Officials with the Yankee Air Museum, east of Ypsilanti, Mich., are one step closer to obtaining a portion of the old Willow Run bomber plant for the museum’s new home, reported the Ann Arbor News. Demolition of the plant, which manufactured B-24 bombers during World War II, is underway at Willow Run Airport, but 150,000 square feet of the old facility will be left for the museum to move into, said Michael Montgomery, a museum fundraising consultant, in the Aug. 13 report. “Our expectation is that in September, we’ll close on the purchase of our part of the plant,” he said. Museum officials signed a purchase agreement in June for the land, but are still raising money to cover the costs. They have already raised more than $7 million of the $8 million fundraising goal, according to the museum’s “Save the Bomber Plant” webpage. “Classrooms, auditoriums, exhibits, and other parts of the museum will still need funding,” said Montgomery. The museum’s current home is a 47,000 square-foot facility near the airport. (See Foundation Fights to Save Historic Bomber Plant.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.