A Deep Dive into the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace

[nuuumannn]

Hi Guys, been meaning to do this for awhile. I want to do a focus on some great aviation museums I've visited by examining the collections and individual artefacts in more detail, rather than the brief picture threads I usually do. I did so with the Monino thread recently, but I'll expand it with this one - I hope to eventually do the likes of the RAF Museum since I have a personal connection to the place, as well as others I've been to here and there.

First up is the great Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget, Paris, France. I visited Le Bourget last year while I was in France as part of the Overlord 75th anniversary commemorations and was again acquainted with a magnificent collection of aeronautica in an historic setting. Regarded as the oldest aeronautical collection in the world, the museum has changed over the years although the setting remains the same, these days it's less cluttered and easier to navigate around, but somewhat disappointingly, there are fewer aircraft on display than there used to be. Even more disappointing is the fate of the Grand Galerie, which contained the pioneer aviation and Great War collection, one of the most significant of its kind in the world.

An overhaul of the hall which formerly served as the terminal when Le Bourget was Paris' principal airport, was begun to originally be completed by the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. This dragged until it was scheduled for opening in 2018, celebrating the Armistice, but this date came and went and by mid 2019, the time of my visit, the hall was still incomplete and the exhibits were covered in sheets and far from display ready. Staff on duty that day were unable to advise when the hall might reopen. Another Iconic Musée de l'Air feature that is currently missing is the Patrouille de France trio of Potez Fouga Magisters mounted dramatically on poles outside the museum entrance - the poles are there, but there are no aircraft, presumably they are undergoing refurbishment.

At the time of my visit Le Bourget was being readied for the Paris Airshow, which meant the large store of aircraft out front of the exhibition halls had been moved to make way for the airshow pavilions, so the various airframes that usually weather the elements had been relocated to the site across the other side of the airfield. I noted them while I watched the airshow, the Airbus A380 prototype in particular standing out in the distance.

So, we begin with the museum and the Grand Galerie exterior. Designed by architect Georges Labro and officially opened on 12 November 1937 by President of the Republic Albert Lebrun, the museum's Grand Gallerie building served as Le Bourget's vast terminal and contained arrivals, check-in, shops and the control tower overlooking the airfield. During World War Two and German occupation, Le Bourget was bombed by the Allies in 1944, the terminal building suffering considerable damage. Refurbished after the war, the current facade with the three allegorical statues that represent Africa, the Far East and the rest of the world by sculptor Armand Martial has been retained since the pioneer and Great War collection was located within it in 1986, although the museum had been displayed in adjacent hangars earlier. Recognised as an Historic Monument in 1994, the terminal building and museum esplanade underwent an overhaul a few years later, with space for the statues and memorials there today.

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Armand Martial's three sculptures representing destinations around the globe where aircraft departing Le Bourget flew to post war.

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One of a number of memorials to the famous Normandie-Niemen regiment in the museum esplanade.

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Sculpture honouring airmen of the Normandie-Niemen regiment.

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A Roll of Honour depicting the names of those Frenchmen whom lost their lives with the regiment in the fight for the liberation of the Soviet Union from the Nazis during World War Two. The lawns were being mowed during my visit.

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From the esplanade we progress through the museum entrance into the courtyard out front of the old terminal, where we can see the control tower, which is undergoing refurbishment. This is the post war design of the tower cupola; Labro's original was a glass fronted circle of flat panels with a 360 degree view. These rooms below the tower, which formerly served as restaurants and aircrew service rooms will eventually become exhibition spaces.

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The Grande Gallerie's interior as it was at the time of my visit hints at the treasures hidden away under the sheeting. Labro's vast columned space, now washed in white but formerly coloured, with glass ceiling panels intended on conveying a sense of spatial grandeur is evident even in this shot. This is looking toward the arrivals area and baggage claim, with the giant clock centrally located between the arrivals and departures galleries.

