Willow Run Airport: Where 1,000 Persons Work

HE KNOWS IF IT WILL BE CLOUDY OR FAIR TOMORROW: Upon the shoulders of this man, Ernest B. Williams of Plymouth, rests the responsibility of charting and predicting the weather at the airport. Williams is the meteorologist in charge of the U. S. Weather Station there and heads a staff of seven persons who man the station 24 hours a day. He is pictured above on the roof of the terminal where he has just released a helium-filled balloon to test wind direction and velocity. The second after this picture was taken he ducked into the little shelter to the right to measure elevation and horizontal angle of balloon as it ascends. Later this information is compiled into wind direction and velocity at different levels aloft. RADIO EQUIPPED BUSES SPEED PASSENGERS TO DETROIT: These two busses are part of the fleet of special carriers which take airline passengers to and from Detroit. Note antennae for two-way radio which provides direct communication with the field at all times. Thus if traffic or weather conditions slowed the bus, the driver could advise the dispatcher at Willow Run of his estimated arrival time, and passengers could be scheduled on a later plane, or the flight held up a few minutes. Due to smaller volume of passenger traffic to Ann Arbor, no such special service exists for airline passengers needing Willow Run-Ann Arbor transportation. WILLOW RUN - CHICAGO IN 25 MINUTES: Actually this group of passengers waiting for the gates to open for flight 415 to Chicago won't get to the Windy City in that brief period of time, but due to the time zone change will "gain" an hour. Stairs to the left lead to the spectators' ramp where the sightseer, after dropping a coin in the turnstile, can watch the big planes come and go. PLENTY OF ROOM HERE: This is the kind of scene the terminal management likes to see - activity but no lines or bottlenecks. One of the main goals of ANTSCO, the corporation which has leased Willow Run terminal from the University of Michigan, is the development of a satisfactory functional layout here both in the terminal and in other terminals throughout the country. One time and space saver is the elimination of separate ticket offices, baggage handling centers, operations and maintenance offices for each airline flying into the airport. ANTSCO now sells the tickets, schedules operations, weighs the baggage, leases the food service concessions, and provides ground service for each of the seven lines coming into Willow Run. CONTROL AGENTS AT WORK IN 'OPERATIONS': Shown above are the men who compute how many passengers will ride the plane, how much mail, express and freight will be carried, when the aircraft will take off and estimated arrival time of flights. Literally a nerve center of the terminal, the controlling of flights carried on in the room pictured above was formerly handled in seven separate offices by seven separate airlines at Willow Run. The adding machines on the desks are a few of dozens in use at the airport for totalling the weights of passengers, mail and other cargo. DORMITORY FOR HOSTESSES: These three girls are chatting in one of the several dormitory rooms provided at the terminal by the airport management company. (Left) Miss Helen Otto, 115 Grove St., Ypsilanti, a terminal employe; Miss Jane Horton, of Milwaukee, Wis., a hostess for Capital Airlines and Miss John Potts, of Belleville, another terminal employe. Similar facilities are provided for male personnel in another part of the building. THE MAIL MUST GO THROUGH: And speedily so in the case of these airmail sacks being dragged from the door of the U. S. post office at the Willow Run terminal. Oddly enough, airmail is handled by the Railway Mail Service Division of the U. S. Postal Service. Here Marvin Hess of East Detroit hauls a bag of mail into the new radio equipped truck which will carry the letters to Detroit. Two-way communication is important when mail truck is just a few blocks from the field and a late mail plane comes in. Driver can be instructed to return to the terminal and save an extra trip. Ann Arbor mail is picked up by the local post office. HE MAKES WILLOW RUN RUN: This is the man few passengers know about, although he has a hand in almost every operation and activity at the airport with which a passenger or sightseer comes in contact. He is Harold F. Palmer, manager of the airport and representative of the Airlines National Terminal Service Co., Inc. (ANTSCO). As "boss" of the airport, he has the job of supervising such consolidated services as the joint operations office, which serves the seven airlines at Willow Run, and acting as liaison between the commercial concessions at the field and the University and Kaiser-Frazer. Part of the job of his office is to draw up a monthly payroll of approximately $115,000 for the 445 persons who work for the ANTSCO. Palmer is pictured above as he looks out the window onto the "apron" of the airport. METEOROLOGICAL MAP: Curved lines on the map above show the change in weather as cloud and air masses shift from one part of the country to the other. Chief meteorologist Ernest Williams (left) checks up on the map in his tiny office atop the air terminal with Mrs. Doris Schrock of Inkster, who is a meteorological aide. This is the U. S. Weather Station from which The Ann Arbor News now gets its weather information. Forecasts are made in advance up to 48 hours. PILOT'S EYE VIEW OF PASSENGERS: This photograph, taken from the window of the pilots' compartment of a DC-3, shows passengers boarding the ramp at the Willow Run terminal. Man at the foot is the ANTSCO agent who meets all arriving and departing planes. Uniformed gentleman to the extreme right is Robert G. Bane, chief plant protection officer and head of the private police force which ANTSCO maintains at the field. He supervises a staff of uniformed police and plainclothesmen. PACKAGES FOR ANN ARBOR STORES AND PLANTS: If an Ann Arbor factory or business needs parts or merchandise in a hurry, chances are delivery by air freight will be specified. Then the consignments will arrive by plane at Willow Run via Air Cargo, Inc., and will be transhipped from the cargo handling truck, (left) to a company truck, pictured to the right. The picture above was taken in a section of the huge hanger directly adjacent to the terminal part of the airport and under the same roof. More than 100,000 pounds of freight are handled here daily.