Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: biography, photos and interesting facts. Antoine Saint Exupery: biography. Literary heritage of Exupery years of life and death

"Too much early death is tantamount to robbery: in order to fulfill one’s calling in life, one must live a long time,” wrote (1900 - 1944) in one of his later articles. The author of “The Little Prince” and “The Citadel” seemed to have a presentiment of his imminent death.

On July 31, 1944, he went on another combat mission and did not return. For a long time, Exupery was listed as missing. Only half a century after his disappearance were fragments of his plane and personal belongings found. How much more could he have given to humanity if he had not died on that ill-fated July day...

We have selected 20 wonderful quotes from his books:

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry (French: Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry) was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon (France) into an aristocratic family. He was the third child of Count Jean de Saint-Exupéry.

His father died when Antoine was four years old, and his mother raised the boy. He spent his childhood on the Saint-Maurice estate near Lyon, which belonged to his grandmother.

In 1909-1914, Antoine and his younger brother Francois studied at the Jesuit College of Le Mans, then at a private educational institution in Switzerland.

Having received a bachelor's degree in college, Antoine studied for several years at the Academy of Arts in the architectural department, then entered the aviation troops as a private. In 1923 he was given a pilot's license.

In 1926, he was accepted into the service of the General Company of Aviation Enterprises, owned by the famous designer Latekoer. In the same year, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s first story, “The Pilot,” appeared in print.

Saint-Exupery flew on the postal lines Toulouse - Casablanca, Casablanca - Dakar, then became the head of the airfield at Fort Cap Jubie in Morocco (part of this territory belonged to the French) - on the border of the Sahara.

In 1929, he returned to France for six months and signed an agreement with book publisher Gaston Guillimard to publish seven novels; in the same year, the novel “Southern Postal” was published. In September 1929, Saint-Exupéry was appointed director of the Buenos Aires branch of the French airline Aeropostal Argentina.

In 1930 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor of France, and at the end of 1931 he became a laureate of the prestigious literary prize "Femina" for the novel "Night Flight" (1931).

In 1933-1934, he was a test pilot, made a number of long-distance flights, suffered accidents, and was seriously wounded several times.

In 1934 he filed the first application for an invention new system landing aircraft (in total he had 10 inventions at the level of scientific and technical achievements of his time).

In December 1935, during a long flight from Paris to Saigon, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's plane crashed in the Libyan desert; he miraculously survived.

From the mid-1930s, he worked as a journalist: in April 1935, as a special correspondent for the Paris-Soir newspaper, he visited Moscow and described this visit in several essays; in 1936, as a front-line correspondent, he wrote a series of military reports from Spain, where the civil war was going on.

In 1939, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was promoted to officer of the French Legion of Honor. In February, his book “Planet of People” (in Russian translation - “Land of People”; American title - “Wind, Sand and Stars”), which is a collection of autobiographical essays, was published. The book was awarded the French Academy Prize and the National Prize of the Year in the USA.

When did the second one begin? world war, Captain Saint-Exupery was mobilized into the army, but he was declared fit only for service on the ground. Using all his connections, Saint-Exupéry achieved an appointment to an aviation reconnaissance group.

In May 1940, on a Block 174 aircraft, he made a reconnaissance flight over Arras, for which he was awarded the Military Cross for Military Merit.

After the occupation of France Nazi troops emigrated to the USA in 1940.

In February 1942, his book “Military Pilot” was published in the USA and was a great success, after which Saint-Exupery at the end of spring received an order from the publishing house Reynal-Hitchhok to write a fairy tale for children. He signed a contract and began work on the philosophical and lyrical fairy tale “The Little Prince” with his own illustrations. In April 1943, "The Little Prince" was published in the USA, and in the same year the story "Letter to a Hostage" was published. Then Saint-Exupéry worked on the story "The Citadel" (not finished, published in 1948).

In 1943, Saint-Exupery left America for Algeria, where he underwent treatment, from where he returned to his air group based in Morocco in the summer. After great difficulty in obtaining permission to fly, thanks to the support of influential figures in the French resistance, Saint-Exupéry was allowed to fly five reconnaissance flights to take aerial photographs of enemy communications and troops in the area of ​​his native Provence.

On the morning of July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupery set off on a reconnaissance flight from Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica in a Lightning P-38 aircraft equipped with a camera and unarmed. His task on that flight was to collect intelligence in preparation for the landing operation in the south of France, occupied by the Nazi invaders. The plane did not return to base and its pilot was declared missing.

The search for the remains of the plane was carried out for many years, only in 1998, Marseille fisherman Jean-Claude Bianco accidentally discovered near Marseille silver bracelet with the name of the writer and his wife Consuelo.

In May 2000, professional diver Luc Vanrel told authorities that he had discovered the remains of the plane on which Saint-Exupéry made his last flight at a depth of 70 meters. From November 2003 to January 2004, a special expedition recovered the remains of the plane from the bottom; on one of the parts they were able to find the marking “2374 L”, which corresponded to Saint-Exupéry’s plane.