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Iconic Le Bourget museum exterior vehicles that appear in so many Paris Airshow shots, the former Air France B747-128 F-BPVJ is joined by scale reproductions of the European Space Agency's Ariane I and V satellite launchers. Joining Air France in 1973, F-BPVJ served its entire career with France's national carrier, with a couple of interludes leased to Air Algerie and defunct Belgian airline SABENA. It was retired in 1992 and was flown to Le Bourget in 2000. Constructed with considerable funding from French space agency Centre National d'etudes Spatiales (CNES), the Ariane rockets are a successful family of medium and heavy satellite launchers developed entirely within Europe. First launched in December 1979 from the ESA launch facility at Kourou, French Guiana, the medium sized Ariane I has been superseded by the larger Ariane V, which is still in service today after an initially inauspicious first launch failure which resulted in the rocket's destruction, in June 1996. The wording on the 747's fin instructs patrons to visit the heart of the Boeing 747.

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Unusual view of F-BPVJ's left hand outboard Pratt & Whitney JT9-D high bi-pass turbofan engine.

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More to come, including a look at the famed Normandie-Niemen regiment.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Super stoked to follow this thread. Next best thing to being there.

Jeff

 

[Crimea_River]

Me too. Maybe the museum's refurbishments will be done by 2039.

 

[Gnomey]

Great stuff!

 

[Airframes]

Great thread Grant - looking forward eagerly to more.

 

[nuuumannn]

Next, we move swiftly to everyone's favourite time period, World War Two and begin with the newest galerie of the museum, a room dedicated to the Normandie-Niemen regiment. Wiki sums up the unit's history in brief;

"The unit served on the Eastern Front of the European Theatre of World War II with the 1st Air Army. The regiment is notable for being one of only three units from Western Allied countries to see combat on the Eastern Front during World War II, and Normandie-Niemen was the only Western Allied unit to fight with the Soviet forces until the end of the war in Europe.

Initially the Groupe de Chasse 3 (GC 3) (3rd Fighter Group) in the Free French Air Force comprised a group of French fighter pilots sent to aid Soviet forces on the Eastern Front at the suggestion of Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces, who felt it important that French servicemen serve on all fronts in the war. The groupe, first commanded by Jean Tulasne, fought in three campaigns on behalf of the Soviet Union between 22 March 1943, and 9 May 1945, during which time it destroyed 273 enemy aircraft and received numerous orders, citations and decorations from both the Free French and Soviet governments, including the French Légion d'Honneur and the Soviet Order of the Red Banner. Joseph Stalin awarded the unit the name Niemen for its participation in the Battle of the Niemen River."

The unit still exists as Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen equipped with the Dassault Rafale.

This is a plaque honouring the death of Lieutenant Maurice de Seynes, one of the regiment's most famous pilots. A little information on the circumstances of his unfortunate death,

"De Seynes joined the FFL in 1942 and became a pilot in the Normandie the 1st of January 1944. The 15th of July 1944, then aged 29 he realised his Yak had an oil leak while flying with his Russian engineer. De Seynes tried several times to land on the airstrip but could not manage it. A Russian pilot contacted him on the radio and told him to fly as high as possible and bailout. De Seynes answered that he could jump since his engineer was with him in the plane. The Russian engineer told the pilot : " It does not matter. You have to jump. I am an engineer and can easily be replaced but you, you are a pilot. " He refused and tried to land a last time. Both him and his engineer died in the crash. Stalin ordered that both De Seynes and his engineer ( a man named Biezoloub ) were to be buried together in the same grave. De Seynes' and Biezoloub's deaths became legendary on the front and further developed the spirit of brotherhood between the French and Soviet pilots. Stamps in France were made at the effigy of the pilot and engineer, shaking hands."

From here: Normandie-Niemen, the most respected and feared fighter groups ever! (france-pub.com)

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This is the remains of the rear fuselage of the Yak-9 of Capt Paul de Forges, who, according to the display board went missing after a dogfight with Fw 190s south-east of Smolensk on 31 August 1943. Years later, small items of an aviation nature were recovered from a swamp near the city and with a more in depth search of the bog, de Forges' Yak was located. Only the rear fuselage was recovered, as the forward section still contains de Forges' remains, which is buried deep within the mud. Peculiar that his remains were not recovered and buried in a more suitable location back in France and given the hero's send off he deserves. Note the tail wheel and hori stab wooden spars.

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At the heart of the Normandie-Niemen galerie is its centrepiece, this suitably weathered Yak-3, which served with the unit during the war, and was one of 40 that were brought back to France as a personal gift from Josef Stalin to the airmen of the unit (what happened to the other 39?) after the end of hostilities. Construction Number 2530, the aircraft was received by the regiment as a replacement sometime after it re-equipped with the Yak-3 in December 1944. After its arrival in France it was gifted to the museum in June 1945 wearing the Number 18. It is currently wearing the Number 4 identifier of the aircraft flown by Lt Roger Marchi, who achieved four kills and two shared in the Yak-3.

