Bridge · France · Restored

Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge is the road crossing over the Caen Canal at Bénouville in Normandy, originally built in 1934–35 as a single-leaf Scherzer rolling-lift bascule bridge. The original 1935 span is preserved at the nearby Pegasus Museum while a wider, similar bascule bridge replaced it in 1994. The bridge is closely associated with the Allied airborne operation of 6 June 1944 and the small riverside settlement and café beside the canal remain prominent site features.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

1934

Its prime

1944

Today

Restored

As it stood in 1944

What Pegasus Bridge looked like in its prime.

A single-leaf Scherzer rolling-lift bascule of riveted/bolted structural steel, its curving tread‑plates and massive rolling girder forming a semicircular sector at the abutment. The movable span is a narrow vehicular deck with low metal parapets and a small machinery cabin and walkway on the fixed abutment. Painted a utilitarian grey in period photographs, the span crosses a narrow, straight canal flanked by low grassy banks, poplars and a row of small Normandy houses and the café beside the road.

Step inside

7 places to explore in 1944.

The record describes 7 distinct spots at Pegasus Bridge, the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

Approach from west bank beside Café GondréeOn the roadway at mid-spanFrom the canal looking up at the raised spanBeside the rolling‑gear at the abutmentPegasus Museum grounds with original spanEast bank viewpoint looking west along the canalFrom a boat passing under a closed span

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