In March 2008, former Luftwaffe pilot Horst Rippert, 88, said he was the one who shot down the plane. Rippert's statements are confirmed by some information from other sources, but at the same time, no records were found in the logs of the German Air Force about the plane shot down that day in the area where Saint-Exupéry disappeared; the found wreckage of his plane did not have obvious traces of shelling.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery was married to the widow of the Argentine journalist Consuelo Songqing (1901-1979). After the writer's disappearance, she lived in New York, then moved to France, where she was known as a sculptor and painter. She devoted a lot of time to perpetuating the memory of Saint-Exupéry.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a writer whose name is known to everyone who is familiar with the book “The Little Prince”. The biography of the author of the unforgettable work is full of incredible events and coincidences, because his main activity was related to aviation.

Childhood and youth

The full name of the writer is Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry. As a child, the boy's name was Tony. He was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon, into a noble family, and was the 3rd child of 5 children. The head of the family died when little Tony was 4 years old. The family was left without funds and moved to their aunt, who lived on Place Bellecour. There was a catastrophic lack of money, but this was compensated by the friendship between brothers and sisters. Antoine was especially close to his brother Francois.

The mother instilled in the child a love of books and literature, talking about the value of art. Published letters remind us of her tender friendship with her son. Interested in his mother's lessons, the boy was also interested in technology and chose what he wanted to devote himself to.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry studied at Christian school in Lyon, and then at the Jesuit in Montreux. At the age of 14, through the efforts of his mother, he was sent to a Swiss Catholic boarding school. In 1917, Antoine entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Paris School fine arts. The bachelor, with a diploma in hand, was preparing to enter the Naval Lyceum, but failed in the competitive selection. A great loss for Antoine was the death of his brother from articular rheumatism. He experienced the loss of a loved one by withdrawing into himself.

Aviation

Antoine dreamed of the sky since childhood. He first flew at the age of 12 thanks to the famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski, who took him to the airfield in Amberier for fun. The impressions he received were enough for him to understand what would become the goal of his whole life.

1921 changed a lot in Antoine's life. After being drafted into the army, he completed aerobatics courses and became a member of the aviation regiment in Strasbourg. At first, the young man was a non-flying soldier in a workshop at the airfield, but soon became the holder of a civilian pilot’s certificate. Later, Exupery upgraded his qualifications to a military pilot.

After completing officer training, Antoine flew with the rank of junior lieutenant and served in the 34th regiment. After an unsuccessful flight in 1923, Exupery, having received a head injury, left aviation. The pilot settled in Paris and decided to try himself in the literary field. Success did not come. To earn a living, Exupery was forced to sell cars, work at a tile factory and even sell books.

It soon became clear that Antoine was no longer capable of leading such a lifestyle. A chance acquaintance helped him out. In 1926, the young pilot received a position as a mechanic at the Aeropostal airline, and later became a pilot of an aircraft delivering mail. "Southern Postal" was written during this time period. The new promotion was followed by another transfer. Having become the head of the airport in Cap Jubi, located in the Sahara, Antoine took up creativity.

In 1929, the talented specialist was transferred to the position of director of the Aeropostal branch, and Exupery moved to Buenos Aires to manage the entrusted department. He was doing regular flights over Casablanca. The company for which the writer worked soon went bankrupt, so from 1931 Antoine again worked in Europe.

At first he worked on postal airlines, and then began to combine his main job with a parallel direction, becoming a test pilot. During one of the tests, a plane crashed. Exupery survived thanks to the prompt work of divers.

The writer's life was connected with extreme sports, and he was not afraid to take risks. Participating in the development of a high-speed flight project, Antoine purchased an aircraft for operation on the Paris-Saigon route. The ship had an accident in the desert. Exupery survived thanks to chance. He and the mechanic, who were on their last legs from thirst, were saved by the Bedouins.

The worst accident the writer was in was a plane crash while flying from New York to Tierra del Fuego. Afterwards, the pilot was in a coma for several days, having suffered head and shoulder injuries.

In the 1930s, Antoine became interested in journalism and became a correspondent for the Paris Soir newspaper. In the status of a representative of the newspaper "Entrance" Exupery was at war in Spain. He also fought in battles against the Nazis in World War II.

Books

Exupery wrote his first work in college in 1914. It was the fairy tale “Odyssey of the Cylinder”. The author's talent was appreciated, awarded 1st place at literary competition. In 1925, at his cousin's house, Antoine met popular authors and publishers of the time. They were delighted with the gift young man and offered cooperation. The very next year, the story “The Pilot” was published in the pages of the Silver Ship magazine.

Exupery's works are associated with the sky and aviation. The writer had two callings, and he shared with the public his perception of the world through the eyes of a pilot. The author talked about his philosophy, which allowed the reader to look at life differently. That is why Exupery’s statements on the pages of his works are used today as quotes.

As an Aeropostale pilot, the pilot did not think of stopping literary activity. Returning to his native France, he signed a contract with the publishing house of Gaston Gallimard to create and publish 7 novels. Exupery the writer existed in close collaboration with Exupery the pilot.

In 1931, the author received the Femina Award for “Night Flight”, and in 1932 a film was made based on the work. The accident in the Libyan desert and the adventures that the pilot experienced while wandering through it, he described in the novel “Land of People” (“Planet of People”). The work was also based on emotions from acquaintance with the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union.

The novel “Military Pilot” became an autobiographical work. The author was influenced by experiences associated with participation in the Second World War. Banned in France, the book was an incredible success in the United States. Representatives of an American publishing house ordered a fairy tale from Exupery. This is how “The Little Prince” was released, accompanied by the author’s illustrations. He brought the writer world fame.

