The Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (MARC) was one of

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

's leading air research organizations, run by 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 ...

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 ...

. It played a leading role in the creation of the

Bomarc Missile Program The Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc ("Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center") (IM-99 Weapon System prior to September 1962) was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of Nor ...

, alongside

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

. Willow Run Laboratories was created in 1946, and in 1950, in recognition of an expanded research program, its name was changed to Willow Run Research Center, which would eventually be spun off from the university in 1972 to form the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. Work at Willow Run during 1953 included testing throttlable rocket motors and

hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...

References

University of Michigan 1946 establishments in Michigan Willow Run Airport {{aero-company-stub