Air Force Plants NC (NAA-K company ID, Government Assembly Plant No. 2, facility ID #2503) was an aircraft production facility established during World War II adjacent to

Fairfax Field Fairfax Field was a wartime (WWII) facility of the United States Army Air Forces and later, the United States Air Force. The installation was north of Kansas City, Kansas. Used as a pre-war Naval Air Station, the United States Army Air Forces ...

near Kansas City. Although operated by

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

, the plant was built and owned by the United States government.

Background

's president had inspected the field by December 1940 when the

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

approved construction of a Kansas City production plant to produce

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

bombers for the USAAF and PBJ-1D bombers for the US Navy. Survey work began in December, the city of

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

, purchased the airport in February, and the plant's groundbreaking was on 8 March 1941. Contract W535 AC 19341 for the initial production of 1,200 B-25D (NA-87) bombers was approved on June 28, 1941; production began in December 1941.

B-25 production

Fairfax's first B-25D was accepted by the USAAF in February 1942 (the first production block was B-25D-1). North American provided parts for the first 100 Fairfax B-25Ds from AFP #09 in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

, and the company had a test flight office at Fairfax. A USAAF Modification Center was built at Fairfax Field from May–October 1942 for altering the plant's B-25s. The plant's "high bay" expansion was completed for a 1942 North American contract (never implemented) to build 200

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombers at Fairfax alongside B-25 Mitchell. The expansion began in July 1942 on the east side of the bomber plant and added of floor space with twice the height of the existing final assembly bay (completed in March 1943). After several outbuildings were added to the modification center, in October 1944 it became an adjunct to the final assembly line. Employment peaked at 24,329 in October 1943, and the first Fairfax B-25J was accepted in December 1943 (555 B-25Js were in the first production block: B-25J-1-NC.) D model production ended in March 1944 with block 35 (B-25D-35-NA) and after North American's California plant ended B-25 production on July 7, 1944; Fairfax was the sole source for B-25 Mitchells and set a January 1945 record with AAF acceptance of 315 Fairfax aircraft. Planning for

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first Jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed in 1943 and del ...

jet fighter production included a visit in February 1945 by two Lockheed representatives, and in April Lockheed shipped a P-80 to the bomber plant for study. Work began on building jigs for P-80 production, space was cleared for P-80 production in the high bay, and the B-25 assembly line was shortened. B-25J production - which was scheduled to continue through December 1945 - was terminated on August 15, the day after

V-J day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

. Fairfax had built 2,290 B-25Ds (152 Navy PBJ-1D variants) and 4,318 B-25Js of the ~11,000 produced. The federal

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...

set up a depot in the Fairfax district to liquidate war surplus not sent to depots or elsewhere for government use (reusable materials like aluminum and steel were reclaimed.) Seventy-two incomplete but flyable B-25Js were sold to the public.

Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Plant

The Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Plant adjacent to

, was initiated with the "November 7, 1945 nnouncementthat General Motors had signed a five-year lease for the former bomber plant" which had several interior railroad spurs from the north. "The reconverted factory finished its first automobile in June 1946", and in 1953 when the

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was an American swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber. While an evolutionary development of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet, the F-84F was a new design. The RF-84F Thunderflash was a photo reconnaissance version ...

fighter was unveiled, its assembly line was in the same building as the automotive production line. General Motors produced 599 F-84Fs at the Fairfax plant; the aircraft and vehicle production lines running parallel simultaneously. GM purchased the plant in 1960,. In 1985 production started in the new

General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant The Fairfax Assembly & Stamping is a General Motors automobile factory at 3201 Fairfax Trafficway, Kansas City, Kansas in the United States. As of 2022, the plant employs over 2,100 hourly and salaried employees. Employees are represented by UA ...

built on runways of the closed municipal airport. Production at the former Air Force Plant ceased in May 1987 and the structure was razed in 1989.

References

{{Reflist , refs= {{Cite map , year=1946 , orig-date=after GM lease on November 7, 1945 , title=Fairfax Industrial District, Kansas City: the progressive Union Pacific Railroad: the strategic middle route , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMvYoAEACAAJ , publisher=Union Pacific Railroad , access-date=2013-07-14 1941 establishments in Kansas 1987 disestablishments in Kansas Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Kansas Plants of the United States Air Force