frustratedpilot: (Default)
[personal profile] frustratedpilot
Via Msn/Associated Press:
Pilot: May Have Shot Down Saint-Exupery
March 16, 2008, 7:01 PM EST

A former pilot for Nazi Germany's air force writes in a forthcoming book that he believes he shot down the author of "The Little Prince," Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

The aviation pioneer's Lockheed Lightning P-38 disappeared July 31, 1944. In the book, former Luftwaffe pilot Horst Rippert says he believes that he shot down the plane — although he is not completely sure.

Le Figaro magazine published extracts of the book, "Saint-Exupery, the ultimate secret," over the weekend.

"I shot down Exupery," the magazine quoted Rippert as saying.

But the former Messerschmitt pilot also added: "I didn't see the pilot, and it would have been impossible for me to know that it was Exupery. I hoped, and I still hope, that it wasn't him."

Saint-Exupery was 44 when he disappeared and remains one of France's most admired figures. He's most famous for "The Little Prince," a tender fable about a prince from an asteroid who explores the planets.

Saint-Exupery's other works, which largely deal with his aviation experiences, include "Wind, Sand and Stars" and "Flight to Arras," about a doomed reconnaissance mission.

A scuba diver has since found the wreckage of his plane off of France's Mediterranean coast between Marseille and Cassis.

Rippert says in the book that he is a fan of the author's works.

"In our youth, at school, we had all read him. We loved his books," he said. "If I had known, I would not have opened fire. Not on him!"


All accounts about Saint-Exupery indicate that he was a peacenik, who balanced his patriotism by doing reconnaissance flights unarmed. (His plane only has cameras aboard.) Who knows what would have happened had he survived the shoot-down or just avoided it and survived the War?

Still, this is a very weird twist to history.

FP

Profile

frustratedpilot: (Default)
Stephen R Bierce

March 2022

S M T W T F S
   1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 1011 12
13 14 1516171819
20212223242526
2728 293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Sep. 23rd, 2025 08:21 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios