The Yankee Air Museum

The Yankee Air Force was started in 1981 with the stated goal of acquiring a B-24 that was built at the nearby Willow Run Assembly Plant.  They haven't done that yet and as the years go on, I don't think that will likely happen.

 In 2004, a fire destroyed the hangar that they were using to house all of their artifacts.  With some degree of fortune, they were able to save their flying aircraft.  I think if those had been lost, they probably packed it in which would have been a shame.  One of the disadvantages of losing that hangar, is that visitors lost access to the Air Park they had behind it.  Slowly, they are moving the aircraft to the new facility.

The plane above is an F-86L Dog Sabre.  It is distinguised by the nose.

 An F-84 Thunderstreak painted in Vietnam camoflage.

 An F-101 Voodoo.

 Inside the museum are all sorts of aviation artifacts.  Sadly, they don't nearly what they used to have.  There used to be all sorts of pictures, uniforms and various other things from the factory.  But I think they are working on getting new things.  This is a cockpit mockup of the KC-135.

 A model of a B-24.  It's hard to imagine that Willow Run produced more bombers than any of the established factories.  It's even harder to imagine they hit their target of rolling out one aircraft per hour.

 They had a mini space exhibit.  This is a 1/3 scale mockup of an Apollo Capsule.

 The spacesuit worn by Jack Lousma on Skylab.  He was one of Michigan's astronauts.

 A closeup of that.

 I think this is an upper turrent for a B-24.

 The instrument panel of a B-24 built at Willow Run.  It's a shame they don't have more of the aircraft though.

 I believe this is a Stinson.  I think these were produced in the area.

 A glider.

 A mockup of Rosie the Riveter.  Because of the War, many men were serving on the front lines, as a result many women were employed in the factories.  The real Rosie the Riveter was named Rose Will Monroe and she worked at Willow Run.  Because of her resemblance to the woman mentioned in a song of the same name, she was used in a promotional movie.  She died fairly recently.

 Some of the gear carried by a US soldier in World War II.

 A couple of examples of World War I uniforms.

 I think this is a SPAD painted to resemble a unit from the 1st Pursuit Squadron which called Selfridge home.

 A UH-1 Huey Helicopter.

 A pair of helmets used in the Vietnam War.

 A Huey door gunner.

 A closeup of a Huey pilot.

A typical US Soldier in the Vietnam War.

All in all, I think the museum was pretty cool given what they had to overcome.  I hope that they can get things to make it more impressive.