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On the aircraft's right side, conservators have uncovered the coat of paint applied to it while in museum hands to reveal its fascinating origins. the aircraft's original Soviet unit markings can be seen, with traces of the Normandie-Niemen lightning flash, the tricoleur daubed spinner, the Cross of Lorraine of the fin and the Number 18 below the rear cockpit canopy visible. Of the 40 examples that arrived in France on 20 June 1945, there were 29 that had fought with the unit during the war, including this one, with the others gifted as replacements. Within five months of receiving the Yak-3s, having replaced their war-weary Yak-9s, pilots of the regiment claimed 94 individual and shared victories in the type.

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A model of a Yakovlev Yak-6 light utility aeroplane that was used by the regiment as a transport hack. Constructed of wood and fabric, the Yak-6 was powered by two 140hp Shvetsov M-11F engines driving wooden fixed pitch propellers. There were two variants of the type, a utility transport, which saw widespread use in Soviet hands and a night bomber variant capable of carrying 500kg of bombs on underside racks and armed with a dorsal gun aft of the flight deck.

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We enter the 1939-1945 Galerie now, beginning with what at first glance appears to be a Luftwaffe Focke Wulf Fw 190A, but this one is a rarer beast; it is a SNCAC (Société Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Centre) NC.900, one of around 70 to 75 that were assembled from left over parts and airframes at the former chalk quarry at Cravant, used by the German occupiers as a construction and repair facility for Fw 190s on the Western Front. The NC.900s in use by the Armee de l'Air were constructed from different Fw 190 variants, A-5, A-6 and A-8 fuselages and wings and therefore were not differentiated based on model, even though there was a significant lack of commonality between individual aircraft. Poorly constructed with poor quality parts, the NC.900s were difficult to fly and only one frontline unit was equipped with them, the aforementioned Normandie-Niemen regiment, Groupe du Chasse III/5 receiving just 14 of them, with the remainder going to CEV (centre d'essais en vol) training unit at Brétigny. First flying in March 1945, the NC.900 remained in service with the Normandie-Niemen regiment for 18 months and its pilots shared an intense dislike for their German designed mounts, not least for patriotic reasons, but also because they were a handful to fly as a result of their mixed quality construction. This one is the last surviving French assembled and operated Fw 190; the remainder were sold to Turkey, who operated them for another few years.

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Bearing the markings of notable Luftwaffe ace Geschwaderkommodore Josef 'Pips' Priller's Fw 190A-8 Black 13 of JG 26 "Schlageter", wearing his personal playing card marking with the name 'Jutta' and a single red heart while based in France in 1944, this NC.900 certainly looks the part and has worn this scheme for many years. Owing to its now rather tatty appearance, I think it's time the museum decorated this unique aircraft in more appropriate Armee de l'Air colours.

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An example of the NC.900/Fw 190A model's nominal powerplant, the ubiquitous 41.8 litre BMW 801 14 cylinder radial engine sits alongside the NC.900, presumably one of the 100 that were found after the end of the war at Dordogne and were installed in the French operated aircraft.

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Now, an example of the Fw 190's wartime nemesis, this Vickers Supermarine Spitfire is LF.XVIe RR263, wearing a mismatched colour scheme for the model of Spitfire and the markings of TB597 GW-B of No.340 (GC Ile de France) Squadron, RAF, with its Cross of Lorraine badge on the aircraft's sides. Perhaps its colours depict 340 Squadron as first formed at RAF Turnhoose with Spitfire Mk.Is in November 1941; the unit was a part of Groupe de Chasse IV/2 (Fighter Group 4-2) and consisted of two flights - A Flight 'Paris' and B Flight 'Versailles'. Constructed in 1944, RR263 was operated within the 2nd Tactical Air Force throughout the remainder of the war, but post-war it saw fame as a stand-in during the filming of the 1956 feature film Reach For The Sky.

