship.  These would be in such places as the captain's quarters and the bridge.  These were all very sophisticated and complex precision units consisting of some 10,000 parts each.  Dodge developed the mass production methods needed to manufacture these in the large quantities needed.  Assembly took 5,000 tools, jigs, and fixtures which were all designed by Dodge engineers.  It took between 11 and 16 large wooden crates to ship these units to the shipyards for installation.

Pilot tanks - The Chrysler Engineering Department built 38 different pilot tanks, including the T92 and T-93.

Tanks -  The Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Warren, MI received the Army-Navy "E" for Excellence Award on August 10, 1942, which was the first of four total awards.  There was a total of 6,258 M3 tanks built during World War Two, with Chrysler building 3,352 or 53% of the total.  It built 17,947 of the M4 Sherman series tanks, or 36% of the total 49,234 built.  At the end of the war, Chrysler manufactured 473 T26E3/M26 and 185 T26E2/M45 tanks.  It also produced 250 T23 medium tanks, bringing the total of tanks built by Chrysler at the Detroit tank arsenal to 22,207.

Chrysler Shipments of World War Two Products (pdf) - This document from the Chrysler archives gives plant by plant and month by month production figures for all of the company's World War Two products.

The Manhattan and B-29 Projects:

One might consider it very strange to have as part of Chrysler information on World War Two a photo of this replica of the first atomic bomb dropped during WWII that is located at the US Air Force Museum.  The device used U-235 as its fission matter.  Only one bomb was made of this, the second atomic bomb using plutonium.  However, the process to obtain the needed 132 lbs. of U-235 was complex and arduous, as it had to be separated from the original U-238.  Several processes were developed to accomplish this.  One involved hexafluoride gas and was done in the world's largest building that was constructed in secrecy at Oak Ridge, TN (The Secret City) during World War Two to separate out the U-235. 

The Manhattan Project asked Chrysler to design and manufacture the miles of nickel tubing needed for the diffusers, nickel being the only metal resistant to the highly corrosive hexafluoride. However, there was not enough nickel in the world to make the tubing out of pure nickel as was specified by the Manhattan Project engineers.  Chrysler engineers found a way to plate the diffusers instead, which was considered impossible by the Manhattan Project group due to all of the small holes and interior surfaces involved.  But Chrysler prevailed and found a way to plate the parts which also provided a huge cost savings.  It took 1,000 rail cars to ship the diffusers from the Chrysler Plymouth Lynch Road Plant in Detroit to Oak Ridge where it was installed in the huge plant known by the secret number of K-35.  The plant was a half mile long by 1,000 feet wide.  Chrysler's expertise in engineering and manufacturing was instrumental in ending World War Two in August of 1945.


The image above is an aerial view of K-35 at Oak Ridge, where the 4,582 Chrysler X-100 Diffusers were used to separate U-235 from U-238 during World War Two.

And last but not least, Chrysler's DeSoto Division on Warren Avenue in Detroit was the supplier of the forward fuselage section of the B-29 "Enola Gay" which dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" made with uranium from Oak Ridge plant K-35.  The name "Enola Gay " above is painted on the eighteen foot forward fuselage built in Detroit, MI by Chrysler.   Author's photo added 9-22-2015.

There was more than just stamping out the aluminum sheet metal pieces and then riveting them together with 50,000 rivets to make the fuselage.  DeSoto-Warren also assembled all of the interior of the B-29 nose section, which included four of the eight miles of wiring in the B-29.  The workers shown above are installing some of the 8,000 parts that went into the construction of the Superfortress fuselage.  The B-29 was the first insulated and soundproofed bomber, and the insulation can be seen in this photo.   The fuselage sections were shipped via rail to Omaha using oversized boxcars, which were one foot wider and one and a half feet taller than the normal boxcar of the period.  Photo added 9-22-2015.

This nose section is similar to the ones that Chrysler manufactured during World War Two.  From the serial number, this nose section was built by Boeing in Wichita, KS.  Author's photo added 1-12-2023.

This and the next photo show some of equipment and complexity of the B-29 cockpit section of the aircraft.  Author's photo added 1-12-2023.

