Willow Run Air Force Station is a former

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

station that operated to the east of

Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport is an airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan, Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, Ypsilanti Charter Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, that serves freight, cor ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

History

In 1951, the

exercised a right of return to Willow Run and established Willow Run Air Force Station to the east of the airport runway. On 7 April 1952 the site became operational with the establishment of Headquarters,

30th Air Division The 30th Air Division (30th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Tenth Air Force, being stationed at Sioux City Air National Guard Base, Sioux City Municipal Air ...

at the site, which was designated P-23 by ADC. In addition to the headquarters facility,

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

established a Manual Air-Defense Control Center (ADCC) at Willow Run AFS, for the tracking and control of aircraft as part of ADC's mission in the United States. Willow Run AFS operated until April 1959, when the 30th AD was reassigned to Truax Field, Wisconsin. The facility was then sold to the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Many of the former Air Force buildings still exist on the site and are used by various organizations.Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., ''Searching the Skies'', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program

US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).

References

{{Aerospace Defense Command Installations of the United States Air Force in Michigan Military installations closed in 1959 University of Michigan Willow Run Airport 1951 establishments in Michigan 1959 disestablishments in Michigan Military installations established in 1951