Personal life

At the age of 18, Antoine fell in love with Louise Vilmorne. The daughter of wealthy parents did not pay attention to the advances of the ardent young man. After the plane crash, the girl crossed him out of her life. The pilot perceived the romantic failure as a real tragedy. Unrequited love tormented him. Even fame and success did not change the attitude of Louise, who remained impartial.

Exupery enjoyed the attention of the ladies, charming him with his attractive appearance and charm, but was in no hurry to build his personal life. Consuelo Sunsin managed to find an approach to the man. According to one version, Consuelo and Antoine met in Buenos Aires thanks to a mutual friend. Former spouse women, writer Gomez Carillo, died. She found solace in an affair with a pilot.

A magnificent wedding took place in 1931. The marriage was not easy. Consuelo constantly made scandals. She had a bad character, but her wife’s intelligence and education pleased Antoine. The writer, adoring his wife, tolerated what was happening.

Death

The death of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was shrouded in secrecy. During World War II, he considered it his duty to defend the honor of the country. Due to health reasons, the pilot was assigned to a ground regiment, but Antoine made connections and ended up in a flight reconnaissance squad.

On July 31, 1944, he did not return from the flight and was listed as missing in action. In 1988, near Marseille, a writer’s bracelet with his wife’s name engraved was found, and in 2000, parts of the plane he flew were found. In 2008, it became known that the cause of the writer’s death was an attack by a German pilot. The pilot of the enemy aircraft publicly admitted this years later. 60 years after the crash, photos from the scene of the collision were published.

The writer's bibliography is small, but it contains a description of a bright and adventurous life. The brave pilot and kind writer of the 20th century lived and died maintaining his dignity. Lyon Airport was named in his memory.

Bibliography

• 1929 – “Southern Postal”
• 1931 – “Mail to the South”
• 1938 – “Night Flight”
• 1938 – “Planet of Men”
• 1942 – “Military pilot”
• 1943 – “Letter to a Hostage”
• 1943 – “The Little Prince”
• 1948 – “Citadel”

“Aviation and poetry bent over his cradle. He was probably the only modern writer who was touched by true Glory. His life is a whole series of triumphs. But he never knew peace.”
115 years ago Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born. Aviator, essayist and poet. The man who said: “Before you write, you need to live.”
“How could you not love him? - exclaimed Andre Maurois. “He had both strength and tenderness, intelligence and intuition. He fought in the air in 1940 and fought again in 1944. He was lost in the desert and was rescued by the lords of the sands; once it fell into the Mediterranean Sea, and another time into the mountain ranges of Guatemala. This is where the authenticity that resounds in his every word comes from, and this is also where life’s stoicism originates, for action reveals best qualities person."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1900 - 1944

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (full Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry, fr. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) was born on June 29, 1900 in the French city of Lyon in the family of a provincial count. At the age of four he lost his father.

Exupery's ancestral castle was built in the early Middle Ages from large round boulders, and in the 18th century it was rebuilt. “Once upon a time, the gentlemen de Saint-Exupery sat out the raids of English archers, robber knights and their own peasants here, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the rather dilapidated castle sheltered the widowed Countess Marie de Saint-Exupery and her five children.

Mother and daughters occupied the first floor, the boys settled on the third. A huge entrance hall and a mirrored living room, portraits of ancestors, knightly armor, precious tapestries, damask-upholstered furniture with half-worn gilding - old house was full of treasures. Behind the house there was a hayloft, behind the hayloft there was a huge park, behind the park there were fields that still belonged to his family.

Education little Antoine mother was doing. He studied unevenly, glimpses of genius appeared in him, but it was noticeable that this student was not created for schoolwork. His family calls him the Sun King because of the blond hair that crowns his head; his comrades nicknamed Antoine the Stargazer because his nose was turned up to the sky.

There was an airfield not far from Saint-Maurice, in Amberier, and Antoine often went there by bicycle. When he turned twelve, he had the opportunity to fly on an airplane, and Antoine received “baptism in the air.” This event is usually associated with the name of Jules Vedrine. No one knows how this version was born, because neither one nor the other ever spoke about it. But, apparently, she turned out to be quite beautiful: Vedrin is a famous aviator, a war hero, and in general a bright personality - and therefore they began to repeat the version without checking it. Only recently have they discovered the only documentary evidence, namely a postcard depicting the first plane and the pilot who “gave baptism in the air.” Moreover, signed by Antoine himself. The truth turned out to be no worse than the legend.

The postcard shows the LBerthaud-W monoplane (Bertha is the name of the industrialist who financed the development), created in 1911 by the brothers Piotr and Gabriel Wroblewski. This promising design, alas, did not “conquer the sky.” The talented aviator brothers were not destined to live to see the era of dominance of metal monoplanes - on March 2, 1912, they died in a test flight on the third and last copy of their machine, after which work on it was stopped.

Gabriel Wroblewski (it was he who “baptized” Antoine in July 1912) received his pilot’s diploma just a month before this event that went down in history. The diploma had number 891. Saint-Exupéry’s flying career began only nine years later, after the First World War, but it was then, in his first and only “children’s” flight, that he, one might say, joined the spirit of the “childhood” of aviation itself. The airplane of self-taught engineers, ahead of its time, the pilots, timid flights for the very fact of overcoming gravity, and, finally, the aura of mystery and feat - all this could not but leave a deep imprint on the young soul.