Author's photo added 1-12-2023.

 
The second nuclear B-29, "Bockscar", shows several the Chrysler-supplied components for this aircraft, which were the forward fuselage, engine cowlings, wing leading edges, and the Dodge-built R-3350 engine.  Author's photo added 9-22-2015.

This photo shows the inboard and between the engine leading edges.  Chrysler also supplied the leading edge outboard of the outside engines.  Chrysler built 568 B-29 nose sections along with 559 wing leading edge sets and 4,752 cowling sets for the aircraft.  Author's photo added 9-22-2015.

Above is information provided to me courtesy of Chris Howlett of the UK that he found researching the B-29 for his book, "The B-29 Manual,"  which was published by Haynes Publishing in December 2015.  His information has been invaluable in my research and shows which auto companies were the major suppliers, including Chrysler, for the Superfortresses that were built by Martin in Omaha, NB.  Of significance is that Omaha built the Silverplate B-29s, i.e. "The Enola Gay" and "Bockscar" as noted above.  Photo added 9-22-2015.

Photo added 9-22-2015.


This is a SCR-584 anti-aircraft radar unit.  Chrysler produced 2,098 radar antenna mounts and  parabolic antennas; and then installed them in the ten-ton Fruehauf built trailer.  The radar antenna mount stowed inside the trailer for travel.  It dropped straight down to where the table and mannequin are located.  Note the cables on the wall have slack in them, to allow for the up and down movement of the antenna unit.  This photo was taken at the National Electronics Museum in the Baltimore, MD area, which exhibits a history of the former Westinghouse Electronics Division (now Northrop-Grumman) located in the area.  Westinghouse installed the electronics within the trailer after receiving it from Chrysler.  Author's photo added 10-7-2016.

The SCR-584 antennas and mounts were produced in Chrysler's Dodge Main plant.  Production started in April 1943 and concluded in April 1944.  Author's photo added 10-7-2016.
 

This Chrysler-built M3 Lee tank is on display at the Canadian War Museum.  It is serial number 3714.  Note the riveted construction.  Author's Photo added 1-8-2017.

The first type of Sherman tank that Chrysler built was the M4A4 variant, powered by the Chrysler Multibank engine shown below.  This example is on display at the Arnhem War Museum, Schaarsbergen Netherlands.  It is Serial Number 21169 and was built in June 1943.   Photo courtesy of David D Jackson, Jr.

During WWII there was a shortage of engines to power both the M3 Lee and the M4 Sherman tanks.  Chrysler developed and built 9,965 multibank engines which were five six-cylinder engines driving a single crankshaft.  Author's photo from the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, MI.

The engine produced 450 hp from 1,500 cubic inches of displacement and had lots of low end torque.  Note the top of the radiator extending above the engine.  Author's photo.

One can see the five distributors for each of the five engines.  In total 7,499 M4A4 tanks and 109 M3A4 Lee tanks received this type of engine.  Author's photo.

This M4(105) Composite, photographed at Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, is interesting in that it is a one of a kind.  Chrysler was the only manufacturer of the M4 Composite, and they were all armed with a 75mm cannon, not the 105mm cannon that is shown here.  This M4 Composite was used as the prototype for the use of the 105mm main gun in the Sherman.  The reason it is named a Composite is the front glacis is cast, and the rest of the hull is of a welded construction.  Author's photo added 4-21-2015.

One can see the cast section welded to the rest of the hull which is constructed of thick plate armor.  Author's photo added 4-21-2015.

This Chrysler-built M4A3E8 was built in August 1944 and is part of a Battle of the Bulge diorama at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, IL.  Author's photo added 11-2-2015.

Chrysler built 250 T23s between November 1943 and December 1944.  The tank had a Ford GAN V8 engine that drove an electrical generator.  The generator in turn powered two electrical traction motors.  Author's photo added 10-17-2018 from the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Museum Collection at Fort Benning, GA.  This is one of three remaining T23s that the Museum Collection has.

Here is the 65 ton T92 240mm Howitzer Gun Carriage built by the Chrysler Engineering Department.  It was built on a Pershing chassis.  Photo added 11-3-2015.

