Willow Run Airport, located 35 miles southwest of Detroit, on the border between Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti charter Township, MI, has been the home of the Yankee Air Museum since 1981. At the beginning of its illustrious history (in the 1940s), “Willow Run” was synonymous with the American industrial effort that contributed so much to the Allied victory in World War II. Then, as now, this airport occupies a central role in U.S. aviation history.

Pre-War

Willow Run Airport was named for a small stream that meandered through pastureland and woods until the late-1930s. Automobile pioneer Henry Ford bought the property that became the airport, and used it as farmland for a “social engineering” experiment that brought inner-city boys to Willow Run Farm to learn about nature, farming tasks, and the rural way of life. The residents at Willow Run Farm planted, tended, and harvested crops as well as running a maple syrup operation, and sold their products at the farm market on the property. In the process, the boys learned self-discipline and the values of hard work, and benefited from the fresh air that they had not been able to experience while growing up in congested cities.

The coming of World War II to Europe alarmed many in the U.S. In spite of official American neutrality, a number of government officials began preparing for what they feared was U.S. involvement in the growing global conflict. Henry Ford, himself an “isolationist” (opposed to entering the war), was prevailed upon in the Spring of 1941 to accept a Federal contract to build heavy bombers for the coming conflict. He chose as the site of this activity the Willow Run Farm, and commenced building a massive industrial plant that became the Willow Run complex. Famed architect Albert Kahn designed the main structure, which had 3.5 million square feet of factory space, and an assembly line over a mile long. It was thought to be the largest factory under one roof anywhere in the world.

World War II

By the spring of 1942, the Willow Run bomber plant was completed. Its two components (the manufacturing establishment and its adjacent airfield) began producing and exporting the four-engined B-24 Liberator bomber on a scale theretofore unknown in aviation history. (Check out the video “The Story of Willow Run” for more information.) As each plane rolled off the assembly line, it was tested and then flown off the runways of Willow Run Airport and into action on battle fronts the world over. Production continued through 1945, and 8,685 Liberators were ultimately produced, the largest number at any B-24 facility in the country.

Post-War

When World War II ended, Willow Run was no longer needed for military production. The bomber plant was sold to the Kaiser-Fraser automobile company which, combined with the Graham-Paige Motor Company, used it to produce 739,000 cars from 1947 through 1953. Kaiser-Fraser also built the C-119 Flying Boxcar at Willow Run under license from Fairchild Aircraft. An estimated 88 C-119s were built there between 1951 and 1953. Kaiser-Fraser also built C-123 Providers, the last aircraft built at Willow Run. When Kaiser-Frazier moved its manufacturing operations to Ohio and Argentina (in 1953), the General Motors Corporation bought the former bomber plant and began producing automobile transmissions there, under the division name of “Hydramatic.” GM still produces transmissions at this facility.

The airport complex was sold by the Federal government in 1946 to the University of Michigan for one dollar, with the stipulation that the facility be used for defense research purposes. The airport itself became the chief commercial airport for Detroit, as airline companies relocated commercial passenger service from Detroit City Airport to Willow Run Airport. Many of the buildings at the airport were used by University of Michigan physicists and engineers engaged in research for national defense, including advanced remote sensing capabilities, at a facility which would become The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM).

Commercial passenger traffic for the Detroit area gradually relocated to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in nearby Romulus, MI, and by the mid-1960s Willow Run Airport had become focused on cargo transportation, general aviation, and executive air service. It continues those roles today. With five active runways (each at least 6,500 feet long, with the longest being 7,500 feet long), Willow Run Airport is one of the largest cargo airports in the U.S. The airport is managed by the Wayne County (MI) Airport Authority. (The University of Michigan sold Willow Run Airport to Wayne County in 1977, also for $1.00.)