by Tony Gonzalez
October 25, 2009 1:12 PM
4 World War II aircraft “migrated” 20 miles south Monday (October 19); from Willow Run Airport to Grosse Ile Municipal Airport - both in Michigan. All 4 are now considered rare commodities with a total worth $5-$7 million, according to Larry Amprim, Yankee Air Museum dispatch rider manager. The move was precipitated by the ailing economy.
As reported in an October 24 post on thenewsherald.com (“the voice of Downriver”), each of these 4 archetypal planes landed swiftly and was positioned in the front of the hangar that would become their “winter home.” The smallest and first to arrive was a vibrant yellow V-77, followed less than a quarter of an hour by 3 sparkling steel “flying archives”: a B-17, a B-25 and a C-47.
The Yankee Air Museum, which now owns these 4 pristine planes, is an organization created by a group of World War II enthusiasts and veterans who joined forces in 1981 to show the surrounding community what an integral part Detroit played in that era.
The plane’s “summer home,” Wayne County-operated airport Willow Run was forced to close the hangar where the vintage planes were being stored, leaving no shelter for them during the harsh winter months.
Realizing these aircraft – and their legacy - touch the hearts of so many people, as well as representing a critical time in our nation’s history, members of the Grosse Ile Municipal Airport and the community stepped up. Grosse Ile Municipal Airport management offered the use of Hangar 1 to those at the Yankee Air Museum.
However, while the 4 aircraft currently have no permanent home, other World War II memorabilia obtained by the Yankee Air Museum is now being stored in a 1930’s schoolhouse on the Willow Run property. While hopes are high for a new hangar to store the aircraft, funding is not; they need $5 million in donations.
Until that goal is reached and the hangar is built, the Grosse Ile community remains content in accommodating the Yankee Air Museum and the history it has and represents.