Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Who is Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• Saint-Exupery, Antoine de (1900-1944), was a French writer and aviator. He is best known for his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince), and for his books about aviation adventures, including Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.
• He was a successful commercial pilot before World War II, 
• He joined the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) on the outbreak of war.
• He disappeared on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in July 1944.

Early life

• Antoine de Saint Exupéry was born in Lyon to an old family of provincial nobility, the third of five children of Marie de Fonscolombe and Viscount Jean de Saint Exupéry, an insurance broker who died before his son was even four.
• After failing his final exams at preparatory school, Saint-Exupéry entered the École des Beaux-Arts to study architecture.
• In 1921, Saint Exupery began his military service with the 2nd Regiment of Chasseurs (light cavalry), and was then sent to Strasbourg for training as a pilot. 
• The following year, he obtained his license and was offered transfer to the air force. 
• He became one of the pioneers of international postal flight, in the days when aircraft had few instruments.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Crash

On 30 December 1935 at 14:45 after a flight of 19 hours and 38 minutes Saint-Exupéry, along with his navigator, André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan Sahara desert en route to Saigon.They survived the crash and Exupéry's fable The Little Prince, which begins with a pilot being marooned in the desert, is in part a reference to this experience.

Selected books

• L'aviateur (The Aviator, 1926)
• Courrier sud (Southern Mail, 1929)
• Vol de nuit (Night Flight, 1931) 
• Terre des Hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939)
• Pilote de Guerre (Flight to Arras, 1942 )
• Lettre à un Otage (Letter to a Hostage, 1943) 
• Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince, 1943)
• Citadelle (The Wisdom of the Sands, posthumous - 1948),