Remembering Hitler's Ford City 'headache'

SCI-TECH SCENE | Book reveals South Side plant's WWII role and its later automotive history

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November 7, 2009

SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com

The best-kept secret in Chicago history may be a World War II-era factory that churned out engines for the B-29 bomber airplane underneath what is now Ford City Mall on Chicago's Southwest Side.

John Kudia, a Gage Park native, remembers being told as a child that his aunt, Mary Early, had worked at the factory. He later saw remnants of the factory, nicknamed "Hitler's Headache," when he worked as a lab technician at the Tootsie Roll factory at 7401 S. Cicero.

He was fascinated, and decided to make sure the factory got the recognition it deserves by writing a book about it, titled Kilo-Quad. The book will be available on Amazon.com starting Nov. 24.

"I said, 'Look at the history of this place. . . . People don't realize how innovative it was.'"

Frank Werner, chief engineer at Ford City Mall, has saved memorabilia from the plant during his 37 years ensuring that the electrical, plumbing and heating/air conditioning systems at the mall run smoothly.

"This is a historic place," he says of the tunnels that run beneath the mall. "I love working here."

A writeup of the plant's construction that Werner has saved describes how "Uncle Sam needed another great defense plant to make certain that we did not fall short of the essential air superiority now recognized by strategists as the one great weapon -- no secret -- necessary to subdue the Axis leaders."

The builder, the George A. Fuller Co., broke ground on June 5, 1942.

Kudia, an Army reservist who has served in Kosovo and Iraq, was riveted by the magnitude of the underground factory's mission and dimensions, as well as its historic past.

The factory was the largest in the world: Its grounds spanned 475 acres bounded roughly by Cicero on the west, Pulaski on the east, the Belt railroad tracks on the north, and what would be 77th Street on the south. The factory, which employed 33,240 at full strength, boasted 5,000 miles of telephone lines, five-story test towers, interior railroad lines and a tunnel system.

Albert Kahn, considered the foremost American industrial architect of his day, designed the plant in reinforced concrete to withstand a direct hit by a 155-mm bomb. The War Department allocated $173 million to fund the plant, where workers fabricated everything from scratch. The workers were primarily women from the surrounding community, including a small number of African Americans, when integrated workplaces were unheard of.

A new generation of precision had been ushered into the already precise aircraft-engine manufacturing process. The Wright 3350 was nicknamed the Hurricane, or Cyclone, engine.

The goal was to manufacture an engine that could fly at 20,000 feet in rarified air with no hesitation in flight. The engine had a 3350-cubic-inch design and contained two turbochargers that concentrated the air.

Early models of the engine failed because the surface-area-to-volume ratio was unfavorable. Dodge engineers were brought into the process to help correct the recurring problems.

By the time the Dodge engineers were finished, the Wright 3350 was reported to be built with greater precision than a fine Swiss watch. In the end, more than 18,000 Wright engines were produced at the plant.

At the war's end, Preston Tucker, Henry Kaiser and others recognized an opportunity to build automobiles there. With GIs coming home, the market was expected to flourish.

Tucker had an eye for creating a new kind of car. Having worked closely with famous race-car engineer Harry Miller in the 1930s, his vision included using race-car technology to increase the performance and safety of his cars. He added safety belts, pop-out safety windshields and a shock-absorbing hood to the 1948 model.

He added a "cyclops" headlight connected to the steering system to offer drivers greater visibility in the direction they were turning. A rear-mounted helicopter engine enabled the car to go from zero to 60 mph in 7 seconds.

But Tucker soon ran into more problems than prosperity. He couldn't get the steel and supplies he needed from Detroit. Despite aggessive efforts to raise capital through stock, he fell $6 million short of what he needed to begin full-scale operations.

After news leaked of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of the plant, his efforts to raise capital were dashed. In the end, he produced 51 cars out of the massive plant. He was cleared of any wrongdoing on nine counts against him despite an aggressive prosecution by Otto Kerner, who later became governor and fared less well in court for his own wrongdoing.

Kudia started interviewing former employees of the B-29 bomber plant, and decided to write a thinly veiled fictional account so the story would attract readers of all ages.

"I wanted to create a 40-year history, from 1943 to 1983, to cover the plant's past with the B-29 engine, Tucker Corp., Dodge and Tootsie Roll," he said. "I decided to make Tucker one of the characters, a relative as the other main character, and include the CEO of the Dodge plant. They help each other out."