The Airborne Museum

The Airborne Museum: Honouring the First American Soldiers of D-Day.  Just a few miles from Normandy’s landing beaches, the Airborne Museum stands as the largest museum in Europe dedicated to the American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. It commemorates their decisive role during the night of 5 – 6 June 1944, on D-Day and throughout the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War.

These paratroopers were the first Allied soldiers to set foot on Norman soil, dropped behind enemy lines hours before the amphibious landings. Their mission was vital: secure key roads, bridges and villages to disrupt German defenses. After liberating Sainte-Mère-Église, they fought fiercely across the Cotentin Peninsula, holding strategic positions and enabling the Allies to establish a secure bridgehead, an essential step toward the liberation of France.

From the very beginning, a deep bond formed between the American paratroopers and the Norman population. This friendship was profoundly strengthened by the creation of three temporary military cemeteries in Sainte-Mère-Église, established to ensure dignified burials for the approximately 13.000 American soldiers who fell during the Battle of Normandy. Between 1944 and 1947, local residents lovingly tended the graves, laid flowers and even wrote to grieving families in the United States. This extraordinary human connection explains why D-Day commemorations became, very early on, an annual tradition deeply rooted in Normandy and why they remain so meaningful today.

This enduring link between Normandy and the United States, along with the lasting gratitude of the Norman people toward those who sacrificed their lives for freedom, forms the very reason for the museum’s existence. The Airborne Museum highlights the unique identity of airborne troops by tracing their origins, training and combat achievements during World War II. More than a museum, it is a place of remembrance, especially vital as time passes and eyewitnesses to these historic events grow ever fewer.

Located in the heart of Sainte-Mère-Église, directly facing the church where paratrooper John Steele famously became entangled on the bell tower, an episode immortalized in The Longest Day, the Airborne Museum allows visitors to experience D-Day from the early preparations in England to the brutal battles of liberation in Normandy.

Visitors can board a WACO glider and a C-47 aircraft, enhanced with sound and lighting effects for full immersion. Thanks to an exceptionally realistic museography, you follow the men of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions through the decisive moments of the Normandy landings.

Upon entering the museum, visitors receive a HistoPad tablet, which transports them back to 1944 through augmented reality. From a glider landing zone to a field hospital, or the church square under German occupation, the tablet reveals powerful and immersive historical scenes throughout the visit.

The museum is spread across four main buildings:

• The WACO Glider Building
• The C-47 Aircraft Building
• The Operation Neptune Building
• The Ronald Reagan Conference Center

Thanks to the authentic WACO glider and C-47 aircraft, history enthusiasts are invited to truly step back in time.

In the Operation Neptune building, prepare to parachute into the night of 6 June 1944. Experience the tense boarding of a C-47 in England, the jump into Sainte-Mère-Église under fire and the crucial operations that followed. Along the way, visitors discover deeply moving personal accounts, many donated by American veterans themselves.

As you leave the Airborne Museum, you carry with you the poignant memory of those dramatic hours that forever shaped Sainte-Mère-Église, its church and its surrounding countryside, places that have become inseparable from the history of D-Day and the fight for freedom.

Closed in December and January except for Christmas vacations. About 2 hours are needed to visit. Last ticket sales one hour before closing. Animals are not allowed (except in closed carrying bag); thank you for your understanding.