Saint-Exupery's P-38

[Andykev]

The wreckage has been found!



Wreck Proves To Be Saint-Exupery's P-38

When French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery flew off alone into a July night in 1944 and vanished, his mysterious end became an integral part of the story of his life. Now, hundreds of pieces of a wrecked Lockheed Lightning, found on the Mediterranean seabed off the coast of Provence, have been positively identified as the airplane he was flying that night on a wartime spy mission. French authorities confirmed the find yesterday, based on a serial number found on a piece of the tail. Saint-Exupery is beloved in France as the author of "The Little Prince." No body was found, and so far the wreck has not revealed any cause for the crash. "This was our holy grail," Philippe Castellano, president of an association of aviation buffs who helped authorities identify the debris, told the Associated Press. "We never even imagined this." Castellano said some Saint-Exupery fans resisted the effort to identify the wreck, preferring to keep the mystery alive. "In the end, I think everyone is satisfied," he said. "We didn't find a body, so the myth surrounding his disappearance will live on." Saint-Exupery also wrote poetic novels based on his flying adventures, such as "Wind, Sand, and Stars" and "Night Flight." A new opera based on "The Little Prince" opened in Houston, Texas, last year.

[Michael Mallory]

How was it identified? The fingerprint experts got in and located The Little Prints.

[Andykev]

In any aircraft wreckage..there must be a serial nimber or engine number.


In this case, the data plate serial number on the tail assembly was positively identified as the plane that he flew that fateful night.

[Brad Bowers]

Wow, that's great news. Now, if we could just find Glenn Miller's plane. Is anybody looking for it?

Brad Bowers

[Wild Root]

Hey fellow?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s! This is sounding interesting! I love aviation mysteries. I have never heard of Saint-Exupery. I did enjoy reading some about him that was mentioned by Andy. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not too shocking how they can identify an aircraft, it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s amazing how thy can find one that has been sitting underwater for over 60 years.

There have been so many aircraft that have been lost during the Second World War! Especially near the Bermuda Triangle! Whole groups of planes have vanished over there!

Brad, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m with you on the Glenn Miller thing! Ever since I read about his death I wanted to know how it happened. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s weird that they have found other things way older then the Titanic or Bismarck but, they can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t find a single engine plane in the English Channel? There?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a big piece of the puzzle missing and I think that some one knows but doesn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t want any one else to know.

Well, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure that it will come out some time! If they continue to find these old planes then I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure that they will find out what happened to Glenn Miller.

Interesting side note about Glenn Miller, I was reading a biography of Glenn written by Gorge T. Simon and he mentioned that Glenn showed him a model of a home he wanted to build in a small town in Southern California. The name of the town was Monrovia! That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s my town! Also, he mentioned to Simon that he had a deep feeling that he wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t going to ever see it built or, the end of the war. One word?¢‚Ǩ¬¶. Weird!

Cheers.

[Wild Root]

Oh, speaking of Glenn Miller; thought you all might enjoy this rare photo of him in London about 1944. When I listen to my WWII Miller broadcast CD?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s of his AAF Band, and look at this photo, man I almost can feel what it might have been like.

[Wild Root]

Some more on Saint-Exupery's P-38.

[farnham54]

Very interesting! No doubt, Rob will be chiming in here shortly with some tales of past and predictions of future exploits, eh Rob?

On another Aviation tack entirely, is anyone familiar with those two gentlemen who went to Greenland to dig up some B-17s and I believe P-51s? Very interesting tale of working many many meters down in the ice. It is on the Discovery chanell every once in a while. My favorite part is near the end, after the two lads went bankrupt and had to be bought out by another man who finished the project. They watched it fly for the first time and the conversation went like this:

"Beutiful, ain't she?"

"She sure is."

"too bad she isn't ours though."

"Yeah"

*pause*

"but you know, there are still 10 more up there...."


That's the spirit, Gents!