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Perhaps the most famous French World War Two aircraft, the pretty little Dewoitine D.520 needs little introduction to members of this forum. Its dicey handling and varied wartime service career marks the type as one of the more intriguing fighters of its era. Nestled between the Fw 190 and Spitfire, the D.520 is significantly smaller than its more famous brethren and is my favourite type on display at the museum. This example is No.862, of which its early origins are not certain, but it may have been in service with the Luftwaffe at some stage. In 1944 it was a part of 'Groupe Doret', which was a Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (FFI) unit formed in south-western France at Tarbes-Ossun named from famed aerobatic pilot Marcel Doret. Created by military units of the French Resistance, the FFI comprised militia groups that used whatever weapons they could get their hands on and so the D.520s used by the unit were ex-Luftwaffe stocks and, like the NC.900s were built up from and kept serviceable from spares scattered about the place, appeared in a mottled Luftwaffe scheme with 'Invasion Stripes' and the French tricoleur in standard locations.

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Wearing the markings of No.277 as flown by Sous-Lieutenant Pierre Le Gloan of GC III/6, France's best known wartime ace, this aircraft is one of only three survivors of the type. During the war, Le Gloan and D.520 No.277 led an unlikely career, fighting against the German invaders and their Italian compatriots, then after the Armistice, his unit retreated to North Africa, where as part of Vichy France, in unison with the Germans fought in Syria against Free French forces and the RAF, then against the British and Americans during Operation Torch in November 1942. Following the Allied invasion of North Africa, Le Gloan and his fellow squadron mates found themselves fighting alongside their former foes and against the Germans again, this time abandoning his faithful No.277 for the P-39 Airacobra. It was in this type that Le Gloan tragically lost his life on 11 September 1943, when during an operation, his aircraft suffered an engine failure, which forced his return to base. Rather than bailing out, Le Gloan attempted a forced landing, but with his drop tank failing to release, when he belly landed the aircraft erupted into flames and he was killed in the fireball that engulfed his machine.

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Next, more from the 1939-1945 Galerie.

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent. I always learn something from your posts. Whether or not I remember what I learned is another matter....

 

[nuuumannn]

Excellent. I always learn something from your posts. Whether or not I remember what I learned is another matter....

Thank you most kindly. I cannot always guarantee the veracity of it all! I do enjoy doing the leg work in finding the information out, but do come across inconsistencies - the NC.900 is an example, different sources quote different numbers of aircraft operated by the Armee de l'Air, so I winged it, so to speak. Some say 65, some say 70 to 75, one said over 100. Its fun since I learn a lot from these things too.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots!

 

[nuuumannn]

Thanks for following along, guys. As an addition to the previous post, I have added information about the history of the museum's D.520, which has an intriguing back story, having been used by a French Resistance unit in the Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (FFI).

Continuing on, we take a look at the museum's Douglas C-47 Skytrain, which is a genuine D-Day veteran (Le Embarquement to the French) and is perched above the rest of the exhibits and open to view. This example is Construction Number 12251, a C-47A-5-DK built by Douglas at Oklahoma City, it was taken on charge by the USAAF as 42-92449 and in 1944 was assigned to the 442nd Troop Carrier Group as part of the Ninth Air Force (not the 8th as reported on the museum's own website) taking part in Overlord and is likely to have been one of the aircraft that delivered troopers to the drop zone around Utah Beach, near the town of Ste Mere Eglise the night before the invasion. In 1948 it was assigned the French registration F-BEFB with Aigle-Azur Extreme-Orient, which operated throughout French Indochina, which saw it with Societe Aigle Azur Indochine based at Aeroport de Paris, Hanoi. In September 1955 it returned to Europe and was based at Le Bourget after which, five years later its registration was cancelled and it came into Armee de l'Air use for ten years, where it operated out of the West Indies between December 1961 and December 1964.

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On arrival and initial display at with the museum in 1970 it wore its military markings, its USAAF registration '92449' as its identifier on its fin, but it has been repainted as an Embarquement veteran 42-100558 "Buzz Buggy" with the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron of the 436th Troop Carrier Group. The original "Buzz Buggy" saw post-war service with the Fuerza Aerea Uruguaya and was scrapped in 1959. It's a peculiar decision that the museum made to depict the aircraft as a notable D-Day veteran when it has its own, equally significant Embarquement backstory.

