Yankee Air Museum Begins $6 Million Campaign to Make Its Home in the Former B-24 Bomber Facility at Willow Run

YPSILANTI, MI (04/23/2013)(readMedia)-- The Yankee Air Museum on Monday evening announced a $6 million campaign to purchase and undertake necessary separation and renovation costs for the area of the former Willow Run Powertrain Plant that manufactured B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II.

If successful, the Yankee Air Museum eventually will move from its current location on the east side of Willow Run Airport to the former bomber plant, which is adjacent to the airport's western boundary, said Dennis Norton, the founder and first president of Yankee Air Museum and president of the Michigan Aerospace Foundation.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the Yankee Air Museum, its members, supporters and the community as a whole to establish a new home in the building that was at the core of our Arsenal of Democracy," Mr. Norton said. "To relocate where men and women worked around the clock to produce the aircraft that helped preserve our nation's freedom will bring history to life in a unique and powerful way. I am grateful to the RACER Trust for providing us with this opportunity and for supporting our mission."

Mr. Norton presented the Yankee Air Museum's plans to the Charter Township of Ypsilanti Board of Trustees on Monday evening.

The Yankee Air Museum has until August 1, 2013, to secure the needed funding, a deadline mutually agreed-upon by Yankee Air Museum and the building's owner, the RACER Trust. The Yankee Air Museum will not be required to execute a binding purchase agreement unless the funds are secured by August 1.

The bomber plant is roughly 175,000 square feet of the nearly 5-million-square-foot Willow Run Powertrain Plant facility, which General Motors closed in 2010. The RACER Trust took ownership of the property in 2011 and has been seeking a buyer who will invest in new, jobs-producing redevelopment of the site.

The Yankee Air Museum would purchase a total of 840,000 square feet -- or about 19.3 acres -- from RACER. The remaining space would include parking for 700 vehicles.

The Yankee Air Museum, founded in 1981, is a private, non-profit museum and educational resource dedicated to the aviation history of southeastern Michigan. It sponsors the annual "Thunder Over Michigan" air show at Willow Run.

The Museum currently is housed in a 47,000-square-foot facility that was dedicated in October 2010. This facility replaced the original Yankee Air Museum headquarters, which was destroyed by fire in 2004.

"This is a unique chance to seize the moment, and we couldn't let it pass without giving those who share our mission the opportunity to make it happen," said Ray Hunter, Chairman of the Board of the Yankee Air Museum. "This also would enable us to put all of our collections and exhibits, including aircraft that still fly, under one roof."

Willow Run Airport was built by the Ford Motor Company in 1941 to serve as an airfield for Ford's B-24 Bomber Plant. The bomber plant was the first aircraft manufacturing plant to use Ford's automotive mass production techniques, a leading technological innovation of the time. Ford Motor Company built 8,685 B-24s from 1942 until the end of World War II. At its peak, the Willow Run plant employed more than 42,000 people and produced one B-24 every 55 minutes. Rose Will Monroe, who became a legendary figure of Americana as Rosie the Riveter, worked in the bomber plant.

The massive bay doors, 50-foot ceilings and wood floors remain from the original bomber plant, which is at the southeast corner of the Willow Run Powertrain Plant building.

"The RACER Trust is pleased that Yankee Air Museum is working to acquire a portion of the former Willow Run Powertrain operation that was used to produce B-24 bombers during World War II, and to convert the area to a permanent exhibit space for its planes and other historic aviation memorabilia," said Elliott P. Laws, Trustee of the RACER Trust. "Yankee Air Museum has presented a compelling vision, and we wish the museum's leadership, staff and volunteers success in this ambitious endeavor."

As Yankee Air Museum works to raise the necessary funds for its relocation, the RACER Trust will continue to pursue prospective buyers for the remainder of the Willow Run property, ideally a modern manufacturing end user.

The Yankee Air Museum will host a reception for supporters and the news media from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 16, in Hangar One, where the Museum's B-17 is located. The hangar is near the historic bomber plant.

For more information about the Yankee Air Museum, please visit www.yankeeairmuseum.org. For more information about the fund-raising drive to acquire the bomber plant, please visit www.michiganaerospace.org.