Local officials promised to spend money to build an airport on the land next to the plant and lease it to the Air Corps.

[3] The B-24 Liberator was first proposed to the Air Corps in 1938, and with the start of World War II in Europe, the French Government placed an order for 60 aircraft, sight unseen.

[4] In order to meet the projected demand for the B-24, in early 1941 the government established the Liberator Production Pool Program.

Three designations of the Liberator, B-24D, B-24E, and B-24G would be flown to Fort Worth from Consolidated production lines in San Diego, Willow Run, Michigan and North American Aircraft in Dallas.

Although the USAAF approved this plan, it caused a delay of several months in the XB-36 project; since all the drawings, the mockup, the engineers, and the tooling had to be moved from San Diego to Texas.

Following the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe, aircraft production contracts were drastically cut back.

The enormous losses suffered in seizing island bases in the Pacific convinced the USAAF that there was still a definite need for a very long-range bomber.

After years of development, a medium jet bomber Convair's XB-58, was accepted by the Air Force in December 1955 for thirteen aircraft, which would be built at Plant 4 in Fort Worth.

Technical problems and testing by Air Force Systems Command meant that the first production aircraft were not delivered until 1959.

As of the end of the Cold War, the plant was fabricating, assembling, and testing the F-16 for the USAF and many allied nations.

[8] Today the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is being produced on the assembly line at the plant.