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On to some intriguing engines tucked in behind the C-47. This is a Junkers Jumo 207B-2 and was fitted to a Junkers Ju 86 high altitude model of the typical bomber aircraft, although this variant, the B-2 was a transitional type and it was the GM.1 equipped B-3 model that went into the Ju 86Rs that saw service. Ju 86Ps were equipped with Jumo 207A model engines, for the record, which makes this engine in particular a unique specimen - there are, apparently, only three examples of the Jumo 207 in existence. Fitted with an exhaust driven two-stage turbo-supercharger, the engine has its radiator and exhaust manifold still fitted, showing the layout required for the high-altitude variant of the Junkers aircraft that caused quite the calamity within RAF Fighter Command, as at the time of the aircraft's first appearance was untouchable.

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This is a Daimler Benz DB 603A as fitted to a Messerschmitt Me 410, whose lower cowl is fitted to the engine.

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Don't let its orientation fool you, this is a Junkers Jumo 213 inverted V-12 mounted upright, just to confuse. It's possible that this was an example built within the Arsenal de l'Aéronautique factories at Villacoublay for the Germans during the war. Of note, Arsenal was responsible for the VG.33 fighter that appeared too late to have played a useful role in the Armee de l'Air prior to the German invasion in Spring 1940. After hostilities ended, Arsenal carried out further experimentation with the Jumo 213 engine as the 2,100hp Arsenal 12H, creating a 24 cylinder variant, the 4,000hp 24H, utilising 12H cylinder blocks, crankshafts and pistons mounted on a new crankcase driving a single propeller. The 12H was fitted to the natty looking twin boom SNCASO SO.8000 Narval single engine naval attack aircraft, but the 24H was fitted to only the one aircraft, the inboard engines of a Sud-Est SE.161 Languedoc test bed driving a five bladed propeller, although it was intended on powering the cancelled SNCASE SE.580 fighter, basically a Dewoitine D.520 on steroids with a contra-rotating prop. A prototype of this extraordinary machine was built and while it was intended on being powered by a Hispano-Suiza 24Z, a 24 cylinder variant of the commonly used HS 12Y engine, the decision was made to fit the Arsenal 24H while the prototype was under construction - the project was cancelled before the prototype was finished and it never flew. A little bit of company history relevant to our thread, following the war, Arsenal was relocated to Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, where it was privatised as SFECMAS (la Société Française d'Etude et de Constructions de Matériel Aéronautiques Spéciaux) in 1952. In 1955 SFECMAS joined SNCAN to create Nord Aviation. Fun facts!

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On the subject of H24 engine configurations, a war-weary Napier Sabre recovered from a Hawker Typhoon.

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Bulit as P-47D-30-RE, this Armee de l'Air example was delivered to the USAAF in September 1944 as 44-20371, but forsook its Stars 'n Bars for the Tricoleur a month later. One of 446 P-47s that equipped the Armee de l'Air, it was assigned to GC I/4 "Navarre", which gave up its P-39s for the arriving P-47s, but had previously operated Curtiss Hawk 75s in the defence of France in 1940. In 1963 the aircraft went straight from military service to the museum. It is currently wearing the markings of GC 2/5, the famous Lafayette Escadrille, named for the Maquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolutionary War, with its Sioux head badge prominent.

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Its another peculiar marking choice that the museum has made in depicting its P-51, as it wears markings that don't correspond to any previously existing aircraft - its tail serial is a variation of its original USAAF serial, 44-63871 and although it wears the red spinner and extreme nose of the famed 4th Fighter Group it wears spurious 'MO' squadron codes - the 4th's Mustangs nominally wore 'QP', 'VF' or 'WD' codes representing the 334th, 336th and 335th Fighter Squadrons respectively. Why the museum chose this route to decorate its Mustang is a mystery - it has a plentiful history the museum could have drawn from. Built as a P-51D-20-NA at Inglewood, California in December 1944, it arrived at the frontline with the USAAF in the UK in February 1945 with the 8th Air Force, but did not see combat and by April it had emigrated to Sweden. With the Svenska Flygvapnet P-51s were locally known as the J26 and this one was assigned to Upplands Flygflottilj F 16 based at Uppsala until 1952, when it was sold to Israel. Replacing Spitfire Mk.IXs, the aircraft equipped Tayeset 105 Ha'Akrav (the Cheyl Ha'Avir's second fighter unit, the Scorpion Squadron, today equipped with F-16C Block 40s) and took part in the abortive Suez Campaign. After that the unit received Dassault Mystere IVs and its Mustangs went to Tayeset 116 "Ha'Kanaf Ha'Meofeef", 'The Flying Wing Squadron', better known as 'The Wire cutters' after daring low-level flights severing Egyptian telegraph lines in advance of the Suez invasion. This unit was the last Cheyl Ha'Avir unit to operate the P-51, placing it in reserve in 1958. After that time this Mustang's history goes blurry, perhaps in the flurry of illicit arms sales to support the Israeli cause, but it was registered at some time with the US civil registration N9722F and was discovered in Cannes, before being purchased by the museum in July 1968. Surely from that the museum could have depicted its Mustang in more appropriate colours - its Israeli history alone being worthy of commemorating.