Childhood ended when Francois's beloved brother died of a fever. He bequeathed a bicycle and a gun to Antoine, took communion and passed away - Saint-Exupéry forever remembered his calm and stern face. Exupery graduated from the Jesuit school in Le Mans, studied at a Catholic boarding school in Switzerland, and in 1917 entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Paris School of Fine Arts.
“You just have to grow up, and a merciful God leaves you to the mercy of fate,” Saint-Exupéry will express this sad thought much later, when he is about thirty, but it also applies to the entire first period of his life in Paris. Now he lives real life bohemians. This is the most deaf period of his life - Antoine does not even write to his mother, experiencing everything that happens to him deep within himself. He still meets and argues with friends, visits the Lippa restaurant, goes to lectures, reads a lot, expanding his knowledge of literature. Among the books that especially attract him are books by Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and Plato.

And although we do not know what exactly Antoine was talking about then, we can guess that his trial was very harsh. When, many years later, a society lady who knew Saint-Exupery in his twenties was asked to talk about him, she said: “Exupery? Yes, he was a communist!”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1921, interrupting the deferment he received upon entering higher education educational institution, quits classes at the Faculty of Architecture and volunteers to join the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Strasbourg with the rank of private. At first, the volunteer is listed as an aircraft mechanic. Fortunately for him, the 2nd Aviation Regiment was headed by Major Gard - the most charming commander one could wish for. A former foot ranger who became a fighter pilot during the war, he had a good understanding of people. His officers were his match. Discipline in the regiment was not strict - the atmosphere of camaraderie of a combat squadron, preserved since the war, still reigned here. And soon a significant change occurs in Saint-Exupéry's position. He becomes a civilian pilot, after which he undergoes training to become a military pilot. Strange wording, but there is no mistake in it. True, to understand this, some comments are required.

Here's what Robert Aebi, Saint-Aix's first flight instructor, says:
“It happened in April 1921, on Sunday, at the Neuhof airfield. On a beautiful spring morning, we took out all the aircraft of the Transaerien company from the hangar - one Farman, three Sopwith and one Salmson. Five aircraft for the company in which I was the only pilot... True, the Mosset brothers - Gaston and Victor - co-directors, were also pilots.

We hoped to get the Strasbourg - Brussels - Anvers line, but our competitors were ahead of us. Then the company transformed and now offered customers flights on request, baptisms, and aerial filming. Especially baptisms.

The client was just approaching. He is not dressed very well - a cap, a scarf around his neck, trousers without a fold.
- Can I get air baptism??
- Yes... But it will cost 50 francs.
- Agree!
And he gets a job at Farman. I make a circle with him. Ten minutes, along the usual route. I sit down, drive to the hangar, and get out of the plane.
- And again?
- But it will cost you another 50 francs!
- Yes, yes! I agree.
And off we went. This time I showed him what he wanted - the north and south of Strasbourg, Vosges, the Rhine. He was delighted. I didn't know his name yet. After landing, I asked him to write down his name on paper. That's when I read: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He also said that he was assigned to the 2nd Fighter Aviation Regiment (its hangars were located next to ours) for military service.

After some time he appeared again, but in military uniform...
- Do you recognize me?
- Well, of course.
And without further ado: - Can you fly by yourself?
- You can always, but to be able to fly, you need to be able to fly! You need to undergo training.
- This is exactly what I wanted to know... Is it possible here?
- Yes, but under certain conditions. First of all, you need permission from your commander, because he is responsible for you. And then, you need to agree with the director about the price.

A few days later, the unit commander, Colonel Gard, agreed, against all the rules, as an exception (there was definitely something incredible here), to allow the young soldier to learn to fly.

June 18, 1921, Saturday. On this day (one might say it was almost a historical date!), Saint-Exupéry made his first flight with an instructor on L Farmand-40.

If you believe my flight book, the second flight that day was followed by a third... And the lessons continued, to the satisfaction of the student and teacher. Two weeks later we already had 21 export flights and 2 hours and 5 minutes. flight time. Unexpectedly, we had to leave the Farman, whose engine gave its soul to God, and I transferred my pet to the Sopwith, a more strict car to pilot. On Friday, July 8th, I flew him out twice on this new plane.

The next day at 11 o'clock I once again took Saint-Exupéry out on the Sopwith One and a Half Roaster. At 11:10 a.m. we were at the start for the second flight. I got out of the front seat.
- Take off! One. I'm letting you out. When it's time to land, I'll launch a green rocket. Let's go!
He started normally. The taxiing is smooth, the take-off is flawless, now it gains altitude, turns correctly to the left, goes downwind, ends the runway circle... I launch a green rocket... He comes in to land, but too high and at too high a speed... Five meters to the ground - and now he will either “overshoot” the runway, or lose speed and go into a tailspin - but he does the only thing that remains in such cases - he accelerates again. Saint-Exupéry confidently begins the second “box” - it seems that this little incident did not throw him off balance - and when I send the green rocket again, he enters normally, lands beautifully, and returns the plane to the hangar.
In the afternoon I went to Colonel Gard and reported that Private Saint-Exupéry had been released. He thought, looked at some papers in the folder, and said:
- Stop there.
Our joint flights to Transaerien are over.