The next experimental weapon built by the Chrysler Engineering Department was an eight-inch gun on the Pershing chassis.  Photo added 11-3-2015.

Chrysler built 14,442 Dual 40mm water cooled Bofors Guns for the US Navy under license from the Bofors Company of Sweden during WWII.  After Chrysler engineers set up the manufacturing and assembly based on mass production techniques, the weapon could be assembled in ten hours.  Bofors in Sweden was taking 450 hours to assemble a weapon. 

This example is located on the USS Sullivans in Buffalo, NY, and is located on the middle of the ship on the starboard side.    Author's photo added 10-12-2017.

There is a data plate on each barrel and assembly.  This one is mounted on the breech of the gun facing the rear of the ship.  This Chrysler-built 40mm Bofors gun mechanism is serial number 29869.  Author's photo added 10-12-2017.

This is the other gun of the pair.  Author's photo added 10-12-2017.

Here is the data plate for the gun mechanism for the gun facing the front of the ship.  This one is serial number 39869.  What are the chances of a gun mount having two Chrysler 40mm guns with serial numbers separated by exactly 10,000 units?   Author's photo added 10-12-2017.

This is the USS Massachusetts at Fall River, MA.  A visit to the USS Massachusetts in June 2019 revealed that most, if not all, of the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns onboard were built by Chrysler in 1942.  This makes sense because the Massachusetts was launched in September 1941 and commissioned on May 12, 1942.  The Chrysler-built Bofors outfitted the battleship in 1942 as the weapons were coming off the assembly lines.  All of the 40mm Bofors I was able to visit on the USS Massachusetts were built by Chrysler.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

The USS Massachusetts bristles with 16-inch, 5-inch and 40mm guns.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

  There are two gun tubs on the fantail of the USS Massachusetts with two dual 40mm Bofors mounts in each.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

 The serial numbers from the four Chrysler-built 40mm Bofors in the starboard side rear quad 40mm gun tub are shown below.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

 This is serial number 25067.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

I adjusted the lighting on this data plate, as it was on the shaded side of the weapon.  It is so worn that it is hard to read.  This is serial number 25065, just two less than the previous matching gun in the twin mount.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

This is serial number 35065.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

This is serial number 35067, two more than the matching gun above.  Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

 Author's photo added 12-16-2019.

Chrysler also built 30,095 Single 40mm air cooled Bofors Guns for the US Army like this one seen here at the Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, IN.  Author's photo added 9-22-2015.

The information for the two tables below comes from "The History of the Americanization of the Bofors 40mm Automatic Antiaircraft Gun" written by the Historical Section of the Ordnance Department in May 1944.

Chrysler produced 83.5% of the gun mechanisms and 60.2% of the gun tubes for the US Army 40mm Bofors like the one shown above.  Note that the information comes from an article written in May 1944.  There was still over a year of war remaining, and the need for gun tubes and gun mechanisms continued. 

In either case, Chrysler supplied over 83% of the Bofors gun mechanisms for the US Army during WWII.

Chrysler sent complete 40mm guns consisting of the mechanisms and tube to Firestone, Koppers and J.I. Case for installation on the carriage.

This is a rare Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon, which was a Navy patrol bomber during the war and built in Burbank, CA.  Chrysler in Los Angeles, CA built 668 flight decks for this type of aircraft.  This particular PV-2 is "Attu Warrior."  Author's photo.

The Flight Deck of the PV-2 Harpoon "Attu Warrior" as seen at the Great Georgia Airshow in 2013.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This is a Wright R-3350-23 Duplex Cyclone engine, similar to the 18,413 that Dodge built in Chicago for the B-29 project during World War Two.  There were a total of 30,293 R-3300 engines produced during World War Two.  Dodge produced 60% of this of type engine for the war effort.  Author's photo.

This cut-away of a R-3350 at the Museum of Aviation Robbins AFB, GA shows the complexity of the engine.  Author's photo added 1-12-2023.

 
Author's photo added 1-12-2023.

