Fire at Yankee Air Museum

This could be a real loss as they have a few very special planes there. Flyable Mitchels and a B17.

A sad day--hopefully not all is lost.

Wooden Hanger built in 1941 (main hanger for the museum) is burnt to ground. Volunteers on site managed to roll the B17 and the B25 outside by hand and these two, along with another plane were saved. All others and all else in the hanger were reportedly lost.

At this time fire is under control but still burning. Pictures show total destruction of the hanger.

A sad day for friends of historic aircraft.

What else was in the hanger.....what did we lose?.....T.Durrill

Sad Sad day.

I live just a mile from Willow run so went down and took this picture from Michigan Ave which runs across the north end of the field. To the right you can see the B-52D with a tree behind the rudder and smoke still rising from the rubble. The hangar was in the gap in the trees. You can make out the F-4, F-101 and the TF-102 (right in the center of the former hangar door) among other aircraft that are on outdoor display.

Hearing about this made me sad, but I confess to you all that seeing it brought me to tears, praise God! that no one was lost or injured.

Yeah I'm surprised as well. Could be alot of folks never knew about what was here.

I understand that they were well on their way to funding a new steel hanger.

Of course, saving the B17, 25 and C47 was a wonderful effort but the remainder of the loss was staggering. Much of the archive in parts, models, and miscellaneous documentation will never be replaced.

I just got back from vacation, and just heard about this. I'm still in shock. What can you say when the Louvre burns to the ground? Words are inadequate...

Thank God they saved the big ticket airframes, and nobody hurt!

Here's a newspaper story:

http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1097403595299010.xml

Andy

Welcome back. Pretty devastating is all I can say, it was indiscribable what I felt when I actually SAW it. Even last night as I passed going east on Ecorse Rd returning from the FCM FF meet, I could see the void in the night time skyline and its erie to think of what just the hangar itself has seen in its 63 years. Now its all gone.

I've got some stuff for you your Dad asked me to bring back from Muncie, but I want to copy one set of plans before I surrender the goodies (real good goodies!).

Thanks Randy! Sorry the weather was so awful for your contest. I got a first-hand report from dad. He and all the usual suspects were at the hotel watching the Ohio State game, instead of flying. Hopefully it got better Sunday.

Thanks for bringing my goodies. I don't know what they are yet. How about you tell me what all Dad passed along? Sure I trust you to surrender *all* of it. Really!

Apparently, the link I posted to the article has a messy front door, so here's a copy of the text. From the Ann Arbor news, Sunday October 10, 2004:

Massive fire destroys Yankee Air Museum
No cause identified; artifacts, 2 airplanes lost

Sunday, October 10, 2004

BY EMMA JACKSON

News Staff Reporters

The Yankee Air Museum, a popular air history attraction at the Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, burned to the ground Saturday evening when a fast-moving fire swept through the building, destroying priceless aviation artifacts and two airplanes.

Three of the museum's most prized aircraft - a C-47, B-25D and B-17G restored to flying condition - were saved because the crew of the B-25 had just returned from a flight and was able to move the planes out of the burning hangar.

The fire was reported at about 6:30 p.m. and soon had engulfed the 50,000-square-foot hangar, which was built in 1941 by Henry Ford for the production of B-24 Liberator bombers. No one was injured and no cause had been determined Saturday night.

Jon Stevens, president of the Yankee Air Museum, said the hangar and its contents were a total loss. He estimated the loss at $5 million to $7 million, but said that was a preliminary estimate.

Smoke from the fire could be seen for at least 10 miles and soon traffic on nearby Ecorse Road slowed to a crawl as spectators gathered to watch. Fire departments from Van Buren Township and six other departments responded but could do nothing to stop the blaze. By 8 p.m. only the concrete slab and a few burning pillars remained of the hangar.

An outdoor display of about 20 historic planes next to the hangar was not damaged by the fire.

The 23-year-old museum, which hosted about 100,000 visitors a year, was filled with historic aviation displays, including uniforms, equipment and medals from World War I and World War II, along with a library and displays on Korea, Vietnam, Women in Aviation, and the B-24 Liberator Bomber.

One of the planes destroyed in the hangar fire was on loan from a Dayton, Ohio, air museum; the other was a rare "Bronco" airplane that was days away from being fully restored.

Brian Higgins, marketing director and board member of the Yankee Air Museum, was celebrating his birthday in Plymouth when he got the call about the fire.

"I've aged a little bit more tonight," said Higgins from the site at mid-evening. "The reaction of the (museum) members out here is that we're sad but we'll come back, better than ever."

He said the museum was in the midst of a $55 million capital campaign to build about a dozen buildings, including a new hangar, buildings for storage and restoration of the original 1941 hangar that has housed the museum since the Yankee Air Museum was started by volunteers as a non-profit organization in 1981.

The museum has about 3,000 members from around the country, according to its Web site, and depends on thousands of hours from volunteers to operate the facility. "Volunteers restore, maintain and fly the aircraft, administer the daily business of the museum, keep the facilities maintained, publish periodic publications and conduct fund-raising events and give museum tours," according to the museum's Web site.

Stevens, the museum president, was attending a social event in Auburn Hills when he got a call from one of the B-25 air craft crew members that the hangar was on fire. His first reaction was, "Oh, my God!"

"In some ways we'll start over, but starting over with a lot more than the original founders," said Stevens. "I have too much sweat equity in that place, as do a lot of other good people. We'll figure a way to rebuild it."

Stevens said the crew of the B-25 had just returned from an aerial fall color tour early Saturday evening when they caught a whiff of smoke. Their quick actions to pull the three functioning planes out of the hangar saved the aircraft, which are flown around the country to air shows during the year and as a fund-raiser by selling rides to the public.

"God bless the people who helped get those air crafts out," said Higgins. "They are heroes."

In addition to Van Buren, firefighters from Belleville, Romulus, Pittsfield Township, Ypsilanti Township, Sumpter Township and the airport fought the fire.

At dusk, the hangar was still fully engulfed in flames, which lighted the black, billowing clouds from beneath with an orange glow.

The skeletal frame of the hangar stood for a while before finally collapsing by 7:45 p.m. and the ghostly outline of vintage World War II planes parked near the hangar stood out against the fire.

"We were out in the yard messing around, and my husband said 'Oh my God, Kim, look up at the sky!"' said Kim Ion, who lives on Ecorse Road a three houses away from the airport property. She and her son Matt stood in a neighbor's yard and watched the fire burn as the sky grew darker.

The spectacle slowed traffic to a near-halt on Ecorse and other nearby roads. Motorists pulled off on the shoulder to point and stare. Some fished cameras and video cameras from their cars and others talked on cell phones, pointing and staring. Police lit flares to help guide the crawling traffic.

Sam Pfeiffer of Farmington Hills got a unique view of the fire, as he flew in to the airport from a visit in Traverse City. He was able to land safely around 7 p.m., but said the air space was closed after he landed.

Tanina Foster of Riverview shook her head as she watched the fire.

"The museum," she said. "That's what's heartbreaking."

Staff reporter Emma Jackson can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 480-4701. Tracy Davis can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 994-6856.