The soldier in love with the sky managed to persuade the commanders to take another unprecedented step - to allow him to fly as a flight instructor (including on the new two-seat SPFD-20 Erbemont fighters) and train as an air gunner, again, without being assigned to a corresponding position.
Well, soon the amateur experience was repeated at a new quality level and documented accordingly. Having learned about the recruitment of volunteers to serve in the 37th Fighter Wing, based in Morocco, Saint-Exupéry immediately submitted a report. There he rose to the rank of corporal, but most importantly, he trained as a fighter. The exams are passed with excellent marks, and he is offered to enter the school for reserve officers, where he meets his old friend Jean Esco. Let's give the floor to him...

“On April 3, 1922, Saint-Exupéry was accepted as a cadet at the School of Air Force Reserve Officers in Avora. The most urgent matter for us then was to find out how we could resume flights. Indeed, the program, the culmination of which was a flight laboratory diploma, included theory (navigation, meteorology , communications, combat use) and flight practice, but in the end, we were told that we could fly as pilots before the start of classes, that is, from 6 to 8 in the morning. So our days turned out to be filled to capacity. At the end of the internship, high graduation scores gave us the opportunity to choose our place of future service. It turned out that we had the same reflex - to be closer to home. And having received the rank of junior lieutenants, we each went in our own direction - to the 34th Air Regiment. Bourget, and I am in Lyon-Bron, in the 35th."

During two years of military service, Saint-Exupéry received unique training - impossible in other, seemingly more favorable conditions - he mastered piloting a wide variety of aircraft, served as a navigator, a flight engineer, and a gunner, and studied the use of aviation. But besides all this, he was also a mechanic...

Thus, Exupery received his pilot's license in 1922.

Soon after moving to Paris, he turned to writing. However, at first he did not win any laurels in this field and was forced to take on any job: he sold cars, he was a salesman in a bookstore.

In 1926, Saint-Ex again began his career as a pilot, now a civilian, from the workshops of the Aeropostal company, which delivered mail to the northern coast of Africa. His first flight on a mail plane took place in October 1926. Two years later he was appointed head of the airport in Cap Jubi, on the very edge of the Sahara, and there he finally found the inner peace that his later books are filled with.

Didier Dora, director of Latecoera Airlines, recalls:
“I accepted Saint-Exupéry and from the very first day I forced him to submit to the regime common to all his fellow pilots: at first they all had to work side by side with mechanics. Just like mechanics, he listened to engines, got dirty. .. greased his hands. He never grumbled, was not afraid of menial work, and soon I was convinced that he had won the respect of the workers...

The school of ground services came in handy for Saint-Exupéry in his personal life, more precisely, when he got his own plane. I won’t go into details, but I will say one thing - he didn’t live well then, but he owned an airplane. At that time, civil aviation was barely spreading its wings; Few people foresaw its astounding flowering at that time. It’s just that at that time aviators were honored. The general public believed that they were all some kind of eccentrics, adventurers, although cute, but what motivates them and what they strive for is unclear.

Yes, public opinion considered it an adventure, and it required courage, but it was justified and based on accurate calculations. Saint-Exupéry belonged to the cohort of the most sought-after people in aviation at that time - those who combine courage and composure, have logical thinking. This is how his superiors assessed his work at Cap Jubi:
"Exceptional ability, a pilot of rare courage, an excellent master of his craft, showed remarkable composure and rare dedication. The commander of the airfield at Cap Jubi, in the desert, surrounded by hostile tribes, constantly risking his life, performing his duties with a devotion that is beyond praise. Spent several brilliant operations. Repeatedly flew over the most dangerous areas, searching for pilots Rena and Serra captured by hostile tribes. Rescued from an area occupied by an extremely warlike population, the wounded crew of a Spanish aircraft, almost falling into the hands of the Moors, endured the harsh working conditions in the area. desert, daily risked his life. With his zeal, devotion, noble dedication, he made a huge contribution to the cause of French aeronautics, significantly contributed to the success of our civil aviation ... "

In 1929, Exupery headed the branch of his airline in Buenos Aires. In 1931 he married a widow Spanish writer Gomez Carrillo - Consuelo, a native of South America.

In 1931 he returned to Europe, again flew on postal lines, and was also a test pilot.

In 1934-1935, he worked as an official on special assignments for Air France in Asia, from Turkey to Vietnam, where he preferred, so to speak, “with or without reason” to travel on airplanes. The books have described many times forced landings in the desert, and, less so, emergency splashdowns of seaplanes. But in practice there was a very interesting case.
“His first trip to Cambodia was interrupted by an accident,” the engine failed as he flew over the flooded forests in the Mekong basin. While waiting for a rescue boat, Saint-Exupéry and his friend Pierre Gaudier spent the night among this chaotic mixture of water and land, peacefully talking to the itching singing mosquitoes and croaking frogs.

