Musee du Débarquement Utah Beach (Utah Beach Landing Museum) Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, France August 2025

The Musée d'Utah Beach was inaugurated in 1962.

Martin B26G-25-MA Marauder (44-68219 painted as 41-31576 'AN-Z' named ‘Dinah Might’). An American twin-engine medium bomber the B-26 Marauder first flew on November 25, 1940 and saw extensive service during World War Two. It was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at two locations; Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska. In total, 5,288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945. From 1942, it was used around the Mediterranean and from bases in England and, following D-Day, on the European continent providing tactical support to advancing Allied troops. The B-26 had the lowest loss rate of any US Army Air Forces bomber. By the end of the war, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tonnes) of bombs, and had been used in combat by British, Free French, and South African forces in addition to US units. Following Operation Torch, (the Allied invasion of North Africa), the Free French Air Force re-equipped three squadrons with Marauders for medium-bombing operations in Italy and the Allied invasion of southern France. Free French B-26 groups were disbanded in June 1945. Built in 1944 44-68219 was initially delivered to the US Army Air Force before it was transferred to the l'Armee de l'Air as 468219 named 'Ceseracourt' in 1945 with 55 other B-26Gs. In 1951 after it was withdrawn from service with the Centre d'Expériences Aériennes Militaires (CEAM) at Mont de Marsan, it was one of three utilised by the 'Centre d'Instruction de Villégnis' (Air France Apprentices School at Villégnis) as instructional airframes. In 1965 the Musee de l'Air, Paris gained ownership and immediately put into storage at Villacoublay. In 1990 its restoration was undertaken by the Memorial Flight association in the museum workshops at Dugny. 20,0000 hours later it was completed in Free French markings and put on display in 1998. The sons of World War Two pilot David Dewhurst who had completed 85 missions (after 25 and later 50 missions they were able to return home) after visiting Utah Beach they discovered through extensive research that their father had participated in the bombing missions on Utah Beach on the morning of D-Day, flying B-26G (41-31576 'AN-Z') named 'Dinah Might'. In tribute to their father's memory, they decided to sponsor the construction of a new extension to the museum through a foundation named after David H. Dewhurst and looked for a B-26 to display there. The only one in Europe was 468219 and a deal was finalised with the Musee de l'Air for it to be repainted to represent 'Dinah Might', a B-26B assigned to the 553rd Bomb Squadron, 386th Bomb Group of the 9th USAAF for display at the Musée d'Utah Beach in 2011. One of only seven surviving B-26 Marauders, and the only one outside the USA. Martin B26G-10-MA Marauder (43-34581) named ‘Volnay’ the second (the other 44-68188 'Gaston Le Morvan' was scrapped in 1963) instructional airframe at Villégnis from 1951 to 1965. It was then dismantled and transported to Chateauroux for transport to the USA by C-124 Globemaster for display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio.