Added on January 6, 2025 Sara Swanson

The Phoenix that rose from the ashes and flew again

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Original news photo of a plume of fire, taken on October 8, 2004 (looks like a phoenix if you can see it…). Photo courtesy of Lew Major.

by Colleen A. Schoenfeld

Ever heard a familiar, yet strangely different plane sound, and looked to the sky in curiosity and wondered if you stepped into a time warp as you watch what appears to be a WWII bomber flying overhead? Don’t worry, you’re still in the present and likely your glasses still work. Manchester is located within the airspace and flight path of an airfield in Ann Arbor with a very interesting past and present history.

After a tragic accidental fire 20 years ago, the Michigan Flight Museum (formerly known as, and referred to in this history, as the Yankee Air Museum) rose from the ashes and continues to soar today. It was October 9, 2004, when Manchester’s Lew Major, along with Rob (“Bob”) Paul were landing the Yankee Air Museum’s B-25 on a return flight to Willow Run Airport, that they noticed smoke coming from their World War II-era hangar building. The Yankee Air Museum was founded in 1981 by Dennis Norton, and by 2004, had five historic aircraft in their hangar. Lew and Bob were volunteers at the local aviation museum and upon landing, they alerted the airport to the fire, and along with five other volunteers, sprang into action saving 3 of the 5 aircraft, with no deaths or injuries reported in the Ann Arbor News article, written in December of 2004. That article named the volunteers the “Magnificent Seven,” for their heroic efforts to save as many of the aircraft and as much equipment as they could. The Magnificent Seven were: Lew Major, Bob Paul, Ellie Staiger, Ken Chio, Mary Jane Medlock, Tony Hurst, and Alan Running. Today, in the 20th anniversary year of the fire, Lew reflects on that event and the museum’s impact since.

The Fire

Lew recalled that he and Bob were backing the B-25 into one end of the hangar and Lew noticed something strange on the other side of the hangar, but at first, he thought it was some sort of Halloween decorations. Soon, he and Bob realized it was no decoration, and it was smoke on the other side. Their aircraft was being tugged into the hangar, and both Bob and Lew were military veterans and trained to react to fire, so they immediately yelled as loudly as they could, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” just like they had been trained to do, and they directed the tug operator to pull the B-25 back out of the smoking hangar. The three of them then sprang into action and began work to pull another aircraft, a B-17, to safety. A second aircraft saved from the flames, they attempted to hook the tug to a third aircraft, a C-47, but they were unable to successfully hook it up, so the three of them began trying to physically push the aircraft out by themselves. A fourth volunteer had joined them, and three additional volunteers were spotted trying to get into the gift shop to put out the source of the smoke, a fire in the gift shop.

One of the four attempting to push out the C-47, Lew noted, was Ellie Staiger. Lew described Ellie as the smallest of the group, at about 5 foot tall and 98 pounds, and he said she was yelling and shouting direction to them to “Push, Push, PUSH!” Lew said that the group was pushing as best they could, to get the C-47 out of the hangar toward safety. But, by this time the hangar was filling with the smoke and becoming too dangerous to continue their aircraft rescue mission safely. Lew notes that they were breathing in a lot of smoke but only had the C-47 about halfway to safety. He said by this time, the smoke was at their head level, and they could only see their feet below them. They got it out of the hangar doors just as the first firetruck arrived in front of the hangar. At that time, Ken Chio, arrived with a tug and hooked it up and pulled it to safety further away. Ken had also breathed in a great deal of smoke at this point, Lew noted. They did make one more attempt to push through the smoke to save tools and equipment but were told by the firefighters to leave because of concern that “this thing is going to blow,” meaning the hangar. They backed to a safe distance, and Lew described that due to all of the chemicals and gases in the hangar, he heard a “swoosh” and he saw a bright flash go off. The first flash of heat and light was captured in a photograph and shared in the 2004 news article, depicting the hangar as it went up in flames.

