"St Exupery's death" Topic

In a new book that will be published this week in France, the authors gave the name of the pilot who shot down St-Exupery's P38 near Marseilles in 1944

Horst Rippert, 88 years old told them :

"I dove towards it and I opened fire, not at the body but at the wings. I hit him and the plane went down in the water, he crashed in the sea.

Later he learned that St-Exupéry was missing and that it could have been him. "What a disaster! What have I done, But I didn't see him, I didn't targeted a man that I knew. I shot at an enemy plane and I shot it down , that's all."

Here's a new in french
link

Olivier

If that was a recon flight, wouldn't the aircraft be a Mosquito?

If this is true it reminds me of the story of the British soldier who almost shot Hitler in the first WW, but gave mercy.

Um…the P-38 had a widely used recon version, and that's what Saint Exupéry flew, so no, it wouldn't be a Mosquito, and if it were, it would not be Saint Exupéry.

Sgt Perry: Thanks for the link! However, they never found an actual identifiable body, so there are some of us who choose to believe he didn't die. He might be hanging out having a glass of marc with Guynemer somewhere (tropical, perhaps?), or he might be on Asteroid B612. Who knows….

Gentlemen,
Excuse my ignorance, but who was Saint Exupery? I need enlightenining! Incidently, does anyone know what Horst Rippert was flying at the time and what Jagdgeshwader he was from? Thanks in advance

Steve

Oh dear.

Steve, Antoine de St. Exupery was a very famous aviator and author:

link

Hmmm, still don't get it. So he wrote a few books and flew several long distance flights. Just one of many who did remarkedly similar feats. What REALLY is so special about this guy and a very suspect name!

He was a great writer who left an undying literary legacy. NOT MANY did similar feats.

I belong to the generation which would consider it shameful not to know that name. I suggest you read his books and read about him to edify yourself if only a bit. It is called general culture and would do you some good.

The Little Prince is one of those odd kids books that makes you feel… unsettled, odd, strange. It's a thing that every child should get from a book, and I regard it highly.

Pat

Night Flight is one of the best books--maybe the best-- ever written on flying.

J'ai dit: "Dessine-moi un mouton", pas: "Descend-moi un avion!"

I belong to the generation which would consider it shameful not to know that name. I suggest you read his books and read about him to edify yourself if only a bit. It is called general culture and would do you some good.

It is tenent of any generation that it is not good taste to act like a horse's ass.

It's always sad that some folks are so insecure that they need to lord it over others this way, especially when someone asks a question instead of being intimidated into silence. Too many people nowadays remain ignorant because when they come to expect behaviour like the above quote (and another reaction on this topic), they prefer not to ask.

And I am willing to bet any amount of money that a lot of readers of this topic also were not sure of the name until Pat mentioned The Little Prince.

Ditto Ditto Bird

I found that reply to be one of the most stuck up replies I've read on these boards, and that includes Current Affairs.

Sorry, but I had never heard of the guy. I had heard of THE LITTTE PRINCE though I have never read it. I did some quick research and think I will read the book. It sounds interesting. One reason I come to TMP is to learn new things. Imperial Forge's answer (though harsh) has stoked my interest.

The fame of a person does not merely reside in their achievements. Amelia Earheart is another who was famous in her time, but has become really famous only for the manner of her death.

I'll take that news with a pinch of salt. As far as I recall when reading about St-Exupery's death there was no records on the Luftwaffe files of any allied aircraft being shot down that day and it's only a german "confessing" years later to have done the killing. Not enough proof of anything and I suspect he's not the first german "confessing" the same.

There were about ~64 former Luftwaffe pilots who "confessed" the facts. Hovewer Horst Rippert never confessed anything before that.

The story was that the scubadiver who found the P38 remains noticed a "gorgon", aquatic plant that only grew up on a hard ground. He dig and found a engine, a messerschmitt one!

With the engine, he retrieved the engine manufacturing plant (Skoda) in Prague and finally with the german archives found the pilot, a german nobleman who was shot down the 2nd of december 1943.

So with the help of a journalist and Lino von Gartzen, they finally met a young brother of the pilot. The pilot was based à Aix with the South Group. So they decided to look for the remaining members of the unit. And at the 5th meeting, the former pilot said, I didn't know anything about it but you can call Mr Rippert.

When Lino von Gartzen called Mr Rippert, he said : "I was waiting for a long time that someone call me. The 31st of July 1944, I shot down a P38 over the sea near Marseilles."

Olivier

Excellent response Ditto Bird, very heartily endorsed. Since my interest in Literature is limited to the English and Greek classics plus an enormous collection of matters pertaining to the 2nd World War.I feel time and advanced middle age will have the better of me.That does'nt include the large unbuilt model collection and all the wargaming I want to do.Never the less, if there is one thing I have learned from life,that is not to take yourself too seriously!
Many thanks for all the interesting replies.

Steve

And The Little Prince is a great book once you hit an intermediate reading level in any language. I've enjoyed it in French and Spanish as well as English. I should give it a go in Latin now. It's readily available in a great many languages.