The Musée aéronautique et spatial Safran ( en, Aeronautics and Space Museum Safran, italic=yes) is a French private

aviation museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and cultural artifacts, artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, P ...

located in

Melun Melun () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the kilome ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne (river), Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square ...

. Established in May 1989 the museum contains a large collection of historic and modern

aircraft engines An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

. These engines have been produced by various French engine manufacturers such as

Gnome et Rhône Gnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp (81 kW) rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various licen ...

and

Snecma Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It ...

which are now part of the present day

Safran Safran S.A. is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft engines, rocket engines as well as various aerospace and defense-related equipment or their components. It was formed by a merger between SNECMA and ...

company. The latter is the creator and manager of the museum. The main exhibits are

piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

s and

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

s that powered aircraft as well as

rocket engine A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordanc ...

s used for aircraft and spacecraft. All the exhibits were developed and produced by companies that were eventually merged into the Safran group.

History

In 1985 the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace,

Le Bourget Le Bourget () is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris. The commune features Paris - Le Bourget Airport, Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hos ...

held more than 1,000 historic aero engines.

signed an agreement to allow their restoration and future care. The agreement stated that employees of Snecma would restore the engines as volunteers. In 1987 Snecma decided to create a new museum to display the restored engines, the museum was created on the site of its Villaroche establishment in Melun in a former seaplane hangar of 4,000 m². Inaugurated on 31 May 1989 the 'Association of Friends of the Museum Safran' manages the museum. In 2013 the museum was expanded to accommodate a section on space propulsion.Museum history page
Retrieved: 25 October 2016

Collections

The museum's collections are presented with a parallel theme depicting the history of aviation and aerospace. Exhibits include aircraft, piston engines, gas turbine engines, rocket engines, and aerospace items.

Piston engines

*Radial and rotary engines produced by Gnome and

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

inline engines *

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

inline engines

Gas turbines

CFM International CFM56 The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...

Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French turbojet with reheat (afterburners), which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma, derived ...

* Snecma Atar *

Snecma M88 The Snecma M88 is a French afterburning turbofan engine developed by Snecma (now known as Safran Aircraft Engines) for the Dassault Rafale fighter. History The program for the M88 arose from a need for a suitable propulsion system for air-super ...

Turbomeca Astazou The Turbomeca Astazou is a highly successful series of turboprop and turboshaft engines, first run in 1957. The original version weighed and developed at 40,000 rpm. It was admitted for aviation service on May 29, 1961, after a 150-hour test r ...

Rocket engines

Intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

stages *

Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

rocket engines *

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

* Vulcain

Aircraft

Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most fam ...

* Sud Aviation Emouchet *

Sud Aviation Vautour The Sud-Ouest Aviation (SNCASO) S.O. 4050 Vautour II (French for ''vulture'') was a French jet-powered bomber, interceptor, and attack aircraft developed and manufactured by aircraft company Sud Aviation. The Vautour was operated by France's ...

Other exhibits

The companies inherited by the Safran group also manufactured products unrelated to aviation which are also displayed. These exhibits include Gnome et Rhône motorcycles, missiles, submarines and tractors.

Visitor information

The museum is located in

Réau Réau () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Ferme de Galande Around 1881, sugar beet producer Arthur Brandin invested in a Decauville railway with eight horse-drawn tipping l ...

in the south of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. It is open every Wednesday and last Saturday of the month. Groups of at least 10 people can visit on other days by making a reservation. Admission is free.Museum general information page
Retrieved: 25 October 2016

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control Aerospace museums in France Safran Group Museums established in 1989 1989 establishments in France