Editing Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (section)

==Disappearance==
Before his return to flight duty with his squadron in North Africa, the collaborationist [[Vichy Regime]] unilaterally promoted Saint-Exupéry as one of its members. Saint-Exupéry was shocked and dismayed by this, in keeping with his historical harsh criticism of the Vichy Regime. Subsequently, French General (later [[President of France|French President]]) [[Charles de Gaulle]], whom Saint-Exupéry held in low regard, made a public statement that implied that Saint-Exupéry was supporting Germany. Saint-Exupéry became [[depression (mood)|depressed]] by these events and began to consume [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]] heavily.<ref name=BBC/> His physical and mental health began deteriorating. Saint-Exupéry was said, by his peers in the air force, to be intermittently subject to depression, and there was discussion about grounding him.{{sfnp|Schiff|2006|pp=430–433, 436–437}}{{#tag:ref|Saint-Exupéry suffered recurring pain and immobility from previous injuries due to his five serious aircraft crashes. After his death, there were also vague suggestions that his disappearance was the result of suicide rather than aircraft failure or combat loss.|group=Note}}

Saint-Exupéry's last reconnaissance mission was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around the [[Rhone]] Valley preceding [[Operation Dragoon]], the Allied invasion of southern France. Although he had been reinstated to his old squadron with the provision that he was to fly only five missions, on 31 July 1944, he took off in an unarmed [[P-38]] on his ninth reconnaissance mission from an airbase on [[Corsica]].{{sfnp|Schiff|2006|p=430}}{{#tag:ref|Various sources state that his final flight was either his seventh, eight, ninth, and even his tenth mission. He volunteered for almost every proposed mission submitted to his squadron, and protested fiercely after being grounded following his second sortie, which ended with a demolished P-38. Saint-Exupéry's friends, colleagues and compatriots were working to keep him grounded and out of harm's way, but his connections in high places, plus a publishing agreement with ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, were instrumental in having the grounding lifted.<ref name=Eyheramonno/>|group="Note"}} To the great alarm of his squadron compatriots, he did not return, vanishing without a trace.{{sfnp|Schiff|2006|pp=402–451}}{{#tag:ref|One ruse contemplated by GR II/33's commanders was to expose Saint-Exupéry "accidentally" to the plans of the pending invasion of France so he could be subsequently grounded. No air force general would countermand such a grounding order and risk Saint-Exupéry's being captured by the Germans if he were forced down. Saint-Exupéry's commanding officer—a close friend of his—was ill and absent when the author took off on his final flight. The commander "bawled out" his staff when he learned that a grounding scheme had not been implemented.|group=Note}} Word of his disappearance soon spread across the literary world and then it spread into international headlines.<ref name=Time/>{{sfnp|Schiff|2006|pp=434–438}}

===Discovery at sea===
[[File:Gourmette de Saint Exupery.jpg|thumb|left|Bracelet of Saint-Exupéry found in 1998]]
[[File:Saint Exupery exhibit - Air & Space Museum, Le Bourget, Paris, France (12).JPG|thumb|right|upright|Part of the landing gear of Saint-Exupéry's plane, recovered from the Mediterranean, displayed at the [[French Air and Space Museum]]]]

In September 1998, to the east of Riou Island (south of Marseille), a fisherman found a silver identity bracelet bearing the names of Saint-Exupéry, his wife [[Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry|Consuelo]], and his American publisher, [[Reynal & Hitchcock]].<ref name=CDNN/> The bracelet was hooked to a piece of fabric, presumably from his flight suit.<ref name=NYT2000/> Announcement of the discovery was an emotional event in France, where Saint-Exupéry was a national icon, and some disputed its authenticity because it was found far from his intended flight path, implying that the aircraft might not have been shot down.<ref name=Independent2000/>

In May 2000, a diver found debris from a Lockheed P-38 Lightning submerged off the coast of Marseille, near where the bracelet was found. The discovery galvanized the country, which had conducted searches for his aircraft and speculated on Saint-Exupéry's fate for decades.<ref name=AFP2004/> After a two-year delay imposed by the French government, the remnants of the aircraft were recovered in October 2003.<ref name=CDNN/>{{#tag:ref|

Saint-Exupéry's P-38, as identified in the wreckage recovery report, was an F-5B-1-LO, LAC 2734 variant, serial number 42-68223, which departed Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, France on 31 July 1944, at 8:45 a.m. The report includes an image of a component bearing a serial number which confirmed it came from Saint-Exupéry's aircraft. The size of the debris field—{{cvt|1|km}} long and {{cvt|400|m}} wide—suggested that the aircraft had struck the water at high velocity.<ref name=relic/>|group="Note"}} In 2004, French officials and investigators from the French [[Maritime archaeology|Underwater Archaeological Department]] officially confirmed that the wreckage was from Saint-Exupéry's aircraft.<ref name=AFP2004/><ref name=GlobeMail/>

No marks or holes attributable to gunfire were found, but that was not considered significant as only a small portion of the aircraft was recovered.<ref name=relic/> In June 2004, the fragments were given to the ''[[Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace]]'' (Air and Space Museum) in [[Le Bourget]], Paris, where Saint-Exupéry's life is commemorated in a special exhibit.<ref name=LeMonde/><ref name=Musee/>

