This year’s Festival is dedicated to the group of enthusiastic people, who in 1981 adopted the name Yankee Air Force and shared the desire to preserve the facts and glamour of southeastern Michigan’s aviation history.

They laid plans to research, restore, and preserve the all but forgotten history of Willow Run Airport, only to watch it go up in smoke during a devastating fire which destroyed the historic hanger housing the museum collection on October 9, 2004.

Through the heroic efforts of a few members, the beautifully restored aircraft were moved out of the building before the fire reached them, thus saving the heart of the collection. In addition, all the historic aircraft on display outside of the main building were untouched by the fire. Regrettably, the museum did lose virtually all of what was left in the hangar.

The Yankee Air Museum members, staff and volunteers will be recognized during the Festival for rolling up their sleeves and continuing the great work that was begun in 1981. Their ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts were celebrated on October 10, 2010 with the opening of the new Yankee Air Museum Collections and Exhibits Building.