The damage was extensive. The hangar and everything within were destroyed. Lost, in addition to the World War II era wooden hangar, and all the equipment inside, were two additional airframes: an Airforce 105 and a Bronco YOV-10. Lew shared that a member of the museum and volunteer, Mr. Rice left the organization following the fire. Lew said that Mr. Rice felt devasted by the loss of the Bronco YOV-10 he had spent years and countless hours, voluntarily restoring to flyable condition. Lew speculated that due to the hazardous materials from inside the former hangar and from the fire itself, the hangar was not rebuilt in the same location and the location of the former hangar remains vacant.

As the days went on, Zantop Airlines, also located on the Willow Run Airport, loaned some hangar space to the Yankee Air Museum for the three remaining aircraft. Over the next several years, as the Yankee Air Museum raised funds, and began to build a new hangar, they were kindly lent space in a few different hangars around the airport. Lew recalled that a local philanthropist and pilot, Jack Rousch, had a building constructed, mainly for use by the Yankee Air Museum. Lew noted that Jack was a Detroit industrialist and owned two P-51 Mustangs that he flew. Lew credited another large donor, Connie Kalitta, as a crucial part of the rebuild and revamping of the Yankee Air Museum following the fire. Lew stated that many volunteers, donors, and others were “good to” the Yankee Air Museum during its rebuild operations and on into their enduring legacy as an organization today. With the three remaining aircraft, the volunteer pilots and crews, were also able to make money toward the effort by providing paid rides to those interested in riding in the historic aircraft. A picture is included of the B-25 crew, which includes the regularly serving crew chief, John Stahley, who was not present the day of the fire. The Yankee Air Museum continues to offer paid flights in the historic aircraft as well as in the additions added to their inventory since the fire of 2004.

Lew reminisced that he and Mary Jane remained in contact over the last 20 years, but they had lost touch with the other members of the Magnificent Seven. He said that they knew that Tony and Ken have since passed away, and that Ellie had moved away to Arizona to be a pilot but has since passed away. They lost track of Al Running, and the last they had heard, Bob Paul was ill. He wondered aloud about setting up a memorial or of having this interview and its resulting article serve as a kind of memorial in remembrance of the events of that day, and the efforts of the Magnificent Seven.

An Oral History of the Yankee Air Museum

According to a site summary report, produced in 2018, by Chris Grossman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Willow Run Airport was built in 1941 by the Ford Company to serve as an airport and factory for building B-24 bombers for World War II. A 2018 Detroit Free Press article stated that during the war, the B-24 plant was “churning out one bomber per hour.” Following the war, it was a private airport, and a group of aviation enthusiasts purchased a former Army Air Force hangar and restored it to its original WWII form. The group called themselves “The Yankee Air Force” and started what became known as the Yankee Air Museum. According to Barry D. Levine, author of the 2018 book, Yankee Air Museum, the “Yankee Air Force” group, officially founded the Yankee Air Museum in 1981. Lew provided some insights and background on his knowledge and experiences with the Yankee Air Museum as a longtime volunteer and aviation enthusiast.

The museum built up a significant collection in their hangar, that included five historic aircraft and a variety of other aviation artifacts and historical records, between its founding and the fire of 2004. As mentioned, only three aircraft survived the fire. He said that after its founding, it started as a small project, but it grew and grew until by the 1990s they were doing good business and had a lot of volunteers involved. He said the fire had an impact on their space and required so many moves during the rebuilding process. Some of the activities and volunteers dropped off. He said that when the new hangar was completed, and since then, the museum volunteers and activities have been increasing again and really growing.

Lew recalled that his involvement with the Yankee Air Museum began when he had heard about the museum being approximately 5 years into a 10-year restoration project of a B-17. He said he didn’t start volunteering with them yet or really get involved for a few years after he’d heard about the restoration project, due to other time commitments he had at the time, but it sparked his interest and led to his later involvement. Lew noted that the B-17 project finished right around the time he joined the museum, he estimated that would have been around 1998, and that their new project was the restoration of a B-25. He said his uncle had served in WWII as a B-25 mechanic, so Lew said, “I got in on that.” With humor, Lew said he wasn’t much more back then than a “gopher” but he really enjoyed assisting with the restoration project. *A gopher is a term for someone who “goes for” the tools requested by the mechanic. *

He spoke fondly as he recalled how interesting the restoration project had been to him. He enjoyed taking the wings apart, restoring or repairing old parts, and replacing parts. Some of the parts required for the project came from as far away as California. He said Bob Paul had been one of the mechanics working on the project for the museum and that Bob was very talented as a mechanic. Lew shared that this B-25 had some interesting history of its very own.