Since the mid-1930s. He also acted as a journalist, in particular, in 1935 he visited Moscow as a correspondent for Paris-Soir and described this visit in five interesting essays. On May 20, 1935, the Izvestia newspaper published an article that speaks for itself: “On the driving force.”
I flew on the Maxim Gorky plane shortly before its death. These corridors, this salon, these cabins, this powerful roar of eight engines, this internal telephone connection - everything was different from the air environment I was used to. But even more than the technical perfection of the aircraft, I admired the young crew and the impulse that was common to all these people. I admired their seriousness and the inner joy with which they worked... The feelings that overwhelmed these people seemed to me more powerful driving force, rather than the power of the giant’s eight magnificent engines. Deeply shocked, I experience the mourning in which Moscow is plunged today. I also lost friends whom I had only just met, but who already seemed infinitely close to me. Alas, they will never again laugh in the face of the wind, these young and strong people. I know that this tragedy was not caused by a technical error, the ignorance of the builders, or the oversight of the crew. This tragedy is not one of those tragedies that can make people doubt their abilities. The giant plane was gone. But the country and the people who created it will be able to bring to life even more amazing ships - miracles of technology.

There was one enterprise in Antoine’s biography that could be called truly adventurous. The story about its completion - the 1935 accident in the Libyan desert - was included in "Planet of People", but this, as they say, is tops. But the roots... Saint-Ex learned about a large cash prize for the Paris-Saigon route record and decided to accept the challenge - at that time he really needed money. True, there was no time left (and, in fact, no money) for preparation, but he took a risk. There wasn’t even a radio station on the plane, which was removed in order to take an extra can of gasoline, and if it weren’t for that random Bedouin... Truly Fate, which can be seen, wanted the further continuation of his work!

The second flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego in 1938 was prepared according to all the rules, but at the airfield in Guatemala some “Bedouin” tanker mistakenly poured too much fuel into the tanks. The heat, thin air (the airfield was located almost 1.5 km above sea level) and the short runway left no chance - the overloaded machine collapsed as soon as it left the ground. Saint-Exupéry and his mechanic, Prevost, are pulled from the rubble and hospitalized. This was not the fault of the organizers or crew. Apparently, it's Fate again.

He also went to war in Spain as a correspondent. In 1937, from Paris-Soir, Saint-Exupéry arrived in civil war-torn Spain on his own plane. He was not a "Spanish pilot", but his task was no less important. The great powers were testing new weapons there - "information warfare" technologies - and the appearance on the fronts of an unprecedented number of world-famous cultural figures (Saint-Ex was just one of many famous writers, journalists, film directors, etc.) was far from accidental. The tests were successful - never before had a word had such an impact on the course of a war - and Saint-Exupery would later use this power to attract the United States to liberate France from the Nazis.

In March 1939, Saint-Exupery went to the Third Reich. “He returned to Paris the next day after the Germans entered Prague, refusing the meeting he had been promised with Goering; he did not want to remain for an hour longer in a hostile state, the head of which had already thrown off his mask,” wrote Georges Polissier. “Who produces so many machines and leaves them without shelter, in the rain and wind, if he doesn’t think to put them into action immediately! Dear friend, this is war!”

A little-known page of Saint-Exupery's life related to the war concerns his activities as an inventor. Even before the start of active hostilities, he developed the principle of night camouflage of ground objects using... light.
At the beginning of the war, Polissier wrote, flying at night over darkened Toulouse, he noticed that on a clear night one could discern the entire layout of the city, down to the smallest detail, and it was not difficult to drop bombs on any target. The blackout did a very poor job of camouflaging Toulouse. Shrouded in the flood of light, Buenos Aires, which he observed on the mail flight, was perfectly covered. Therefore, in order to camouflage the city, it is better not to darken it, but to illuminate it. But this is only for the worst. Thus, you hide certain details, but reveal the whole purpose. And Saint-Ex immediately finds a great way to confuse the enemy: you need to blind him! It will never recognize cities or individual targets at night if they are flooded with a wide strip of very bright, evenly distributed lights. Saint-Ex developed his project comprehensively, down to the finest technical details...
Military specialists became interested in his invention... The first practical tests gave excellent results. But this experiment could not be continued: it was interrupted by the German invasion."

It was he who proposed to combat the freezing of machine guns at high altitudes, using a special lubricant that would absorb condensing vapors and, accordingly, prevent the weapon from jamming. It is said that he foresaw the future dominance of jet engines, the advent of radar and even nuclear weapons, but here he acted rather as a deep thinker with the abilities of an engineer.

By the beginning of the “Phantom War” of 1939, Antoine had sufficient authority to somehow influence his appointment during mobilization. And he asked to join the fighters - fortunately, he had experience in maneuverable air combat. In addition, a single-seat fighter ideally corresponded to his ideas about fighting - one on one, eye to eye with the enemy, when the outcome of the battle depends entirely on the skill of the pilot, his unity with his machine...

However, age and the results of the medical examination (plus the desire of the country’s leadership to protect famous writer) allowed him to get on board bombers only, and then only as an instructor in a training unit. Of course, this did not satisfy him. Moreover, as friends recalled, he did not accept the very concept of bomber aviation, “bringing death blindly to everyone indiscriminately.” Saint-Ex continues to pester the command in every possible way and, in the end, he is sent to combat squadron 2/33, as a pilot of the Bloch B.174 long-range reconnaissance aircraft, created on the basis of a bomber.

But the most interesting thing is that later this situation repeated itself. After the surrender, Saint-Ex sought to be sent to the Eastern Front, to the Normandy squadron, but was refused.