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This immaculately decked out Skyraider is more appropriately marked in Armee de l'Air colours and very smart it looks, too. Its shiny appearance and colourful markings does contrast with its role in one of the bloodiest post-war French conflicts, however. Built as AD-4NA Construction Number 7779, it was assigned Bu No. 126979 with the US Navy, but was delivered to the Armee de l'Air in 1961 as No.53, one of more than 100 Skyraiders that went to France. Seeing service with EC 2/20 "Ouarsenis" formerly equipped with the Douglas Dauntless, it saw action during the Algerian War of Independence, a brutal struggle characterised by harshness inflicted on both sides and enormous loss of life, with a sociological impact that haunts France to this day. Following retirement from the Armee de l'Air, the aircraft arrived at the museum in 1978.

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Yet another example of an object not being what it seems, this Fieseler Fi 103 is in fact an ARSAERO CT.10 recoverable target drone configured to look like a V 1 Flying Bomb, after which the CT.10 was modelled. Wiki tells us a little more about its background;

"The CT.10's design process began in August 1946 with reverse-engineering of V 1 missile stocks captured from the Luftwaffe. It was first launched from the Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux missile range near Colomb-Bechar, Algeria, in December 1949 and became operational in 1952. It was mass-produced by Nord in Châtillon and Villeurbanne. More than 400 copies were eventually built. The CT.10 was used primarily by France, though the United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden used it as well. It was retired from French service during the 1950s in favour of more advanced derivatives such as the CT.20 and CT.41 but was still in widespread use by the British and Swedish air forces throughout the 1960s."

Visually there were significant differences between the original V 1 and the CT.10, the most notable being that the CT.10 had oval fins at the end of its horizontal stabilisers and it was shorter than the V 1. Launched using solid rocket boosters, the CT.10 employed radio guidance in flight and was recoverable, whereas, as we know, the V 1 wasn't!

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That's it from World War Two Galerie, which is missing a few machines, as there used to be an He 162 and a Polikarpov I-153 on display during a previous visit I made. The museum's B-26 Marauder that used to accompany its wartime brethren is now at the D-Day Museum at Utah Beach, Normandy - see my 2019 European Tour for a picture.

Next, the jewel in France's aerospace crown... Le Concorde!

 

[special ed]

If I may intrude momentarily into your thread, I was struck by the nearly identical KD2G-2 to the CT.10 as described with twin fins. The KD2G-2 is also a recoverable target drone from the late 40s until the mid 50s and also powered by a pulsejet. Description on Wiki for those interested. This one at Battleship Park, USS Alabama, at Mobile Alabama.

Mods please adjust as necessary as I am out of practice and skill.
ed

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Grant. I agree with you about the bogus markings on the Mustang.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Excellent guided tour so far. It would appear that this museum gives each aircraft enough space that photography is not the usual " too much stuffed together" proble..

Keep up the great reporting.

Jeff

 

[nuuumannn]

If I may intrude momentarily into your thread, I was struck by the nearly identical KD2G-2 to the CT.10 as described with twin fins.

No problem at all and thanks for the images. Although I have never seen an unaltered CT.10 in the flesh, from photos on the net it looks remarkably similar to the KD2G as you posted in your pictures, Special Ed. There are images on this French modelling page if you scroll down past the model bit.

Arsenal CT10 (free.fr)

 

[Snautzer01]

Excellent tour. Fun to watch and read.

 

[special ed]

Thanks for the link.

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots Grant!

