A curious aeronautical discovery in Burgundy, out in the open air!
Built in 1340 by Jean de Grancey, known as de Frôlois, Marshal of the Duchy of Burgundy, for Duke Eudes IV of Burgundy, the Château de Savigny-lès-Beaune, which covers an estate of some twenty hectares, has belonged to the PONT family for over 600 years.
In 1979, Michel Pont, a winegrower originally from Volnay in the Côte d’Or, purchased this fortress and became its owner.
A passionate collector of cars, fighter planes, motorbikes and more, Michel Pont, after renovating his château, created within its walls seven extraordinary museums housing Abarth racing cars, 180 motorbikes of all types, fire engines, scale models, a space dedicated to aerospace and, even more incredibly, a veritable world of military aviation: over a hundred real aircraft stand side by side in the open air!
This unique open-air aircraft museum, conceived in 2019, houses side by side Mirages, MiGs and other French subsonic two-seater Fouga Magisters, combat helicopters, and even an F-16 Fighting Falcon, a fighter aircraft built from 1970 onwards as part of an unusual agreement, the result of a consortium between the United States and four NATO countries: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway…
A man of great passion, Michel Pont passed away in 2021; it is his son, Christophe Pont, who has taken over the management of all these impressive and diverse collections at the Château de Savigny-lès-Beaune.
Here, then, are some souvenir images from a visit to the site.
Some of these photographs were taken in black and white, on film developed specifically for this occasion, using one of my natural alternative developers, designed and made with red wine from the Pinot Noir grape variety of the Burgundy region.
