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Studebaker World War Two Fort Wayne Plant Photos
Fort Wayne, IN
1942-Present

This page updated 9-8-2018.

The Studebaker Aviation Plant in Fort Wayne, IN won four Army-Navy "E" Awards.

Located in the 4300 block of  New Haven Avenue on the east side of Fort Wayne, IN, this 500,000 square foot government financed plant was built during World War Two.  The express purpose of the plant was producing Wright R-1820 aircraft engine components and subassemblies for the Studebaker aircraft engine assembly plant on the south side of South Bend, IN.  These engines were then destined to be used in the famous Boeing B-17 bomber.  After World War Two, the plant was declared excess by the War Assets Administration, and by September 1946, U.S. Rubber had purchased the former Studebaker Fort Wayne plant.  Later, International Harvester, which had its Fort Wayne truck plant near the former Studebaker plant, bought the facility.  International Harvester used it for the manufacture of its Scout off-road utility vehicle.  It was known as the "Scout Building" to International Harvester employees.  Scout production ended in October 1980.  In July 1983, the entire Fort Wayne International Harvester plant complex closed.  Today the building is still in use by several manufacturing companies. 
 

 
  This is the east side of the plant.  Note that the facility is a one-story brick building with no windows.  There were two reasons for this.  The first was that when the plant was built, there was still concern about the United States being bombed by German long-range bombers.  With no windows, the plant could run at night and not be spotted by an attacking aircraft.  Secondly, this plant was built for the manufacture of precision aircraft engine parts.  In order to maintain the tight tolerances required, the plant was air-conditioned so that the parts would not shrink or expand due to temperature fluctuations.  World War Two introduced air-conditioning on a large scale in the U.S.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

 
This is the south-east corner of the plant.  The plant was built as a one-story as its intended function was machining only and would only contain machine tools.  There was no need to construct the building as a high bay, which would have been more expensive to build and air-condition.  The south side of the building can be seen.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

This is the east side looking south.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

This is the north side of the former Studebaker Fort Wayne R-1820 aircraft engine parts machining plant which faces New Haven Avenue.  The construction of the building was labor intensive given its totally brick construction.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

This is the north-east corner of the building.  At one time there was a door located here, but it was bricked over with a slightly different shade of brick.  Above the former door is a block of stone that most likely had the name Studebaker on it during World War Two.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

A close-up of the stone indicates there used to be lettering on it at one time but has been ground off.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

This is a view of the west side of the plant.  Author's photo added 9-8-2018.

This R-1820 aircraft engines is one of 63,789 built by Studebaker during World War Two.  It is on display at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, IN.  Many of the components in this engine were built in the Studebaker Fort Wayne plant.  Author's photo.