Editing Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (section)

==Youth and aviation==
[[File:Blason famille de Saint-Exupéry (XVIIIe siècle).svg|thumb|200px|left|Coat of arms of the de Saint-Exupéry family since the 18th century]] [[File:Birthplace Saint-Exupéry 1.jpg|thumb|right|267px|Birthplace of Saint-Exupéry in the [[Presqu'île]] section of [[Lyon]], on the street now named after him, in blue at lower left]]

Saint-Exupéry was born in [[Lyon]], into the [[French nobility|French aristocratic]] Catholic family that traced its lineage back several centuries. Their surname references the 5th-century bishop Saint [[Exuperius]]. He was the third child of [[Viscount]] [[Jean de Saint-Exupéry]] (1863–1904) and his wife, Marie Boyer de Fonscolombe (1875–1972).<ref>[http://www.fondsenligne.archives-lyon.fr/ac69v2/visu_affiche.php?PHPSID=7ca752c2a0fed8db778487d95c291b10&param=visu&page=158 ''Acte de naissance numéro 1703,'' page 158/257, reg. 2E1847] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815103316/http://www.fondsenligne.archives-lyon.fr/ac69v2/visu_affiche.php?PHPSID=7ca752c2a0fed8db778487d95c291b10&param=visu&page=158 |date=15 August 2017 }}, with marginal note concerning his marriage with Consuelo Suncin ([[Nice]], 22 April 1931). ''Archives municipales numérisées de Lyon''.</ref>{{sfnp|Webster|1994|p=12}}<ref name=SaintExCom2/>{{#tag:ref|

Saint-Exupéry was born at No. 8 rue Peyrat, later rue Alphonse Fochier, and still later rue Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in [[Arrondissements of Lyon|Lyon's 2nd arrondissement]].{{sfnp|Webster|1994|p=12}} He was the third of five children (and nicknamed 'Tonio'), his older sisters were Marie-Madeleine ("Biche", 26 January 1897 – 1927), Simone ("Monot", 26 January 1898 – 1978), and his younger siblings François (1902–1917) and Gabrielle ("Didi", 1903–1986). His parents were Viscount Jean de Saint-Exupéry (1863–1904; different sources name his father as Jean-Marc or Caesar de Saint-Exupéry{{sfnp|Commire|1980|p=154}}) and Viscountess Marie, née Boyer de Fonscolombe (1875–1972). He was baptized in a Catholic ceremony in his great-aunt's chapel on 15 August 1900 in [[Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens]]; his godfather was his uncle, [[Roger de Saint-Exupéry]], [[Earl of Miremont]] (1865 – August 1914, killed leading his battalion in Maissin, Belgium, during the First World War), his godmother was his aunt Madeleine Fonscolombe.<ref name=SaintExCom2/>

|group="Note"}} His father, an executive of the ''Le Soleil'' (The Sun) insurance brokerage, died of a stroke in the train station of La Foux before Saint-Exupéry's 4th birthday. His father's death affected the entire family, transforming their status to that of "impoverished aristocrats".{{sfnp|Schiff|2006|p=ix}}

Saint-Exupéry had three sisters and a younger brother, François, who died at age 15 of [[rheumatic fever]] contracted while both were attending the [[Marianist]] [[College Villa St. Jean]] in [[Fribourg]], [[Switzerland]], during [[World War I]]. Saint-Exupéry attended to his brother, who he claimed was his closest confidant, beside his death bed, and later wrote that François "remained motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a [young] tree falls", imagery later recrafted into the climactic ending of ''[[The Little Prince]]''. At the age of 17, now the only male in the family following the death of his brother, Saint-Exupéry soon assumed the role of a protector and took to consoling his family, despite still being distraught over his father's death.{{sfnp|Schiff|1996|pp=61–62}}

After twice failing his final exams at a preparatory [[École Navale|Naval Academy]], Saint-Exupéry entered the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] as an [[Academic audit|auditor]] to study architecture for 15 months, again without graduating, and then fell into the habit of accepting odd jobs. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry began his military service as a basic-rank soldier with the ''2e Régiment de [[chasseurs]] à cheval'' (2nd Mounted Hunters Regiment) and was sent to Neuhof, near [[Strasbourg]].{{sfnp|Schiff|1996|p=80}} While there, he took private flying lessons and the following year was offered a transfer from the French Army to the French Air Force. He received his [[Aircrew brevet|pilot's wings]] after being posted to the 37th Fighter Regiment in [[Casablanca, Morocco]].

Later, Saint-Exupéry was reposted to the 34th Aviation Regiment at [[Le Bourget]] on the outskirts of Paris, and then experienced the first of his many [[aircraft crash]]es. Saint-Exupéry, influenced by the urgings of the family of his [[fiancée]], future novelist [[Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin]], subsequently left the air force to take an office job. The couple ultimately broke off their engagement and he worked at several more odd jobs over the next few years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schiff |first=Stacy |title=Saint-Exupéry: A Biography |year=1994 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York }}</ref>

By 1926, Saint-Exupéry was flying again. He became one of the pioneers of international [[airmail|postal flight]], in the days when aircraft had few instruments. Later, he complained that those who flew the more advanced aircraft had become more like accountants than pilots. He worked for [[Aéropostale (aviation)|Aéropostale]] between [[Toulouse]] and [[Dakar]], and then also became the airline stopover manager for the [[Cape Juby]] airfield in the Spanish zone of [[Spanish Morocco|South Morocco]], in the [[Sahara]]. His duties included negotiating the safe release of downed fliers taken hostage by Saharan tribes, a perilous task that earned him his first [[Légion d'honneur]] from the French Government in 1930.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900–31 July 1944) |url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/29-june-1900/#:~:text=Antoine%20de%20Saint%2DExup%C3%A9ry%20was,invaders%2C%20he%20fled%20to%20Portugal. |website=This Day in Aviation| date=29 June 2023 }}</ref>

In 1929, Saint-Exupéry was transferred to Argentina, where he was appointed director of the [[Aeroposta Argentina]] airline. He lived in [[Buenos Aires]], in the [[Galería Güemes]] building. He surveyed new air routes across South America, negotiated agreements, and occasionally flew the airmail as well as search missions looking for downed fliers. This period of his life is briefly explored in ''[[Wings of Courage]]'', an [[IMAX]] film by French director [[Jean-Jacques Annaud]].<ref name=NYT1995/>