Fire Destroys Yankee Air Museum

[Tim Dench]

On October 9, 2004 the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run Airport (near Detroit) suffered a terrible fire that destroyed the historic hangar housing the museum causing damage estimated at over $1,000,000.

Thankfully, no-one was hurt and the restored and flyable B-17, C-47 and B-25 aircraft were moved out of the building, but the voluteers who keep these warbirds flying need our support to rebuild.

If you feel able to make a donation, however small, please visit --
http://www.michiganaerospace.org/index2.html

......and, if you're over that way why not treat yourself to a flight?
Having flown in the B17 I can tell you that it was a fantasic experience.

[Sir George Cayley]

So sorry to see these shots. It must be devestating.

Seems like some brave ations rescued many machines. Any list of what was lost?

Good luck

Sir George Cayley

[Tim Dench]

Only a small number of non-flyable aircraft that were in restoration inside the hanger were lost. The museum did however, lose virtually all of the tooling, equipment and spare parts for all of the aircraft, plus all the office and display fixtures and equipment, plus thousands of irreplaceable artifacts, photos and books.

By the way, my wife says that I'm a boring old f*rt, who completly undersold the Yankee Air Museum, so here goes.....

A couple of years ago, I went to Detroit and flew in the B17. The aeroplane has been lovingly restored to 1944 condition, complete with bombs and guns. You can sit anywhere you like and once airbourne you can move freely around the aircraft.

The flight lasts for 1 hour and amazingly costs only about 200 quid.

In addition to this, the people are really friendly and on the ground they'll let you crawl all over the ship to your hearts content.

Go on give yourself a treat and whilst you're over there, there are some great bargains to be had in the shopping malls.

...how'd I do?


Their website for some great pics etc is..

http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/index.html