The Musée de l’air et de l’espace (English: Air and Space Museum), is an aerospace museum, located at the south-eastern edge of Paris–Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris (France), and in the commune of Le Bourget. It was inaugurated in 1919 after a proposal by the celebrated aeronautics engineer Albert Caquot (1881–1976).
Occupying over 150,000 square metres (1,600,000 sq ft) of land and hangars, it is one of the oldest aviation museums in the world.
The museum’s collection contains more than 19,595 items, including 150 aircraft, and material from as far back as the 16th Century.
Also displayed are more modern air and spacecraft, including the prototype for Concorde, and Swiss and Soviet rockets.
The museum also has the only known remaining piece — the jettisoned main landing gear — of L’Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird), the 1927 aircraft which attempted to make the first Transatlantic crossing from Paris to New York.
On May 8, 1927, Charles Nungesser and François Coli aboard L’Oiseau blanc, a 450-hp Lorraine-powered Levasseur biplane took off from Le Bourget.
The aircraft jettisoned its main landing gear (which is stored at the museum), which it was designed to do as part of its trans-Atlantic flight profile, but then disappeared over the Atlantic, only two weeks before Lindbergh’s monoplane completed its successful solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight to Le Bourget from the United States.
Main exhibits
- Antoinette VII
- Blériot XI
- Voisin-Farman No 1
- Santos-Dumont Demoiselle
- Bücker Bü 181
- Dewoitine D.520
- Douglas A-1 Skyraider
- Douglas C-47 Skytrain
- Douglas DC-3 cockpit
- Focke-Wulf Fw 190
- North American P-51 Mustang
- Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI
- V-1 flying bomb
- Dassault Mirage III
- Dassault Mystère IV
- Dassault Ouragan
- North American F-86D Sabre
- North American F-100 Super Sabre
- Republic F-84 Thunderjet
- Aérospatiale Ludion
- Dassault Balzac V
- Leduc 0.10
- Nord 1500 Griffon
- SNCASO Trident
- Sud-Ouest SO.6000 Triton
- Concorde (two, F-WTSS prototype and Air France F-BTSD)
- Concorde 001 is featured in its 1973 Solar Eclipse mission livery, with the special rooftop portholes visible.
- Dassault Mirage IV. The plane number 9 (F-THAH) was used to drop a live nuclear bomb during the Tamouré nuclear test in 1966.
- Dassault Mirage 4000
- Eurocopter X3
- Sud Aviation Caravelle forward fuselage
- Boeing 747
- Ariane 1 (model)
- Ariane 5 (model)
- Airbus A380
- Douglas DC-8
- Canadair CL-215
- Lockheed P-2 Neptune
- Breguet Atlantic
- Dassault Mercure
- Transall C-160
- Dassault Super Etendard
- SEPECAT Jaguar
- Dassault Mirage 4000
- Dassault Rafale A
Located in: Paris Airport-Le Bourget.
Address: Aéroport de Paris-Le Bourget, 93352 Le Bourget, France
Hours:
Friday 10 AM–5 PM
Saturday 10 AM–5 PM
Sunday 10 AM–5 PM
Monday Closed
Tuesday 10 AM–5 PM
Wednesday 10 AM–5 PM
Thursday 10 AM–5 PM
Phone: +33 1 49 92 70 00
Founded: 1919
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