Regards,

Craig

[Andykev]

That was the P-38 that was recovered and restored.......great PBS show on it!!!

Yep, there are 10 more!

And anyone following the Corsair or Wildcat that was recovered and restored, but the US NAVY wants it back???

[Wild Root]

Say, this is getting good! Farnham54, I have heard about those plans in Greenland. I also read an article in the Readers Digest about some others that were frozen in time. I think there were 6 P-38?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s and two or so B-17?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s.

Did any one here see the Nova special a few years ago? It was about a group of men that found a complete B-29 north east of Alaska. They only had to refit it with 4 reconditioned Pratt & Whitney engines and props and put new bomb bay doors on it. They got it to the point that they could fly it out, but it caught on fire and burned to the ground. And the man that put this whole expedition to gather died of Hypothermia or something like that.

I have that on VHS and it made me just about cry!

About four years ago, I saw on the net a story about the Chino ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPlanes of Fame?¢‚Ǩ? Air museum restoring a very rare plane! A group of men went on a trip to Burma China to find a wreck at the bottom of a lake. This was a trip to bring back a very rare P-40B! The P-40B was one of the first models that the AVG used. Also know as the Fling Tigers the American Volunteer Group used in their first months the P-40B that was I think the coolest looking model of that Curtis made ship.

For years there were no P-40B?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s around till now! I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not sure where it is or what it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s doing but, I know that there is an early AVG P-40B around. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll do my home work and find out!

Cheers.

[Story]

Pilot: May Have Shot Down Saint-Exupery
16 hours ago

PARIS (AP) — 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.

Complete article at
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...hKyXgD8VERB382

[Twitch]

How was this French guy flying a P-38?

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Originally Posted by Twitch

How was this French guy flying a P-38?

He apparently spent a lot of time in America:

Following his nearly twenty-five months in North America, Saint Exupéry returned to Europe to fly with the Free French and fight with the Allies in a Mediterranean-based squadron.(Wikipedia)

[Story]

Snagged from elsewhere, the French had on-order as of 1 July 1940 417 Lockheed P-38 Model P-332 (later named Lightning I. No superchargers.)

Of the 417 P-38s ordered by France, Britain only received 3 as the Lightning I. The USAAC took over the rest. 143 P-332 were built (used as trainers), then 36 P-38D with superchargers, then 210 fully combat-ready P-38E.

However, Saint-Exupery was flying an F-5 reconnaissance modification, belonging to Free French Squadron 2/33
http://www.geocities.com/harriss75007/saintex.htm

More backstory
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...8/ai_n14316969
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/3541662.stm

Interesting comments about De Gaulle and Saint-Exupery

[dhermann1]

Having just finished "Churchill and DeGaulle", by Francois Kersaudy (HIGHLY recommended) I can well believe DeGaulle could have proscribed Exupery without legitimate reason. Le Grand Charles was a very great man, and certainly personified France's will to fight on after May of 1940. But he could be very paranoid in the correct literal sense. He could convince himself of utterly false notions about others and held a grudge implacably.

[Dixon Cannon]

...http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...tional/Europe/...the recovery of Saint-Exupéry's plane off the coast of southern France by a Marseilles diver, Luc Vanrell.

The story:http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i040407/i040407.html



The sunken debris of the P-38 Lightning were discovered in 2000 but it was only four years later that it was positively identified as the plane in which Saint-Exupéry took off from Corsica on July 31, 1944.

The plane had cameras but no guns because it was on a reconnaissance flight. It didn't come back and the body of the 44-year-old Saint-Exupéry was never recovered.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7300489.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/international/europe/07france.html?ex=1396756800&en=9f00643a7a39af00&ei =5007&partner=USERLAND
-dixon cannon

[Dixon Cannon]

"I will never abandon my squadron" , he said . The last family of the
writer and pilot, the Reconnaissance Group 2/33 , few days before his death.


Preparing for the last mission


His P-38, 'Peggy Back'


The 'Peggy Back', side view