At the beginning of World War II, Saint-Exupéry made several combat missions and was nominated for an award (Croix de Guerre).

In July 1940, when there were only a few days left before the armistice (as French politicians preferred to call the surrender of their country), Group 2/33, in which Saint-Ex fought, was ordered to evacuate to Algeria, and he made a desperate attempt to somehow still help continue the fight against Nazism.

In Bordeaux, straight from the factory, he takes away the large four-engine Farman-223 and, having loaded several dozen “irreconcilable” French and Polish aviators into it, heads south. But soon a truce is signed in North Africa, and he leaves for the USA.

Now for Saint-Exupery the only weapon is the word. In 1942, Military Pilot was published. It is curious that this book is immediately banned by both the Nazis and the puppet government of Vichy, and... supporters of de Gaulle. Moreover, the former are for promoting disobedience and resistance, and the latter are for allegedly “defeatist sentiments.” However, it continues to be published underground.

"I visited him on Long Island in big house, which they filmed with Consuelo. Saint-Exupery worked at night. After dinner he talked, told stories, showed card tricks, then, closer to midnight, when others went to bed, he sat down at his desk. I fell asleep. At about two in the morning I was woken up by shouts on the stairs: “Consuelo! Consuelo!.. I’m hungry... Cook me some scrambled eggs.” Consuelo came down from her room. Having finally woken up, I joined them, and Saint-Exupery spoke again, and he spoke very well. Having had his fill, he sat down to work again. We tried to fall asleep again. But the sleep was short-lived, because two hours later the whole house was filled with loud cries: “Consuelo! I’m bored. Let’s play chess.” Then he read to us the pages he had just written, and Consuelo, herself a poet, suggested cleverly invented episodes."

In New York, among other things, he wrote his most famous book"The Little Prince" (1942, published 1943).

And in 1943, he took up arms again, arriving in North Africa with the American Expeditionary Force. The Americans appointed him as a co-pilot on the B-26 bomber - again, in a unit that, as they say, “did not have the chance” for active combat operations. But the tireless Saint-Ex achieved a return to his squadron. This time it was armed with Lockheed P-38F-4 and P-38F-5 aircraft - reconnaissance versions of the Lightning. Unlike the low-speed B..174, the Lightnings felt much more at ease in the military skies of Europe. Even the lack of weapons did not hinder them - they easily evaded any persecution. At least from almost anyone. Indeed, only a few types of the latest German machines could compete with them in speed and flight altitude. But the Focke-Wulf FW-190D-9 was one of those. “Antoine demanded that all flights to the Annessy region, where he spent his childhood, remain with him. But not one of them went well, and Major de Saint-Exupéry’s last flight ended there. The first time he barely escaped the fighters, on the second, his oxygen device failed and he had to descend to a dangerous height for an unarmed reconnaissance officer; on the third, one of the engines failed. Before the fourth flight, the fortune teller predicted that he would die. sea ​​water, and Saint-Exupéry, laughingly telling his friends about this, noted that she most likely mistook him for a sailor."

And on July 31, 1944, a pair of German fighters successfully intercepted a Lightning-class reconnaissance aircraft off the French coast, which “... after the battle caught fire and fell into the sea,” as German radio reported. That day, Major de Saint-Exupéry left the Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica on a reconnaissance flight and did not return from the mission. His route passed right through this area...

For a long time nothing was known about his death. And only in 1998, in the sea near Marseille, a fisherman discovered a bracelet. There were several inscriptions on it: “Antoine”, “Consuelo” (that was the name of the pilot’s wife) and “c/o Reynal & Hitchcock, 386 4th Ave. NYC USA." This was the address of the publishing house where Saint-Exupery's books were published.

In May 2000, diver Luc Vanrel said that at a depth of 70 meters he discovered the wreckage of an airplane that may have belonged to Saint-Exupéry. The remains of the plane were scattered over a strip one kilometer long and 400 meters wide. Almost immediately, the French government banned any searches in the area. Permission was received only in the fall of 2003. Experts recovered fragments of the plane. One of them turned out to be part of the pilot's cabin; the serial number of the aircraft was preserved: 2734-L. Using American military archives, scientists compared all the numbers of aircraft that disappeared during this period. Thus, it turned out that the onboard serial number 2734-L corresponds to the aircraft, which in the US Air Force was listed under the number 42-68223, that is, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft, a modification of the F-4 (long-range photo reconnaissance aircraft), which was flown by Exupery.

The German Air Force logs contain no records of aircraft shot down in this area on July 31, 1944, and the wreckage itself shows no obvious signs of shelling. This gave rise to many versions of the crash, including versions of a technical malfunction and suicide of the pilot. According to press publications from March 2008, German Luftwaffe veteran, 88-year-old Horst Rippert, said that he was the one who shot down Antoine Saint-Exupéry's plane. According to his statements, he did not know who was at the controls of the enemy plane: “I did not see the pilot, only later did I find out that it was Saint-Exupery.”

The books of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the French aviator and writer, have enjoyed deserved popularity 65 years after his death. Most publications, in addition to the works themselves, contain articles by literary critics and researchers telling about the life of the “flying prophet of the twentieth century,” his character, and worldview.

