The Yankee Air Museum resides on the grounds of Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti. This is the sight of the historic Willow Run manufacturing plant built by Henry Ford in 1942 to build B-24 Liberators for WWII. The plant’s main structure, designed by Albert Kahn, was 3,500,000 square feet of factory space that included an assembly line that stretched over a mile long. The first Ford Liberators rolled off the line in September 1942. A total of 8,685 B-24’s were produced at the plant. The original museum was destroyed by a devastating fire in 2004, most everything except the planes were destroyed. YAM is currently located inside a former technical school on the airport grounds; plans are underway to relocate the museum to a preserved portion of the original bomber plant. A couple of planes are already in place, it’s the first time since 1952 that aircraft has been in the plant. When completed it will be called The National Museum of Aviation and Technology at Historic Willow Run. Let’s take a look around.
Planes are parked here and there on the grounds, Kris walks out to take photos. We enter through the gift shop, pay our admission fee and step into a world of aviation history covering global conflicts from WWI to present. I study the photos of the Guinness Book Record winning photo of the most Rosie the Riveters in one place, 3,734 with 58 original “Rosies” present. The first thing I notice about the museum is there are few ropes or barriers separating us from the exhibits, we can get right up close, sometimes even touching them. The timeline starts at WWI with a fighter aircraft, the SPAD XIII is partially tucked into a garage, a mannequin soldier nearby. Next up a B24 Liberator is under restoration, the polished fuselage perfectly displays thousands of rivets. In 1944 Willow run built one of these planes every 63 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week….Wow!!
We walk around vintage aircraft, I notice instructions and labels stenciled in white on the exteriors, Danger is spelled out in red, arrows are in yellow. Humongous aircraft engines share floor space with a top turret, Army half-track vehicle, Vietnam era helicopter, a linktrainer. Norden and Sperry bombsights look highly technical, weapons and grenades are reminders of the casualties of war. Near the back is a work area where volunteers spend endless hours on restoration. Have you ever been in the cockpit of a plane? Check out this one, I’ve never seen so many dials, gauges, switches, buttons, levers; it’s a lot to take in. We see guided bombs and learn the basics of how they work, there are transmitters, transreceivers and power supplies.
The USAF Thunderbirds display is something I can kind of relate to simply because I have seen these high-flyin’, fancy-maneuver, aerobatic shows in person. The paint scheme on the plane is super-cool, all red, white and blue, the Thunderbirds logo is pretty sweet too–love the eagle with the planes in the center. Next to that is the US Navy Blue Angels exhibit, this is the Navy flight demonstration squad. Created in 1946 to raise public interest in naval aviation and to boost Navy morale, the Blue Angels are only the second formal flying demonstration team to have been created in the world. Something about this museum makes it seem more personal than your average museum, maybe it’s the way it’s laid out, everything kind of close together, certainly having few barriers helps, photographs look like they came from family photo albums. The story the museum tells is one that encompasses the world while at the same time honoring the local angle; a footlocker stamped with the name of a man from Ferndale MI, biographies of local men and women who served our country, the importance of the bomber plant, how Detroit Saved the World. Here we are near the exact site where it all happened. Amazing.
Hungry? Yes. Ollie Food + Spirits is on Cross St. in historic Depot Town. One of the things we love about Ypsilanti is it’s quirky, independent, fun nature. Architecture runs the gamut from Victorian to Mid-Century Modern, they have some great drive-in restaurants still in operation. You can find food to satisfy your ethnic yearnings, a great burger or some healthy, modern cuisine. Ollie caters to the vegan, vegetarian or omnivore diet–what’s not to love? The interior is quaint, rustic with an artistic flare; I love the art of Gary Horton that hangs on the walls. We enjoy an outstanding meal of the market omelette, well seasoned breakfast potatoes, lightly dressed farm greens and a side of jalapeno cornbread pudding; I need to learn how to make this…..
More independent shops are open each time we visit. I do a little shopping then we stop in at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, we visit any time we’re in town. Coffee is the next order of business, we walk back to Ollie and the adjoining storefront Cream & Crumb. They serve Michigan-made ice cream, baked goods, Hyperion coffee (locally roasted right around the corner), tea and booze. I first scope out the baked goods, the 3-layer lavender cake is gorgeous, love the purple fade from layer to layer, giant cubes of cereal treats, cupcakes, mini-cheesecakes, oh the choices! Still a little full from lunch we opt for a single decadent peanut butter cookie studded with Reeses pieces and chunks of peanut butter cups, yum, and some coffee of course. Out the window we stare as pedestrians stop to watch a sidewalk artist at work, when we’re finished we stop too; we smile at the little green dragon taking shape, a chunk of missing concrete the basis for his design. Thanks Ypsi, it’s been fun, see you soon.
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