Musée de l'air et de l'espace facts for kids
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| Established | 1919 |
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| Location | Paris – Le Bourget Airport Le Bourget, France |
| Type | Aviation museum |
The Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (which means "Air and Space Museum" in French) is a super cool museum in France. It's all about planes, rockets, and space travel! You can find it near the Paris–Le Bourget Airport, just north of Paris.
This museum first opened its doors in 1919. It was the idea of a famous engineer named Albert Caquot. He wanted a place to show off amazing flying machines.
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What You'll See at the Museum
This museum is one of the oldest aviation museums in the world. It covers a huge area with lots of hangars. Inside, there are more than 19,595 items to explore. This includes over 150 real aircraft!
You can see things from way back in the 1500s. There are also modern planes and spacecraft. One of the most exciting exhibits is the first prototype of the Concorde supersonic jet. You can also see Swiss and Soviet rockets.
The Mystery of L'Oiseau Blanc
The museum has a very special piece of history. It's the only known part of a plane called L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird). This plane tried to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Pilots Charles Nungesser and François Coli took off from Le Bourget.
The plane was designed to drop its main landing gear after takeoff. This made it lighter for the long flight. The museum has this very landing gear! Sadly, L'Oiseau Blanc disappeared over the Atlantic. This happened just two weeks before Charles Lindbergh made his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.
Other Cool Things to Discover
The museum has many other interesting items. Here are just a few:
- A fancy bronze medal of the Montgolfier brothers. They were pioneers in hot air balloons.
- The Biot-Massia glider from 1879. This was an early type of glider.
- An electric motor from 1884 made by Arthur Constantin Krebs.
- Part of a huge Zeppelin airship from 1915.
- A 1916 SPAD VII aircraft flown by French hero Georges Guynemer in World War I.
- A 1917 Airco DH.9 plane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland.
- A 1918 Junkers D.I aircraft by Hugo Junkers.
- A 1961 Dassault Mirage IIIC jet.
- An SSBS S3 surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
- The original Soyuz T-6 capsule. This was used by the first French astronaut, Jean-Loup Chrétien, in 1982.
- A model of the Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard from 2002.
Amazing Aircraft on Display
The museum has different halls, each with special aircraft.
Grand Gallery
This gallery shows off some very old and important planes:
- Antoinette VII
- Blériot XI
- Voisin-Farman No 1
- Santos-Dumont Demoiselle
Between the Wars and Light Aviation Hall
This area features planes from the time between World War I and World War II. You'll also see smaller, lighter aircraft.
- Bréguet 14
- Farman Goliath
- Oiseau Blanc (the plane that disappeared!)
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World War II Hall
Step back in time to World War II and see these historic aircraft:
- 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 (a type of early missile)
Roundel Hall
This hall features famous jet fighters:
- Dassault Mirage III
- Dassault Mystère IV
- Dassault Ouragan
- North American F-86D Sabre
- North American F-100 Super Sabre
- Republic F-84 Thunderjet
Prototype Hall
See experimental aircraft that were built to test new ideas:
- Aérospatiale Ludion
- Dassault Balzac V
- Leduc 0.10
- Nord 1500 Griffon
- SNCASO Trident
- Sud-Ouest SO.6000 Triton
Concorde Hall
This hall is dedicated to the amazing Concorde supersonic jet. The museum has two of them!
- Concorde (two, F-WTSS prototype and Air France F-BTSD)
- One of the Concorde planes, Concorde 001, was used for a special mission in 1973. It flew to observe a solar eclipse and has special windows on its roof.
- Dassault Mirage IV. This plane (number 9, F-THAH) was used in a nuclear test called Tamouré in 1966.
- Dassault Mirage 4000
- Eurocopter X3
- Sud Aviation Caravelle forward fuselage
Outdoor Exhibit
Outside on the tarmac, you can see even more giant aircraft and rockets:
- Boeing 747
- Ariane 1 (a model of the rocket)
- Ariane 5 (a model of the rocket)
- 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
See also
In Spanish: Museo del Aire y del Espacio para niños
- List of aerospace museums
- List of museums in Paris