The Martin B-26.  DeSoto Division of Chrysler built 1,586 nose and center fuselage sections for this medium bomber which were supplied to the Martin Plant in Omaha, NB.  When Martin Omaha converted to the B-29, DeSoto then produced the B-29 forward fuselage sections for the aircraft.  Author's photo.

This is the world's only remaining flying Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, seen here at the 2014 Tico Airshow.  Chrysler built 5,669 of the wing center sections, which is the portion between the wing folds.  Author's Photo.

On the left is a .30 caliber M1 Carbine round.  Chrysler manufactured 485,463,000 of these for the US military during WWII.  However, the real accomplishment was the manufacture of 2,768,688,000 rounds of .45 ACP rounds like the one seen on the right.  Chrysler did such a good job on making the .45 ACP round that the government stopped production due to the fact it had too many and was still using the ammunition in Vietnam.  The Chrysler Desoto plant in Evansville, IN was the sole source of .45 ACP ammunition during the war.  Author's photo.

Author's photo from the Indiana War Memorial.

In 1944 Chrysler developed and built five inverted V-16, 2,500 hp engines at the request of the US Army Air Force.  Author's photo from the Walter P. Chrysler Museum.

Weighing in at 2,430 lbs. and displacing 2,220 cu. in., the engine beat the goal of more than one horsepower per pound of weight and per cubic inch of displacement.  Author's photo.

The engine was successfully tested in this modified Republic P-47 as shown here.  Even though it met all of the design criteria, the new jet engines spelled its doom.  However, all was not lost, as one of the design features that contributed to the success of the engine was the hemi-spherical shaped cylinders.  Today we know that design feature as the Hemi!

This example of the Chrysler V-16 engine is on display at the New England Air Museum at Windsor Locks, CT.  Because the Chrysler Museum is now closed, this may be the only example available for the public to see.  Author's photo added 11-14-2017.

Author's photo added 11-14-2017.

Listed above were 14,370 air conditioning and refrigeration units, all of which had a military need or helped the war effort, such as this blood serum refrigerator unit produced by Chrysler's Airtemp Division in Dayton, OH.  Air conditioning units were used by US Army Field Hospitals and in the manufacture of close tolerance parts.  Also, Airtemp refrigerators were used on U.S. Navy vessels to keep the food stuffs cool or frozen.

 "Sentimental Journey"  is one of the three B-17Gs that is still flying of the original 3,000 that Douglas built.  Chrysler built 4,100 cockpit enclosures for the Douglas-built Flying Fortresses.  Other Douglas B-17s still flying are "Memphis Belle"( Movie Version) and "Fuddy Duddy."  This work was done at its Los Angeles, CA plant.  Author's photo.

Also, from Airtemp Division of Chrysler was this cook stove for squad to platoon size units that used gasoline as fuel. 37,932 of these units were produced at the Dayton, OH plant.

This is a Dodge WC-52 Weapons Carrier as seen at the 2012 Tico Airshow.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.

This is a Goodyear FG-1D built Corsair.  Chrysler built 10,202 landing gear for the Corsair.  Author's photo.

Chrysler also built 10,202 tail hook assemblies for the aircraft, seen here in the retracted position.  Author's photo.

Dodge WC-6 1/2-ton 4x4 Command and Reconnaissance Car was on display in September 2013 at the MPVA Rally at the former Ropkey Armor Museum.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This WC-6 was built on 2-20-1941.  Author's photo.

This is the Douglas A-20G that is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  Chrysler built 300 bomb chute assemblies for this type of aircraft.

Seen here is a dual 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun located on the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge, LA.  Chrysler built 156,585 Magazine Lever Assemblies that can be seen in more detail in the following photo.  Author's photo.

Author's photo.

This is one of 119,814 industrial engines built by Chrysler with a fire pump attached.  Author's photo from the Michigan Military Technical and Historical Society added 11-29-2017.

Author's photo from the Michigan Military Technical and Historical Society added 11-29-2017.

Author's photo from the Michigan Military Technical and Historical Society added 11-29-2017.

Chrysler also built 2,228 Marine Tractors, or Sea Mules, like the one pictured here to be used as small tugboats inside harbors.  Each was powered by two Chrysler Marine Engines.