 

[nuuumannn]

So, on with this. Life intervenes... We are now in the Galerie Concorde, where there is not one, but two examples of the much vaunted Ess Ess Tee; the first prototype Concorde 001 F-WTSS and a production example, F-BTSD, the 'Pepsi' Concorde. They are joined, somewhat appropriately by a single example of a Dassault Mirage IVA delta winged nuclear bomber. This rather large room only has the three airframes in it and typical of the new minimalist style the museum is going with, which is somewhat refreshing after seeing the clutter that usually surrounds exhibits at some museums I have been to. We start with the Mirage IVA; this particular example is decked out carrying an AN-22 free fall parachute retarded 60Kt nuclear bomb under its belly and two brackets of RATO bottles, as it would have been configured when operating with the Force de Frappe, or Force de Dissuasion, France's airborne nuclear deterrent, during the 1960s, '70s and '80s. The low level strategic nuclear strike flight profile is a far cry from the serenity of supersonic passenger travel, but the connection between the Mirage, with its sharp 60 degree sweepback on its wing leading edge and Concordes is obvious. Dassault was a senior partner as part of the Aerospatiale conglomerate that developed the aircraft, and it was its development and subsequent use of the pure delta wing for the supersonic Mirage III fighter and the Mirage IV bomber that the firm's expertise was sought. For the British however, this was ironic, as Dassault gleaned raw data from the Fairey Delta Two - 'officially' the fastest air breathing aircraft in the world in 1956, which carried out a series of supersonic flight tests from Cazaux Air Base in Bordeaux, and applied it to their own delta winged prototypes. Rubbing Britain's nose in the world wide success his Mirage family has since experienced, company founder Marcel Dassault (formerly Marcel Bloch, a man with an extraordinary history, including a stint in the Buchenwald concentration camp) once remarked, "If it were not for the clumsy way in which you tackle things in Britain, you could have made the Mirage yourself!" The Image behind the aircraft gives the viewer the impression it has emerged from a Hardened Aircraft Shelter.

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This particular Mirage IVA has historic significance; it was the first French aircraft to air drop a nuclear weapon. On 19 July 1966 during Operation 'Tamoure', a remarkable trans-continental return flight from France to Tahiti via the continental United States, No.9 (individual Mirage IVs were identified by their numerical sequence from the assembly line in Bordeaux) dropped an experimental AN-21 free fall bomb at supersonic speed over the test range at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia. Initially based at Mont de Marsan at Nouvelle-Acquitane, southern France, Mirage IVs entered service decorated in all metal, with a dash of colour in the tricoleur in standard locations. With the increased effectiveness of surface-to-air missiles, in 1975 the Force de Frappe Mirages adopted a low level mission profile and gained disruptive camouflage, as seen here, the aircraft wearing the unit badge of Centre d'instruction des Forces aériennes stratégiques (CIFAS) 328 "Aquitaine" on its fin.

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In this view, the AN-22 weapon can be seen, with RATO bottles visible at left. The prominent circular fairing ahead of the bomb present on Mirage IVs, the edge just visible at extreme right of the picture, is the radome for the Thomson-CSF Arcana ground mapping doppler radar.

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On to the stars of this particular section of the museum, this is the very first example of the Concorde to be unveiled, 001 F-WTSS, which first took to the skies on 2 March 1969 from Toulouse with famed test pilot Andre Turcat at the controls, thus heralding a new era of passenger travel, in which the world shrank considerably as air travel became faster, because airlines around the world bought this first pioneering supersonic transport in significant numbers - or so it was hoped for at the time. As we know, regular supersonic passenger travel was limited to the 14 Concordes in British Airways and Air France (aside from a handful of Tupolev Tu-144s flying between Moscow and Almaty, Kazakhstan for a brief period) carrying only the very wealthy, but Concorde was an extraordinary engineering accomplishment, offering much to the airline industry to learn from. Flying a total of 812 hours 19 minutes over 397 flights, 001 spent 254 hours 49 minutes of those at supersonic speeds, trialing operations for the type for airline service. It was retired to the museum in October 1973 and for the majority of the public for many years, was the only way they could get to see Concorde up close.

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On the first two Concordes, 001 and the British prototype 002, G-BSST (preserved at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, England) the extendable shield over the nose, protecting the occupants at the pointy end from the effects of kinetic heating, was a large streamlined fairing, through which only limited visibility was offered. During taxiing, take-off and landing, the shield was lowered, offering the pilots a clearer view of their surroundings. Note the badge below the Concorde titling, commemorating the total solar eclipse flight the aircraft made on 30 June 1973, where it followed the course of the eclipse across the skies of central Africa at two times the speed of sound, remaining in the moon's umbra for nearly 74 minutes to enable scientists on board to study the solar corona.

