Start of Flight

About

L'Envol des pionniers is a museum in the Montaudran district of Toulouse, France, set within the former Latécoère aircraft factory site. It opened on December 22, 2018, almost exactly one hundred years after aviator Pierre-Georges Latécoère took off from the Montaudran runway in a Salmson 2A2 on December 25, 1918, and flew to Barcelona. The museum comprises three buildings totaling 3,740 square meters: the Château Petit Espinet Raynal (1,000 m²), once Latécoère's headquarters; General Warehouse No. 30 (2,700 m²), formerly used to store aircraft parts; and the Radio House (40 m²), a 1920s Aéropostale communications station. Exhibits trace the history of the Aéropostale airmail line and Montaudran's role as Toulouse's first aircraft manufacturing site, telling the stories of pioneering pilots such as Jean Mermoz, Henri Guillaumet, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A replica Salmson 2A2 built through a regional educational partnership is also on display. Together with the nearby Halle de la Machine, the museum forms part of Toulouse's 'Piste des Géants' aerospace heritage project.