By the mid-1920s, a local family operating as Quirk Farms had bought the land in Van Buren Township that became the airport. Willow Run takes its name from a small tributary of the Huron River that meandered through pastureland fields and woodland along the Wayne–Washtenaw county line until the late 1930s. History Inspection of the landing gear of a transport plane at Willow Run The Willow Run complex has given its name to a community on the east side of Ypsilanti, defined roughly by the boundaries of the Willow Run Community School District. In November 2016, RACER Trust sold Willow Run to an entity created by the State of Michigan, which leases the property to the American Center for Mobility (AMC). In 2014, the Yankee Air Museum moved into the bomber factory. Indeed, the majority of the plant was demolished in late 2013 and early 2014. In April 2013, a redevelopment manager for the RACER Trust said unused portions of the powertrain plant would likely be razed as a step toward redeveloping the property. Equities Group Holdings offered to buy the former Powertrain plant from the RACER Trust. Since the 2010 closure of Willow Run Transmission, the factory complex has been managed by the RACER Trust, which controls the properties of the former General Motors. In 2009, General Motors announced that it would shut down all operations at the GM Powertrain plant and engineering center in the coming year. The Fisher Body division also operated at Willow Run Assembly until its operations were assumed by the GM Assembly Division in the 1970s. Willow Run Assembly operated from 1959 to 1992 on a parcel to the south of the airport. When Ford declined to purchase the facility after the war, Kaiser-Frazer Corporation gained ownership, and in 1953 Ford's rival General Motors took ownership and operated the factory as Willow Run Transmission until 2010. Since 1992, it has been home to the Yankee Air Museum.įord built the factory and sold it to the government, then leased it back for the duration of the war. Willow Run Airport has remained active as a cargo and general aviation airfield. Part of the airport complex operated at various times as a research facility affiliated with the University of Michigan, and as a secondary United States Air Force Installation. ![]() The airfield passed into civilian hands after the war and is now controlled by Wayne County Airport Authority. Willow Run Airport was built as part of the bomber plant. subassemblies parts production and subassemblies at almost 1,000 Ford factories and independent suppliers.dimensions More than 3,200 feet long and 1,279 feet across at its widest point. ![]()
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