Willow Run Airport

This article is about the airport. For the manufacturing complex, see Willow Run.

Willow Run Airport (YIP)
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorWayne County Airport Authority
LocationVan Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Township
Elevation AMSL716 ft / 218 m
Coordinates42°14′16.539″N 83°31′49.47″W / 42.23792750°N 83.5304083°W / 42.23792750; -83.5304083
Websitewww.willowrunairport.com
Maps
FAA diagram
FAA diagram
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
5/23 7,543 2,299 Concrete
9/27 5,000 1,524 Asphalt
B-24 Liberators being manufactured by Ford, 1942
"Queenie" Willow Run built B-24J-5-FO Liberator, AAF Ser. No. 42-50773, assigned to the 707th Bombardment Squadron, 446th Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force on a bomb run over Aschaffenburg, Germany, on February 25, 1945, attacking railroad marshalling yard facilities

Willow Run Airport (IATA: YIP, ICAO: KYIP, FAA LID: YIP) is an airport in Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Charter Township,[2][3] near Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, that serves freight, corporate, and general aviation. Due to its very close proximity to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, no major airlines schedule passenger flights to or from Willow Run. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a national reliever airport facility.[4]

Opened in 1942, "Willow Run" was synonymous with the American industrial effort that contributed so much to Allied victory in World War II. Operated by the Ford Motor Company, the Willow Run manufacturing plant produced a total of 8,685 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, completed and in kit form, before closure in June 1945; Willow Run produced more Liberators than either plant owned by the plane's designer, Consolidated Aircraft.

Today the Yankee Air Museum, located in one of the airport's hangars, has a large collection of vintage aircraft.

  1. ^ FAA Airport Form 5010 for YIP PDF, effective September 5, 2024.
  2. ^ "Township Map" Archived 2005-11-09 at the Wayback Machine. Ypsilanti Township. Retrieved on June 22, 2009.
  3. ^ "Van Buren township, Wayne county, Michigan"[permanent dead link]. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on October 28, 2009.
  4. ^ "List of NPIAS Airports" (PDF). FAA.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. October 21, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.