Saving the Willow Run Bomber Plant | Detroit Public TV Documentary

DPTV documents the work to save the factory that was part of the massive Willow Run complex in Ypsilanti that turned out a B-24 bomber every hour in WWII. Currently known as the Yankee Air Museum, the builders share their vision for the National Museum of Aviation and Technology with new learning programs and exhibits that will live inside the historic factory's walls.

[ZenZaBill]

In the early 80s, I worked at a company in Rochester, MI. I designed a number of plastic parts that went into high speed impact printers. A plastic injection molding company nearby built molds and molded parts for me, and I visited them often. They employed a lady that worked as a riveter at Willow Run during WWII. And her name was actually Rosie. She was in her early 60s. Wore trousers, a blouse, and a faded, dowdy scarf on her head. She was quiet, a damn hard worker, and did everything asked of her. The molding company's owner eventually told me about her, being a riveter, and that she was the hardest working, least complaining, and best worker he'd ever seen. Every time I see a video about aircraft war production, and especially about the women in the workforce or Willow Run, I always fondly remember her. A real, true-to-life Rosie the Riveter. And I met her.

[JasonAYoungdale]

From a kid from Kalamazoo who spent 12 years in the Air Force, this video has inspired me....

[billkaroly]

This it's so cool to me because my dad was a waste gunner on a b-24 and they were shot down 3 months before the war ended and he became a POW in Bulgaria. When my dad died he was 92 years old and I'm so proud of him and his service to our country. I would love to see the inside of a b-24 and put my hands on one of the machine guns where he would have been stationed. they'll probably never happen but it would be so cool if it did. thanks Dad.

[angeloacosta]

When in Ypsilanti have a drink at the Tap Room in downtown, breakfast at the Bomber just down the street, dinner at Haabs..I love Ypsi always will ...

[kreggbarnhart]

Seems Dennis Norton has a father to be proud of. And I think his father has a son he can be proud of as well. Good job guys. Thank you.

[KeithFinkFamilyFarm]

Fantastic production, impressive people. Thank you.

[billr]

Outstanding work by the museum staff and volunteers and the show producers to tell this story. I took my first flying lessons at Willow run in the early '80s and remember all of those huge factory buildings AND the old ammo bunkers and gun sighting range on the east side of the field. It was and still is hard to imagine that raw materials wnet in one end and finished war machines rolled out the other end. These planes and their crews went off to war as fast as the factory workers could turn out finished aircraft.

[Buzzboxrd]

What a great story, i hope things work out well for them.

[Cardinal]

My mom and dad went to willow run on the GI Bill so my dad could get an advanced degree at U of Michigan. They were quartered in wartime worker housing. Willow Run launched my family after the war was won.

[naturalobserver]

I worked there for 30 years when GM owned it. I don't know if they mentioned it but the bomber plant is long gone, the only section thats left is an area around where the old hanger doors are. That's the museum. Still better than nothing and I hope they're successful.

[babaganoush]

Bucket list visit for me. My father was brought back from Italy to the uk in 1945. He saw where the bullet holes had been repaired and went upto the cockpit to tell the pilots how to navigate to London.

Visited a few years ago love the place and ypsi! Dad was a B24 crew

[samiHD]

Very very interesting, i had tears on the border of my Eyes. Fred from France

[ChadWiebesick]

The Yankee Air Museum has a storied history and a promising new future, soon to be known as the National Museum of Aviation and Technology at Historic Willow Run!

[lightbox]

When I was 7, I lived within sight of Willow Run. I remember taking flights from Detroit to Syracuse, NY and taxiing around what I believe was a bunker in the middle of the field

[MrTonyharrell]

The 4 engine bomber is probably the single biggest tool we had to achieve air superiority and thereby bombing at will the furthest areas of the war, the B24 was the first. I’m surprised Ford Motor Company isn’t a part of this?

[kenanmorg]

Watching this I kept thinking of the B-24 raid on Ploesti where the US lost 53 bombers; so costly was this raid that the Army Air Corps never again attempted a low-level attack on those oil refineries. Output from Willow Run, however, made good those losses in 53 hours of production. Very impressive.

[ericscottstevens]

My Grandfather worked at Kelvinator in Lansing making the propellers for the B-24.
Thousands of propellers were shipped to Willow Run and installed within hours.

[awizardalso]

I'm not a vet, but thank everyone I see wearing a military cap for their service. I am the son of a vet who served in the last years of WWII in the Pacific theater. He never said anything about what he had been through, although he did talk about his interactions with Japanese civilians while he served in the police capacity after Japan surrendered. He said that there was only a few who disliked the Americans but the majority were just thankful the war was over. I'm also the father of a daughter who served in the Army as an ordnance specialist. She was stationed in Germany but spent time in Iraq, Afghanistan and a few other places she will not say as she signed a confidentiality agreement on her Honorable Discharge. After her discharge she was hired by KBR and was stationed at Bagram Airfield. Her first job was cleaning out stockpiles of weapons and ammunition left behind found at schools, hospitals and other places. She also destroyed Russian military equipment left behind by retreating Taliban and Al Qeada. Then she was transferred to logistics and handled getting supplies out to troops in the field.

[dave]

I have visited the area and never knew that this existed.