The Musée aéronautique et spatial Safran () 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, Ph ...

located in

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

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

. 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 Air propulsion, propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either Reciprocating ...

. These engines have been produced by various French engine manufacturers such as Gnome et Rhône 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 d ...

which are now part of the present day

Safran Safran S.A. () is a French Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace, defence industry, defence and computer security, security corporation headquartered in Paris. It designs, develops and manufactures both commercial and military airc ...

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

piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...

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 is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...

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 The Musée de l'air et de l'espace (, ) is a French aerospace museum, located at the south-eastern edge of Paris–Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, and in the Communes of France, commune of Le Bourget. It was inaugurated in 1919 after a propo ...

Le Bourget Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...

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 Gnome et Rhône *

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

inline engines *

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

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 ...

General Electric GE36 The General Electric GE36 was an experimental aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop, known as an unducted fan (UDF) or propfan. The GE36 was developed by GE Aviation, General Electric Aircraft Engines, with its CFM Interna ...

(mock-up) *

Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an France–United Kingdom relations, Anglo-French turbojet with reheat, which powered the Supersonic transport, supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley, Br ...

Snecma Atar The Snecma Atar is a French axial-flow turbojet engine built by Snecma. It was derived from the German World War II BMW 018 design, and developed by ex-BMW engineers through a progression of more powerful models. The name is derived from it ...

* Snecma M88 * Turbomeca Astazou

Rocket engines

Intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

stages *

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

rocket engines *

Viking Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

* Vulcain

Aircraft

Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft from the Aviation in the pioneer era, 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. ...

* Sud Aviation Emouchet * Sud Aviation Vautour

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 near

in the south of the

department. 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