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Inside, 001 doesn't resemble an airliner since its entire career was spent gathering data. Its flight deck was also quite different to production variants, as we shall see. Note the limited visibility offered by the extended nose fairing through the windscreen.

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The vastness and space of the Concorde Hall from below F-WTSS.

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This is F-BTSD, one of Air France's production Concordes that saw airline service between 1975 and 2003. First flying on 26 June 1978, the aircraft was one of the few Concordes to wear markings other than that of the airline it normally operated with; somewhat notably as an advertising gimmick for the Pepsi Cola Company. Intriguingly, given the US' initial response to the Concorde flying scheduled services to New York, this particular aircraft also saw service with the US airline Braniff International for a year. So, how did the colourful but financially troubled Braniff International get a Concorde? In fact, Braniff had two, one each from Air France and British Airways. In 1979, Braniff was operating what would today be called code-share flights with the two supersonic operators across the Atlantic, and the natural step was to offer the Concorde experience inland over the United States and for a year this one as N94SD and BA aircraft G-BOAE/N94AE flew services between Dallas Fort Worth and Washington Dulles. Neither aircraft wore Braniff colours despite doctored images showing them in the Braniff International Orange scheme. Ceasing flights in May 1980, Braniff's Concorde experience was a miserable one - since the aircraft was not able to fly supersonically over the USA, thus nullifying the novelty of flying a supersonic airliner, the service was not popular and typically operated at 20 percent full. The airline lost millions. F-BTSD returned to its Air France markings following two weeks in April 1996 where it adorned Pepsi Cola's corporate Blue as part of a rejuvination of the product. Apparently the paint peeled off and higher than normal temperatures were recorded at cruising speed.

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Flying a total of 12,974 hours, 'BTSD holds a number of air speed records between destinations, and for the fastest round the world flights in both directions. Westbound around the world on 12-13 October 1992 took 32 hours 49 minutes 03 seconds from Lisbon-Santo Domingo-Acapulco-Honolulu-Guam-Bangkok- Bahrain-Lisbon. Eastbound round the world on 15-16 August 1995 took 31 hours 27 minutes 49 seconds from New York/JFK-Toulouse-Dubai-Bangkok-Guam (Andersen AFB)- Honolulu-Acapulco-New York/JFK. The Eastbound (1995) record is the current Guinness Book of Records official world record. Information from this fabulous and informative website CONCORDE SST - The Definitive Concorde Aircraft Site on the Internet ).

Retired to the museum following the withdrawal of the fleet in 2003, after the shocking disaster that befell F-BTSC on 25 July 2000. This is the aircraft's flight deck and interior.

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Note the muted colours in the cabin, designed to give an impression of space, but not succeeding in this lighting. For those of you not familiar with the Concorde's interior, it could only carry a maximum of 100 passengers, smaller than a conventionally configured Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 domestic cabin seating layout and was far less roomy by comparison to conventional long haul airliners. Its windows, by consequence of its cruising speeds and the aforementioned kinetic heating were tiny.

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And so we leave the heady days of supersonic passenger travel (wondering whether it will ever happen again) and stare at the first stage compressor fan of an example of a high bypass gas turbine engine that powers a more conventional airliner. This is a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 from an Airbus A380 and has been at the museum since 2013. Within the museum collection is also the A380 prototype, as of 2020 and the after effects of the world wide pandemic, a dinosaur of the sky, as Air France announced earlier this year it was retiring the type.

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This view illustrates the technical complexity of a high bypass gas turbine engine - for more in formation and images, take a look at Rolls-Royce's own website, here: Trent 900 – Rolls-Royce (rolls-royce.com) In case you're wondering, the two circular devices aft of the first stage compressor housing are HP compressor blow-off valves. With the enormous amount of pressure build up of air on start up, the blow off valves eject excess air to prevent compressor stall.

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That's it from the Galerie Concorde; next we look at the Hall des Prototypes and some of the most unusual concepts to take to the sky.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Jeff Hunt]

More great stuff.

Thanks


Jeff