Experiencing Aviation and Aerospace in Toulouse
An interior photo of the massive Aeroscopia hangar filled with multiple floors of aircraft and aviation history. Toulouse, France. August 18, 2021.
Though nothing—as far as I can determine—makes the Toulouse metropolitan area more suited than another for aviation development and aerospace science, the city and its environs have established themselves as the aeronautical capital of France—and, in many ways, of the European Union.
Toulouse’s establishment as an aviation and aerospace capital caught wind (pun intended) at the end of the first World War, and it has only grown since then.
Recently, the city further leaned into its investment in these disciplines by naming aviation and aerospace one of its four key economic development pillars (called “pôles de compétitivité” in French). This designation dedicates significant city funds toward strategic development in the field and to funding research and training.
In short, Toulouse’s longstanding role as a European aerospace and aviation hub will only continue to increase.
A Brief History of Aviation and Aerospace in Toulouse
How about a little context?
Only a few years after humans realized the fundamentals of motorized flight, the first World War started in Europe. Wars often accelerate the development and expansion of new technologies, and WWI and air flight make no exception to this near rule. Suddenly, factories produced airplanes in quantities that counted as “mass” at the time and “airplane pilot” became an actual profession.
One of the factories in motion at the end of WWI, located in greater Toulouse and helmed by a man named Pierre-Georges Latécoère, continued operation after the war ended. Latécoère wanted to build not just aircraft, but routes that could serve civil purposes, including transporting people and mail.
Latécoère ran into political and financial difficulties, and a man named Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont purchased a portion of his business—the part focusing on mail delivery—and renamed it Aéropostale (well, technically, he renamed it La Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, but not even the very formal French called it that, preferring the simpler “L’Aéropostale” instead).
Side note: Yes, today we have a clothing brand with this name predominantly popular among teenagers. Now you know what its name references.
Bouilloux-Lafont increased the number and extent of the Aéropostale lines all the way over into South America. His employees included some of aviation history’s most romantic figures, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who wrote The Little Prince based on some of his memories (and hallucinations, due to thirst and hunger) from a plane crash that stranded him in the desert during one of his Aéropostale runs.
On other fronts, the construction arms of Latécotère’s enterprise continued to develop. Over time, they’ve splintered into companies we know today as Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer.
Airbus has kept its main headquarters in the Toulouse metro area, from which it currently constructs airplanes for large commercial airlines and military purposes. The famous aircraft known as the Concorde, a supersonic commercial plane, was built by a predecessor of Airbus and then maintained by Airbus in Toulouse.
Toulouse’s reputation as the center of aviation made it a solid choice for France’s base for international cooperation on research and missions into space. Over time, Toulouse has become a seat—if not the official center—of space research, innovation, cooperation, and space-station coordination in Europe. As evidence, the European Union chose Toulouse for its Galileo project’s base of operations; Galileo is the name for the EU’s satellite positioning system (like the GPS in the United States, GLONASS in Russia, and Beidou in China).
How to Experience Aviation and Aerospace in Toulouse
Toulouse and its aviation and aerospace enterprises have worked hard to make their work and their heritage and history accessible to tourists and locals. The city features several illuminating and beautifully organized museums and experiences—and even factory visits, in the case of Airbus—for people of all ages.
If you’re in Toulouse, you can’t miss a visit to at least one or two of the metropolitan area’s main sites dedicated to one of its foundational industries:
Cité de l’Espace: This massive museum and experience center focuses on all things space. Through exhibits, lectures and interactive games, and videos, visitors to la Cité de l’Espace could easily spend an entire day learning about the planets and their satellites, astronauts, the space station, gravity and the atmosphere in general, satellites used for positioning and communication, and beyond. On the surrounding campus, you can see retired spacecraft up close and personal, including the Ariane 5.
Aeroscopia: This extensive museum felt more like an aircraft hangar (and may well have served as one for adjacent Airbus at one point). The campus extends into two floors and exterior space as well, allowing visitors to learn about the history of air flight and airplane innovation and to physically tour several aircraft, including a Concorde jet. (Which, I tell you, felt claustrophobic!) Depending on your interest in aircraft, you could spend anywhere from two hours to a solid half-day exploring Aeroscopia.
Let’s Visit Airbus: For this factory and corporate tour of Airbus, you will need to reserve tickets in advance (for security reasons). The visit’s three tours cover the Airbus factory, the company’s history, Airbus’s efforts to find more ecologically friendly methods for flight and airplane construction, and the corporate campus in general. Expect at least half a day, if not longer, to experience Let’s Visit Airbus.
L’Envol des Pionniers: A relatively new museum, l’Envol des Pionniers delights visitors with visually stunning and well-organized exhibits and experiences profiling the history of the first civil and commercial air efforts. It mainly focuses on the history of Aéropostale and its pioneering executives and daring pilots, who pushed air travel further than it had ever gone before. Though you could dash through this small museum in an hour, I enjoyed learning about the history and its personalities enough to spend two.
A view on one of the exhibition spaces in the Cité de l’Espace. August 16. 2021.
Heading into Aeroscopia in Toulouse, France. August 18, 2021.
Starting our visit to L’Envol des Pionniers in Toulouse, France. August 18, 2021.
A view of the interior of L’Envol des Pionniers in Toulouse, France. August 18, 2021.
Sound like a lot of aerospace and innovation museums for one town? Maybe—and I’ve only listed the highest profile activities. If you love everything aviation and aerospace, you’ll want to dive into some of the smaller museums in Toulouse dedicated to these topics, including a visit to the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport.
Further, you should check current listings and speak with the tourist office in Toulouse for temporary exhibits and presentations on these subjects in the region of Toulouse before your visit.
My Favorite Space and Aviation Museums in Toulouse
Though aerospace and aviation haven’t ever deeply interested me—true confessions (you can even check out this article I wrote back in 2014 as proof)—I appreciated learning about the history of aviation in France, France’s role in the overall development of aviation, and what the European Union has underway when it comes to space, space travel, and space research.
My favorite museum?
Absolutely the one dedicated to the pioneers of aviation between the two world wars: L’Envol des Pionniers. Gorgeously appointed and laid out, I left this museum with an entirely new appreciation for this period of history and a better understanding of how the between-wars period developed aviation and aviation commerce. Also, you can’t help but admire the adventurers who pushed into uncharted territory by delivering mail by plane across Europe, Africa, and on into South Africa.
L’Cité de l’Espace has pride of place as Europe’s most celebrated space museum—and with good reason. However, I grew up in Houston, not far from the space museum at NASA, so I have probably too much familiarity with these types of exhibits. (I’ve seen space rocks and space suits and astronaut food and I’ve played with how gravity and its lack operates and so on and so forth.) For this reason, l’Cité de l’Espace wowed me less than it might have otherwise. However, this is the NASA of Europe—and you should go.
Of course, if you love these subjects, you should visit all these museums (and the rest that I didn’t see, too)!
Planning a Trip to Toulouse
If you have a trip to Toulouse in your future (and I recommend you plan one!), check out my article on what to expect, what to see, and what to do when you visit Toulouse and my recommendations on great trips to take in the area around Toulouse.