The Essco Aircraft Co. is doing its part to help the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run Airport near Detroit.
In October the museum lost nearly everything in a devastating fire. Fast-thinking volunteers kept the museum’s three airworthy World War II era aircraft, a B-17, a B-25 and a DC-3, safe from the flames.
However, all tools and reference manuals for the birds were lost. Without the manuals, it is very difficult for crews to do the maintenance and make the repairs needed to keep the aircraft airworthy.
That’s where Essco comes in. The company produces aircraft information manuals for thousands of aircraft, from general aviation designs to so-called legacy manuals for World War II airplanes.
“We were happy to send several of those legacy manuals to the museum to replace the ones they lost,” said Michael Stadvec, who recently bought the company from his father, Ernest. “We’re very proud of our legacy manuals. We have even used a yellow paper stock so they look like the real thing.”