France: “D-Day Experience” Attraction Becoming a Must-See Destination in Normandy
The history museum of Dead Man's Corner or D-Day Experience, located in Saint-Côme-du-Mont in Normandy, which is dedicated to the historical events of World War II with a focus on the Battle of Carentan (8-15 June 1944), has continuously expanded and modernised its offerings in recent years with the aim of providing visitors with knowledge about the events on the French peninsula of Cotentin and “D-Day” (6 June 1944) in an immersive and thus memorable way.
While the Dead Man’s Corner museum – as a historical building (headquarters of first German and later American paratroopers in those times) – houses a comprehensive collection of artefacts, new offerings have been added with installations such as the 4D Dynamic Flight Simulator, which opened in 2015 and is called the “D-Day Experience”, transporting guests back to the time in a stirring way and letting them take on the perspective of paratroopers. A 1943 “C-47” aircraft was installed by CL Corp. (a division of Triotech) on a pneumatic cylinder platform, with the wings removed for better maneuverability in three dimensions. So guests actually enter an aircraft from that time, in which – thanks to appropriate media content and special effects in addition to motion simulation – they can experience the flight of the paratroopers to the French Normandy. “[…] This project, integrating a real airplane from WWII, was a complex technical challenge. We are proud of this edutainment experience that attracts visitors of all ages and makes them live history from a first-person point of view,” reported Christophe Lucchini, Managing Director of Triotech’s CL Corp. Division.
The popularity of such immersive educational attractions is also illustrated by the now 750,000 guests who have used the simulator since it opened in 2015. Museum Director Emmanuel Allain comments, “[...] The immersive ride made all the difference in the world, because we went from being a small local museum to a must-see attraction. And the attendance figures speak for themselves.”
In 2019, the museum added another media-based attraction to its offering in the form of a 3D theatre, which features a 30-plus minute film that lets viewers step into the shoes of the Allies. Since then, there has also been a 500-square-metre permanent exhibition that rounds off the history museum’s educational offering. From its original 21,000 visitors a year, it has developed into a popular visitor attraction far beyond the region, with around 190,000 guests a year today. (eap)
