Willow Run Gate Guardian - "Old 139"

Here's a question for Steven Puhl.  :-)
 
A while back I was  reading a 1956 book "The Story of Willow Run"  (By Marion F. Wilson, Published by the University of Michigan Press in Ann Arbor, MI). This book mentioned and showed a few pictures of a B-24 simply named "Old 139" being manoeuvered into position somewhere outside the FO WR plant immediately post-war.  I think the book said the plane was obtained by the Edsel Ford post of the American Legion in 1946.  Sadly time and neglect did for the bird, like so many others.
 
My question.  All the photos published in the book are nose-on so it's impossible to ascertain what (if any) marking were being carried.  What machine was it?
 
Memorial B-24s are my 'thing' (to coin a phrase) and I'm having one of those "inquiring minds" moments.
 
Any further information, Steven?
 
Robert Smith
42-50535 "Joplin Jalopy" Blogger
 
 

Robert,   Good evening from AA!  Based on the information I have, which is scattered at best, it would appear that "Old 139" was B-24M-20-FO, 44-51139. There were very few A/C's of each variant retained at FO WR, and toward the end of production, many were flown directly to the scrap yards, almost exclusively "M's" even though there were "war wearies" on the property as well.  No A/C was retained as a "momento" to this "Arsenal of Democracy."  In fact, Kaiser-Frazer took over the facility almost immediately, retooled it for peacetime production and returned to making cars, although the C-119 and C-123 transports were also assembled here.  Over the years, attempts have been made by the Yankee Air Museum (YAM) to procure a Lib without much success.  The best we could do was the restoration of a Privateer which has been restored and is a part of our "static display."  About a year ago, I did receive a PM from a gentleman who recalled "having seen a Lib being moved to a park at the end of the war," but he had no recollection of any details.  In trying to search this out, we've had no luck.  Again, there are many "urban legends" about FO WR.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help.  I've searched both the net and elsewhere for a pic, but no luck.

Steven, Thanks very much. You know how it is when you get curious about something. :-)

I'm sure I scanned a couple of pictures from the book for reference purposes but I'm darned if I can find them now.  If you haven't seen those pictures drop me a PM or something. I seem to remember reading it was "parked" on the site of an old orchard under an Apple tree (?!) near the Legion post.

best wishes

Robert

"After flying A-20's in Italy in WWII, father went to work for United Air Lines, stationed at Willow Run (Ford Liberator factory) for three years in early sixties when it was the hub for commercial airlines - Detroit. There was a liberator parked by the side of a road for years on display back then, was vandalized, finally vanished."   

Robert,  I found this quote in the sub-forum on "modeling" from August of 2007 in which Mark O'Boyle (an outstanding crafter/modeler) makes mention of the same A/C again with few details.  Based on hearsay, some recollections and few records, it is probably "one-and-the-same."  There is one other source whom I shall try to contact personally, and he may have some recollection having lived in the area.
 
 

pieces/parts in somebody's pole barn.

Seabee1526


pieces/parts in somebody's pole barn.

Robert,  Good morning!  Would this be a question, assumption or a "part-of-the-puzzle" answer?  There were (and still are) a lot of "urban legends" about WR.  The legacy and the ghosts still permeate the "old plant" and its surroundings! I've posted an Ann Arbor News article link on page 7 or 8 in the Thread:  History: The Willow Run Liberators in the the "Heavy and Very Heavy Bombers" sub-forum in which I debunked a few, but this one sort of hangs around.  You might want to PM Mark O'Boyle, although I believe he still may not have located anything.  Legend also has it that there was a "home movie" of it.  I do have somewhere some old "xeroxed copies" of pics that I'll go thru as I do remember a pic of a Lib being moved "off site," but this well could have been for another reason.  We'll keep searching!

Robert,  Good morning!  I've found in my "box-of-stuff" the old, grainy xeroxed pics which I have scanned, but they are horrible, and it wasn't wortth the time to try and "clean-em-up."  However,  in the process I found their origin, and will be heading to one of the the three local university/public libraries to pull up the details and get more info on the A/C's.  Now that I have a lead, I can go after the info. Looking at the pic, I can narrow down the variant, but as far a the location, no dice yet!  One step at a time, and then, who knows, someone else may  jump on with further info.

Attached Image(s)

I find it remarkable that there have been no leads on this.  How can it just disappear?

Seabee1526


I find it remarkable that there have been no leads on this.  How can it just disappear?

Robert,  Today I talked with Warren Benjamin Kidder, author of Willow Run: Colossus of American Industry, about several issues, one of which was #139.  So here is some updated info.  Do not have an ID on the exact A/C, "but it did sit for a time near an apple orchard and "in front of a school on Michigan Avenue.  It didn't last long though as it was sold for scrap."  He couldn't recall exactly when. 

Bloody shame....

Seabee1526


Bloody shame....

That it is!!!  What is more intriguing is that in "snooping around," one finds that no one knows anything.  It is hard to envision that something so large in the post WW II era just disappears.  I've located the approximate spot, but no way can imagine the bird sitting there.  Again this is speaking from a vantage point of more than 60 years.