In March of 2016, for the first time in more than 50 years, three iconic planes were moved back inside the historic Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan as the Yankee Air Museum officially kicked-off the second phase of its national fundraising efforts.
The museum is asking for the public’s support to turn the Willow Run Bomber Plant in to a national aviation attraction.
A portion of Rosie the Riveter’s Willow Run Factory has been preserved as an exciting new home for the Yankee Air Museum. Now, they are beginning the next phase of the Campaign, to raise the funds necessary to fill this big, empty historic box with exciting exhibits and programs.
They will tell the story of Rosie and the Arsenal of Democracy production miracle that helped America and her Allies win WWII, as well as share the excitement of aviation and technology with future generations.
This is the plant where more than 40,000 workers from across America came together to build more than 8,600 B-24 Liberator bomber aircraft.
Plus, Willow Run was more than that…it played an enormous role in changing our society:
- FROM SOUTH TO NORTH, COUNTRY TO CITY: People moved in great numbers to southeastern Michigan from the South and from more rural areas to work at Willow Run, accelerating growth and development throughout the region, and sparking a demographic trend that continues to this day.
- THE CHANGING FACE OF LABOR: Women, minorities and other groups that had largely been excluded from America’s best manufacturing jobs entered the industrial workforce through Willow Run and changed the composition of that workforce forever.
- THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODERN MANUFACTURING: Willow Run also changed how we produce things, taking American manufacturing beyond the assembly line to embrace new ways of organizing production and managing inventory that we now call “just in time” manufacturing.