One day in 1930, Biscarosse was struck by fate.
A destiny that nothing could predict...
Indeed, it was chosen by Pierre-Georges Latécoère to become the assembly and test site for the largest French seaplanes.
The lake of Biscarrosse saw more than 120 gigantic seaplanes leave.
They were then called "liners of the air".
They left for New York or Fort de France with aviators such as Mermoz, Guillaumet or Saint-Exupéry at the controls, who have left their mark on the history of aeronautics.
In August 1979, the Association of Friends of the Seaplane Museum was created.
The following year, it organised the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Latécoère Company's Assembly and Flight Test Base.
This event was quickly followed by the creation of a museum, in 1982, dedicated to the history of seaplane flying.
Today, the Hydraviation Museum of Biscarrosse is a municipal museum with the label "Musée de France".
Unique in Europe and located on the mythical site of the former base, the Museum tells this story and that of world hydraviation and invites you to a journey between sky and water.
It offers archives, photographic documents, old maps, autographs, original editions, flight suits, decorations, uniforms, logbooks, personal souvenirs of famous pilots, spare parts, engines, propellers, seaplane models, some of which are very old, interior decorations, original paintings and reproductions, posters, advertising documents of the time...
This historical presentation occupies buildings with a floor area of 850 m2, some of which are period as they were used to house the workers of the Hourtiquets hydrobase.
Today, "full-size" seaplanes are extremely rare.
In the large exhibition hall of 480 m2, seaplanes from 1912 to the eighties, restored or being restored, are on display.
Seaplane Museum
332 Avenue Louis Breguet,
40600 Biscarrosse
Tel: 05 58 78 00 65
www.hydravions-biscarrosse.com
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