<P> The entry of the United States into World War II brought tremendous changes to the city . From 1942 to 1945, production of commercial automobiles in the city ceased entirely, as its factories were used instead to construct M5 tanks, jeeps, and B - 24 bombers for the Allies . The Guardian Building was converted into a headquarters for wartime production . The city made a major contribution to the Allied war effort; a key element of America's Arsenal of Democracy . Historians note that this accolade was "easily and often corrupted to' arsehole"' by tired Detroiters waiting in lines everywhere . </P> <P> The B - 24 Liberator, the most produced bomber in history, was used to bomb Germany heavily . Prior to the war, the aviation industry could produce, optimally, one such plane a day at an aircraft plant . By 1943, Ford's plants managed to produce one B - 24 an hour at a peak of 600 per month in 24 - hour shifts . Many pilots slept on cots waiting for takeoff as the B - 24 rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Willow Run facility . </P> <P> Racial tension grew rapidly in World War II, as high paying jobs brought in tens of thousands of families, despite severe housing shortages . The historian of Detroit's Poles finds that they saw the blacks as "threatening their jobs, homes, communities, and churches ." An August 1942 Life article, "Detroit is Dynamite", discussed in detail the city's labor and race issues, stating that "the news from Detroit is bad this summer...The result is a morale situation which is perhaps the worst in the U.S." Because of the city's importance to the war effort, the article was censored from copies of the magazine sold outside North America . The long - awaited riot exploded in June 1943, as groups of blacks and whites fought it out . The 3 - days of street fighting started on Belle Isle, and killed 25 blacks and 9 whites, wounded 433, and destroyed property valued at $2 million . The U.S. Army was called in to restore order . </P> <P> In economic terms, the postwar years 1945 - 70 brought high levels of prosperity as the automobile industry had its most prosperous quarter - century . </P>

How did detroit become the center of this new industrial age