===Speculations in 1948, 1972 and 2008===
In 1948, former [[Luftwaffe]] telegrapher Rev. [[Hermann Korth]] published his war logs, noting an incident that occurred at around noon on 31 July 1944 in which a [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]] shot down a P-38 Lightning. Korth's account ostensibly supported a shoot-down hypothesis for Saint-Exupéry.<ref name=Winged/><ref name=Triebel/> The veracity of his log was met with skepticism, because it could have described a P-38 which was flown by Second Lieutenant Gene Meredith on 30 July, shot down south of [[Nice]].<ref name=Winged/><ref name=Aero4/>{{#tag:ref|The Luftwaffe pilot was on patrol near Corsica, and could have intercepted Lt. Meredith.<ref name=Aero4/> Lt. Meredith's remains were not recovered. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence, Italy ABMC Cemetery {ABMC Records}. Lt. Meredith was shot down by ''Feldwebel'' Guth of 3./''Jagdgruppe'' 200, the same unit in which Horst Rippert (see below) was serving. Guth's victory claim is recorded in the lists which are held by the German ''Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv''. The progress of the interception was followed by Allied radar and radio monitoring stations and documented in Missing Air Crew Report 7339 on the loss of Second Lieutenant Gene C. Meredith of the [[23rd Photographic Squadron]]/5th Reconnaissance Group. The intercepted Mediterranean Allied Air Forces Signals Intelligence Report for 30 July records that "an Allied reconnaissance aircraft was claimed shot down at 1115 [GMT]". The last estimated position of Meredith's plane is 4307N, 0756E.<ref name=GhostBombers/>|group="Note"}}

In 1972, the German magazine ''Der Landser'' quoted a letter from Luftwaffe reconnaissance pilot Robert Heichele, in which he purportedly claimed to have shot down a P-38 on 31 July 1944.<ref name=Landser/> His account, corroborated by a spotter, seemingly supported a shoot-down hypothesis of Saint-Exupéry.<ref name=Shore/> Heichele's account was met with skepticism because he described flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9, a variant which had not yet entered Luftwaffe service.<ref name=Urbanke/>

In the lists which are held by the ''Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv'', no victory was credited to Heichele or his unit in either July or August 1944, and the decrypted report of the day's reconnaissance does not include any flights by 2./NAG 13's Fw 190s.<ref name=UKArchives/> Heichele was shot down on 16 August 1944 and died five days later.{{#tag:ref|He is buried in the German military cemetery at [[Dagneux]], France.|group="Note"}}<ref name=Volksbund/>

In 2008, a French journalist from ''La Provence'', who was investigating Saint-Exupéry's death, contacted former Luftwaffe pilots who flew in the area of Marseille, eventually getting an account from Horst Rippert (1922–2013).<ref name=LeMonde/>{{sfnp|Tagliabue|2008}}<ref name="BBCWorld">{{Cite news |date=2008-03-17 |title=Wartime author mystery 'solved' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7300489.stm |access-date=2024-02-29 |language=en-GB |archive-date=19 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319041153/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7300489.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Rippert was the older brother of the famous bass singer [[Ivan Rebroff]], who was born in Berlin as Hans-Rolf Rippert. In his memoirs, Horst Rippert, an admirer of Saint-Exupéry's books, expressed both fears and doubts that he was responsible, but in 2003 he stated that he became certain that he was responsible when he learned the location of Saint-Exupéry's wreckage.<ref name=NYT2008/> Rippert claimed to have reported the kill over his radio, but there are no surviving records to verify this account.<ref name=Triebel/><ref name=Aero4/>{{#tag:ref|The RAF's No. 276 Wing (Signals Intelligence, Allied intercepts of Luftwaffe communications) Operations Record Book for 31 July 1944 notes only: "... three enemy fighter sections between 0758/0929 hours operating in reaction to Allied fighters over Cannes, Toulon and the area to the North. No contacts. Patrol activity north of Toulon reported between 1410/1425 hours".<ref name=Aero4/>|group="Note"}}{{#tag:ref|In documents OIS 4FG 40 and OP rep 25 (available at SHD / Air), the [[4th Fighter Squadron]] on a sweeping mission from [[Vercors Massif|Vercors]] to Orange, observed two German "bogeys" flying East at 11:30 a.m. Given Saint-Exupéry's fuel reserves and expected mission duration, it is possible that he crossed paths with the German aircraft.<ref name=Aero6/>|group="Note"}}

Rippert's account, as it is discussed in two French and German books, was met with both publicity and skepticism.<ref name=AFP2008/><ref name=Reuters/> Luftwaffe comrades expressed doubts in Rippert's claim, given that he held it private for 64 years.{{sfnp|Altweg|2008}}<ref name=Spiegel/>{{#tag:ref|The proposed "suppression" of Rippert's claim due to Saint-Exupéry's stature was also met with skepticism as Luftwaffe pilots tended to immediately report their kills, and the Allies did not broadcast Saint-Exupéry's status as missing for at least two days.<ref name=Aero4/> It is feasible that Rippert did not push for an official kill, given that he was flying alone with no spotter to corroborate.<ref name=Aero6/> After the war, Horst Rippert became a television journalist and led the [[ZDF]] sports department. He was the brother of German singer [[Ivan Rebroff]]. Rippert died in 2013. |group="Note"}} Very little German documentation survived the war, and contemporary archival sources, consisting mostly of Allied intercepts of Luftwaffe signals, offer no evidence to verify Rippert's claim.{{sfnp|Bönisch|Leick|2008}}<ref name=Bobek/> The entry and exit points of Saint-Exupéry's mission were likely near [[Cannes]], yet his wreckage was discovered south of Marseille.<ref name=Aero6/>

Though it is possible that German fighters could have intercepted, or at least altered, Saint-Exupéry's flight path, the cause of his death remains unknown, and Rippert's account remains one hypothesis among many.<ref name=Aero4/><ref name=Aero6/><ref name=Gartzen/>{{#tag:ref|Of further note, as described in the history of the [[33rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron]], a P-38 triggered anti-aircraft fire near [[Istres]] on 31 July, a reminder that there are many possible direct or indirect causes of Saint-Exupéry's death.<ref name=Aero6/><ref name=Chevaliers/>|group="Note"}}