They almost always, one way or another, say that “we cannot fully understand the work of Saint-Exupéry without understanding what aviation was for him.” However, it is precisely the facts from his flight biography that are still among the little-known.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry lit his star. She will forever shine over the Planet of People, serving as a beacon on the path of all romantics and seekers of Truth.

Literary awards

* 1930 - Femina - for the novel “Night Flight”;
* 1939 - Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy - “Wind, Sand and Stars”;
* 1939 - US National Book Award - “Wind, Sand and Stars.”

Military awards

In 1939 he was awarded the Military Cross of the French Republic.

Names in honor

* Aéroport Lyon-Saint-Exupéry in Lyon;
* Asteroid 2578 Saint-Exupéry, discovered by astronomer Tatyana Smirnova (discovered on November 2, 1975 under the number “B612”);

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - French writer, professional pilot, philosopher and humanist. His real name is Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry. The writer was born on June 29, 1900 in Leon. He repeatedly said that “flying and writing are the same thing.” In his work, the prose writer skillfully combined reality and fantasy; all of his works can be called motivating and inspiring.

Count's family

The future writer was born into the family of Count Jean de Saint-Exupery, he was the third child. When the boy was 4 years old, his father died, and his mother raised the children. The children's first years were spent on the Saint-Maurice estate, which belonged to their grandmother.

From 1908 to 1914, Antoine and his brother François studied at the Jesuit College of Le Mans in Montreux, then they went to a Swiss Catholic boarding school. In 1917 the young man received additional education at the Paris School of Fine Arts in the department of architecture.

Flight activities

In 1921, Saint-Exupéry was drafted into the army and was assigned to the second fighter aviation regiment. Initially, the guy worked in a repair shop, but in 1923 he completed pilot courses and passed the exam to become a civilian pilot. Shortly after this, he headed to Morocco, where he retrained as a military pilot.

At the end of 1922, Antoine flies to the 34th Aviation Regiment, which was located near Paris. A few months later he had to survive the first plane crash in his life. After this, the young man decides to stay and live in the capital of France, where he earns literary work. The works of the unknown author were not popular with readers, so he had to work as a salesman in a bookstore and even sell cars.

In 1926, Saint-Exupéry began to fly again. He is hired as a pilot for the Aerostal company; the writer specialized in delivering correspondence to North Africa. A year later, he managed to become the head of the airport, at the same time his debut story “The Pilot” was published. The young man returns to France for six months, where he signs an agreement with the publisher Gaston Guillimard. The prose writer undertakes to write seven novels, and his work “Southern Postal” is published in the same year.

Since September 1929, the young man has been working as the head of the Buenos Aires branch of the Aeropostal Argentina company. In 1930 he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. A year later, Antoine decides to return to Europe, where he again gets a job working for postal airlines. At the same time, the writer received the Femina literary award for his work “Night Flight”.

Since the mid-30s, the prose writer has been engaged in journalism. He visits Moscow, after this visit 5 essays were written. In one of them, Saint-Exupery tried to describe the essence of Stalin's policies. Antoine also wrote a series of war reports from Spain. In 1934 he survived several accidents and was seriously injured. In the same year, he applies for the invention of a new aircraft landing system. In December 1935, a man crashes in the Libyan desert on the way from Paris to Saigon, but miraculously remains alive.

In 1939, the man became a laureate of two prestigious competitions. He received an award from the French Academy for his book "Planet of Humans" and a US National Book Award for his essay "Wind, Sand and Stars." For his participation in the reconnaissance operation over Arras in May 1940, the writer was awarded the Military Cross.

Wartime

Antoine fought against the fascist invaders from the first day of the war. He preferred to do this not only with the help of physical force, but also with the help of words, being both a publicist and a military pilot. When France was occupied by Germany, the writer headed to the free part of the country, then he moved to the USA.

In February 1943, the book “Military Pilot” was published in the USA; in the spring of the same year, the prose writer received an order for a children’s fairy tale. In 1943 Saint-Exupéry served in North Africa. It was during this period of his life that he wrote the story “Letter to a Hostage” and the fairy tale “The Little Prince,” which children and adults still read with pleasure.

Despite the fact that the publishing house ordered a children's fairy tale from the writer, the book "The Little Prince" can be called a full-fledged one. philosophical work. Antoine was able to convey simple and important truths of life with the help of skillful artistic means. He does not dwell on minor personal problems, showing the depth of consciousness of each person. His drunkard, businessman and king perfectly demonstrates the shortcomings of society, but the essence lies much deeper. A famous phrase“We are responsible for those we have tamed” will make even a skeptic think.

Last years of life

During his life, Saint-Exupery managed to be a test pilot, military man and correspondent. Died great writer On July 31, 1944, his plane was shot down by his opponents. For a long time, the details of Antoine’s death were not known, but in 1998 a fisherman found his bracelet.

Two years later, fragments of the plane on which the prose writer flew were discovered. It is noteworthy that on aircraft no obvious traces of shelling were found, and this led to the emergence of many versions of the writer’s death. His last book The collection of parables and aphorisms “Citadel” is recognized. The writer never managed to finish it; the work was published in 1948.

Saint-Exupéry spent his entire life with one woman; he was married to Consuelo Suitsin. After the tragedy, she moved to New York, then went to France. There the woman was engaged in sculpture, she was also an artist. For many years, the widow devoted her work to perpetuating the memory of her husband.