His understanding was that this particular B-25, had flown seven missions during WWII. He said it had been manufactured in Kansas and then flown to fight in Europe and was used as a trainer aircraft after the war, including as a trainer in Canada. He said it had been flying in Italy, around the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Many of the aircraft were destroyed by the eruption. Some by the damage incurred on the ground and others whose engines were damaged while flying, by the glass that forms when volcanic ash in the air enters the engines.

Lew said the seven missions were marked on the body of the B-25 as well as markings of two outhouses blown over. Apparently, the B-25 had been involved in blowing over, or knocking over, two outhouses and the pilots and crew decided to memorialize the unique battles, as is tradition, by marking those on the body of the B-52 as well. There is no humor quite like military humor, and pilot humor on top of that! (inserted by the author) Lew described the payloads and capabilities of the B-25 and its impressive statistics and abilities. He said the B-25, “was a medium bomber, so they were like a hot rod of the bomber class, and they could go in and attack ships, convoys, trains.” They also had to repair some WWII flack damage on the tail boom during the restoration, another mark demonstrating the B-25’s wartime experience.

As far as the museum’s C-47, Lew was unsure if it had flown in combat. He did know that there were many C-47s produced for the war, over 10,000. Which he said was so many that C-47s pilots once told him that, everywhere “in the world today, there’s still at least one C-47 working someplace.” He shared that he had spent countless coffee and meal chats with pilots, in his role as a volunteer and crew, and listened to all their stories about WWII and also about flying. He said that at airshows, there would often be older gentlemen using a wheelchair or cane who would stop by to tell him that he used to fly that aircraft, or had served as a gunner, or as a mechanic. Sometimes they would have a tear in their eye as they shared stories with Lew. He said he really appreciated those experiences they shared with him.

Michigan Flight Museum Today

After the fire, Lew said that the volunteers and museum folks were moving from location to location on the airfield. He said they continued to add more and more volunteers and build up their events. He described the annual bistro party and said it grew year over year and was one of their fundraising events. He recalled that the parties would sometimes include a big band swing dance group that would teach people how to swing dance and that sometimes people would wear historical/period clothing to the bistro parties and that they were a lot of fun to attend. Their fundraising events, continued flights on the remaining aircraft, and other fundraising efforts led to the eventual purchase of what is the current museum and hangar space.

The Michigan Flight Museum (formerly Yankee Air Museum) also continues to host their annual airshow in the summer. They often are looking for volunteers and certainly for donors to support the operations of the museum. The 2025 summer airshow is scheduled to feature the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angel flight demonstration team on the weekend of June 20-22, 2025, and the event is called Thunder Over Michigan. Dear reader, if you’ve never had the chance to see an airshow in person, I highly recommend the experience! And what a great year to go, the Blue Angels are a world class flight demo team that shouldn’t be missed! More information about the museum, volunteering, donating, or visiting the museum can be found at https://www.miflightmuseum.org and additional information about the Thunder Over Michigan annual airshow can be found at https://www.thunderovermichigan.org. Consider visiting and supporting the Michigan Flight Museum in their efforts to preserve our aviation history and learn a bit more about our historic, flyable, aircraft and equipment, right up the road from Manchester.

This article would not have been possible without the information and interest in preserving history, provided by Lew Major of Manchester. He and his wife Charlotte Major have preserved the newspapers from 2004 and other pictures which are shared with this article.

Editor’s note: this article was updated shortly after publication with corrected spellings of the post-fire benefactors’ names. Thank you to Marty Mayes for providing the corrections.

Original front page news photo of the hangar engulfed in flames with the B-25 in front after being saved from the flames. Photo courtesy of Lew Major.