05/06/2024
YOU CAN’T BE ROYALTY IF YOU SELL THE CROWN JEWELS
As we note in the July issue of AIR CLASSICS, things are changing at the Yankee Air Museum located at Willow Run Airport in Michigan. First, we have the second name change. Certainly, it is better than the first name change (that quickly disappeared) but still sort of bland pablum. Then, we had the new logo to go with the new name and it was not only dated in a bad way but also featured some Flintstone-style jet planes. Jet planes? Is that what the museum is about? Willow Run is one of our historic surviving airfields and a central point in the Arsenal of Democracy — thousands of Liberators poured out of Henry’s factories while the rest of Detroit — and, indeed, all of Michigan — saddled up to defeat the Axis. Incredible, glorious American history and a history that can’t be equaled by any other country.
So, we get this dumb logo along with a really odd airshow. We used to intensively cover the airshow and it was one of the best in the USA. Today, not so much so. The flight department at the museum was second to none. An absolutely great collection of men and women with amazing talent. The staff of the museum? Again, not so much so. Why do I take this rather aggressive attitude? Well, I’ve flown with the Yankee airplanes a number of times. They were beautifully maintained and cared for while being operated by professional crews. One of my fondest aviation memories is climbing out from Detroit in B-17G “Yankee Lady” and watching land completely disappear as we headed out over the Great Lakes. It was as if we were over the Atlantic. We might as well have been on a WWII ferry flight to get the bomber to England.
The point of the flight was to head to Washington, DC, for the installation of the Air Force Memorial. All of us in the crew really bonded and we had a swell time going to the briefings, walking around historic Andrews AFB, and, finally, sliding into formation with a B-2, B-24, and a variety of other warriors to salute the greatest air force the world has ever seen.
For the past couple months, I have known that the museum was disposing of its B-17G. This is an aircraft that took ten years to restore back to WWII condition and many of the people that worked on the plane were of the Greatest Generation. There was even a WWII general that got his hands dirty on the Fort’s innards. This B-17 had been on one of the atomic test ranges and received a fair amount of damage (along with radioactivity). The fire-bombing outfit that saved the plane proceeded to rebuild it as an aerial tanker, stripping out the majority of military equipment. Here is the important thing — they saved the airframe and kept it flying.
When it came time to auction off their fleet of Forts, the bomber that would become “Yankee Lady” sold for $250,000. It took some work to get it back into flying shape and then that long ten-year grind to bring it back to WWII condition. It became the crown jewel of the museum and was constantly improved upon. Hundreds upon hundreds of men and women worked on the Fort and I particularly liked the polishing parties where members and volunteers would gather together to polish the old beast and lavish such care upon her that she emerged from the hangar gleaming as if she were made of sterling silver.
Well, the management of the museum has screwed these fine people by selling the bomber. Why would they sell such a now-rare national treasure you might ask yourself? Simply put, that great American bugaboo — Greed.
From the 1950s through the 1990s, Willow Run was a massive freight hub as a wide variety of four-engine aerial veterans moved car parts pouring from Detroit factories around the nation. The skies thundered with the sounds of the Big Props — DC-6s and DC-7s roaring into the night sky with their exhausts trailing flame. Then they were joined by the whine of the turboprops — mainly Lockheed Electras and a few of the very exotic Armstrong Whitworth Argosies — the “flying wheel barrows.” Eventually those aircraft were eclipsed by the scream of the turbojet as stretched DC-8s soared skyward.
The museum was given two of these aircraft that had operated for many years from Willow Run — a DC-6 and an Argosy (which turned out to be the prototype). Not that many years ago, the museum management had both historic airframes scrapped. Is that what an aviation museum should be doing — scrapping historic airframes? I think not. I was pretty irritated, especially since the Argosy had been donated by my friend Harry Barr who went to a lot of personal effort to make sure the Argosy arrived at its new home. I confronted the management on this travesty and was given the answer “those airplanes paid for a lot of salaries!” They got $30,000 for scrapping two rare airframes.
With the sale of the B-17G, they got a lot more than $30,000. Probably enough to give themselves raises. I will repeat myself by stating that these folks are incompetent to be running an aviation museum and the volunteers, flight department, and the museum members deserve much, much better… but they will not get it.
Mind you, the museum has a fine static display while also maintaining a beautiful C-47 and B-25 in flying shape. However, in today’s aviation world these two great aircraft are just not what a Flying Fortress represents.
I will go out on a limb here and predict the eventual demise of what was once known as the Yankee Air Museum. I will fondly remember being friends and flying with those members of the Greatest Generation that kept these birds going. They are all gone now and the museum management probably took that into factoring the sale of the B-17. As the Greatest Generation departs, they have less opposition when it comes to selling off the assets. The management of the former Yankee Air Museum fits into what I have recently classified as “Gen-M” and that means “Generation Moron.”
Of course, the museum has all sorts of great plans to expand and “teach young people” as they move into the future and leave World War Two behind. There are STEM plans, civic grants, etc. Sadly, I have heard it all before and it came from museums that are no longer with us.
On 5 June (a day before the 80th anniversary of D-Day — an anniversary in which the Fortress played such a significant role), Kevin Walsh, President and CEO of the newly-named Michigan Air Museum, and the individual I feel to be most responsible for the downward spiral of the museum, stated: “After evaluating the future of this aircraft [the B-17G] and the role in our organization, the Board of Directors unanimously has determined the Museum is no longer the best option for continuing as its caretaker. Furthermore, it was determined by the Board of Directors that now is the best time to entrust this beautiful aircraft’s future to another caretaker. [The B-17G] has become a significant generator of revenue for the museum, to the extent that we have developed an unrealistic dependency on it. Simply put, interruptions in its revenue stream have become hardships for the Museum [I will note that this “hardship” appears to be the interruption in paying the aforementioned salaries]. In other words, we don’t feel the Museum can ensure her flying future to the extent we feel is appropriate for an historical artifact of her importance and rarity (this is bureaucratic double-speak for “Show me the money!”).
The aviation museum situation in the USA is critical. As noted elsewhere in the coming August issue of AIR CLASSICS, we are seeing museums chop up examples of large aircraft that they have allowed to rot away while on outside display. The times are changing. In future issues of AIR CLASSICS, we will be presenting comments from leaders in aircraft preservation on how we can save aircraft before they become pots and pans. Not that many years ago, all of us thought that aviation history had reached a level of importance where such dastardly deeds could not be taken with such impunity. We were wrong. We now have bureaucrats in our national military museums that are firmly in favor of scrapping airframes that were once considered historic.
Remember that classic line “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!” from the 1976 film “Network”? I guess that is the way I feel at the moment. In its 60-year history, AIR CLASSICS has always been supportive of aviation history and keeping our historic aircraft in the sky — where they belong. We are, unfortunately, entering a new phase where this is no longer important. Therefore, from this point on, AIR CLASSICS is going to be AVIATION HISTORY WITH AN ATTITUDE. We are going to name names, point out wrong-doings, report on scams involving historic aircraft, and a whole host of other things that I believe are detrimental to our overall goal of preserving the history of flight along with stopping the degradation of American values. As usual, I would like all AIR CLASSICS supporters to join with me but if you disagree, also please let me know. The opinions of all readers are very important to me.
Michael O’Leary
5 June 2024
