Airborne Museum
- Visit: 120–135 min
- Ideal for kids, teens
Adultes (> 16 ans) EUR 11.50 · Enfant (de 6 à 16 ans) EUR 7.50
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Why go
- Step inside France’s only authentic Waco CG-4 glider.
- See the C-47 transport plane used in airdrop operations over Sainte-Mère-Église.
- Explore 1,200 square metres of realistic D-Day scenes in Operation Neptune.
- See General Gavin’s helmet and John Steele’s military decorations.
Plan your visit
Prices
From the venue's website · checked 27 Sep 2026
Opening hours
Today10:00 – 18:00Show all
Don't miss
- Soldiers preparing for flightLook for the figures and period objects accompanying the glider.New Waco pavilion
- Eisenhower and the recruitsSee the diorama of recruits with General Eisenhower before D-Day.C-47 pavilion
- Occupation and resistanceExplore exhibits about German occupation of Sainte-Mère-Église and local resistance.Renovated Carpentier building
- Occupation and liberation filmWatch the 20-minute film about Sainte-Mère-Église and the Cotentin Peninsula.C-47 pavilion projection room
- HistopadUse the touchscreen animations to revisit key events in Normandy in 1944.Museum exhibits
Know before you go
- Open daily, 10:00–18:00.
- Admission: €11.50 for visitors over 16; €7.50 for children aged 6–16. Tickets are available through the museum’s website.
What's inside
- The original parachute-shaped Waco building became the Carpentier pavilion in 2024; the glider moved to a new pavilion.
- The Ronald-Reagan centre includes a 120-seat cinema and facilities for temporary exhibitions, conferences and seminars.
- The museum shop sells souvenirs and other items.
With kids
- School groups can book a suitcase workshop for primary and early secondary pupils. They examine numbered objects to imagine life during the German Occupation.
- School groups can book a quiz workshop for middle-school and high-school pupils. It uses a team board game with more than a hundred World War II cards.
- Quiz topics include D-Day, the Holocaust, the Pacific War and the Eastern Front.
Tips for your visit
- The museum is near Utah Beach and the Normandy landing beaches.
- Allow about two hours to two hours and fifteen minutes for a typical visit.
Interesting facts4
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10,000 objects
The collection contains more than 10,000 objects.
Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église) - Wikipedia -
Many exhibits were used by paratroopers who landed at Sainte-Mère-Église during the Battle of Normandy.
Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église) - Wikipedia -
4,000 troops
Waco gliders transported more than 4,000 troops, along with vehicles, ammunition, equipment and rations.
Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église) - Wikipedia -
The collection is mostly American equipment, alongside German military replicas and at least a hundred uniformed figures.
Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église) - Wikipedia
History
Donations from local residents and veterans helped establish the museum. American veteran Philippe Jutras became its volunteer curator about ten years after its founding and helped develop it into a major Normandy historical site.
- 5 June 1944A villa on the museum site burned during the night.
- 1956–1958The museum was built.
- 6 June 1964Jean Masselin, Matthew Ridgway and James M. Gavin inaugurated the museum with a Waco glider restored by the Salis workshop.
- 1983The museum received a C-47 transport aircraft.
- 2014Operation Neptune opened for D-Day’s 70th anniversary.
Show all
- 2016The Ronald-Reagan Conference Center opened.
- 8 May 2024The new Waco pavilion opened because the former building was too narrow to display the glider well.
Sources: Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église) - Wikipedia · Airborne Museum, Sainte-Mère-Eglise | Airborne · Musée du Débarquement à Sainte-Mère-Église | Ai… · Airborne Museum, Sainte-Mère-Eglise | Airborne · Musée Airborne - Wikipedia · Airborne Museum: tickets (its own site) · School visits | Airborne · School workshops | Airborne · checked 6 Oct 2026
- Website
- airborne-museum.org/
- Phone
- +33233414135
Questions and answers
Address
14 rue Eisenhower, 50480 Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, France.
- See who's going — faces, not ticket counts.
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