Former Luftwaffe Pilot May Have Shot Down Little Prince Author In 1944

Can Tran March 16, 2008

Antoine de Saint-Exupery who authored “The Little Prince” vanished on July 31, 1944. Exupery was also a pioneer of aviation. On that day, his Lockheed Lighting P-38 had disappeared. However, it is unknown whether Exupery was shot down or not on that very day.

Horst Rippert, the Luftwaffe pilot is not one-hundred percent sure if he shot down Exupery’s plane or not. But, the magazine known as Le Figaro had quoted Rippert as saying that he was the one to shoot down Exupery.

But Rippert adds: “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.”

Exupery was 44 when he had vanished. Jean-Claude Bianco, a fisherman found Exupery's silver locket back in 1998. Luc Vanrell, a diver had discovered the wreckage of the plane back in 2000. Both the locket and plane were confirmed to belonged to Exupery.

The Little Prince was a notable children’s story popular around the world let alone the country of France, where Exupery is from. The story was published one year prior to Exupery’s disappearance.

This story was based on the time where Exupery was stranded in Africa’s Sahara Desert. The main character is known as the “Little Prince” who inhabits a small planet called B612.

The story still remains one of the 50 best-selling books let alone children’s books. I myself had watched the Japanese anime adaptation of the Little Prince when I was at least seven years of age.

In an ironic twist, Rippert enjoyed reading Exupery’s works.

“In our youth, at school, we had all read him. We loved his books,” Rippert said. He then added: “If I had known, I would not have opened fire. Not on him!”

It’s an interesting and ironic twist of fate that a pilot may have shot down an author whose works he enjoyed reading while as a young kid.

However, there is no absolute concrete theory on Exupery's death.