Possibly the smallest and most overlooked D-Day landing beach museum, this well curated collection of exhibits located behind the British Gold Beach D-Day landing area at Ver-sur-Mer is a hidden gem!
It’s actually two museums in one – the first part of the building is dedicated to the history of an aircraft known as the ‘America’ – a specially built Fokker C-2 which made the first airmail flight between New York and Paris on July 1, 1927.
After successfully crossing the North Atlantic, the four airmen became lost in thick fog that covered Paris and were unable to find the aerodrome of Le Bourget, so headed north towards the English Channel to find a suitable landing ground.
At nightfall, they saw the beam of the lighthouse of Ver-sur-Mer and planned to land on the wide beach, only to discover – too late – that the tide was in and they crashed into the sea. All four airmen survived the accident.
The Musee ‘America’ tells their story through original objects, superb models, historic film and photography – it’s fascinating.
The ground floor of the building is dedicated to the D-Day landings on Gold Beach – the British landing area which is just a few hundred metres from the door of the museum.
While the museum may be small, it uses the space well with informative panels giving lots of detail and photographs of the German bunker sites and gun batteries surrounding Ver-sur-Mer, objects from the landings, detailed maps, and superbly built models.
Many of the exhibits are unique as they have been donated by veterans and families of those who landed here, each allowing fascinating stories to be told which you won’t find anywhere else.
Our stand-out items include a rare ‘Davis Submerged Apparatus’ which was originally designed to facilitate escape from sunken submarines but were also used equipped in the lead up to D-Day to allow Combined Operations Pilotage Parties to leave their mini submarines to carry out beach reconnaissance. They were also issued to tank crews to enable escape from ‘swimming’ Sherman Duplex Drive tanks should they sink.
Another exhibit which catches your attention is the sea-life encrusted, rusty Brodie helmet which was recovered from the sea off Gold Beach in March 1996. Although it’s not known who the helmet belonged to, it pays tribute to all those who were lost and never found on June 6, 1944.
This is unlike the large museums of other landing areas, it much more intimate, relaxed, and help is always at hand - the staff are incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the area and the museum’s exhibits and can deliver the information in multiple languages.
If this museum hasn’t been on your must-visit list, then it needs to be – a great experience for the thinking visitor to Normandy.