FINDING SAINT-EX

THE WRECKAGE OF A LOCKHEED LIGHTNING FLOWN BY A FAMOUS AVIATOR/AUTHOR HAS BEEN DISCOVERED 60 YEARS AFTER ITS DISAPPEARANCE OVER THE MEDITERRANEAN

During April, the French government confirmed that aircraft wreckage found in the Mediterranean belonged to a Lockheed Lightning flown by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the famous pioneering aviator and even more famous author of books such as The Little Prince.

The pilot vanished on 31 July 1944 while flying a reconnaissance mission. At age 44, Saint-Exupery was considered to be well over-age for these missions but he used his considerable influence to get posted to an operational squadron. General Ira Eaker helped the pilot join the Armee de l'Air's II/33 squadron which was incorporated into the Anglo-American Third Photo Reconnaissance Group at Alghero, Sardinia. Interestingly, this was the squadron he was serving with when war broke out in 1939. However, at that time he was flying clumsy biplanes.

Saint-Ex, as friends called him, carried out a number of daring missions over enemy positions until France surrendered. He eventually moved to New York in 1941 and continued his writing career.

When the Allies landed in North Africa on 6 November 1942, Saint-Ex began scheming on how to get back to his old unit, which had been reconstituted under American command. He eventually got permission in May 1943 and received an indoctrination in the Lightning - an aircraft that was a quantum leap over anything else he had ever flown. On 21 July 1943, the pilot was returning from a recon mission over the Rhone Valley but wrecked the Lightning in a botched landing. The commanding officer immediately grounded Saint-Ex. The pilot returned to his writing and work on a system of jet propulsion. However, he kept trying to get back to his unit and, as can be read above, succeeded.

What Saint-Ex did not know was that he would be allowed to fly only a limited number of missions. The pilot took off at 0830 on 31 July 1944 for a mission to Grenoble and Annecy. What he did not know was that he was going to be grounded for good upon returning. However, he never returned and for France the mystery of Saint-Ex was akin to the American interest in Amelia Earhart's last flight.

The wreckage was a stunning discovery. "This was our holy grail," stated Philippe Castellano, president of a group of aviation buffs that helped authorities identify the debris. "We never even imagined this."

Teams have been searching up and down the coast near the rugged cliffs of Provence for decades and many experts believed the plane went down too far out to sea to be recovered.

Clues to the crash started coming together in 1998 when a bracelet bearing Saint-Exupery's name turned up in a fisherman's net near Marseille. Some reports said the find was a fake. "For six years, people had their doubts," said fisherman Jean-Claude Bianco. "People claimed I made it myself."

But Bianco's discovery jogged the memory of a local scuba diver who first saw aircraft debris imbedded in the ocean bed during the 1980s. Diver Luc Vanrell pored over records of downed aircraft. By 2000, he was convinced he had found the right one. But it took time to get permission from France's Culture Ministry to have the pieces brought up for analysis.

The aircraft had broken into hundreds of pieces upon impact with the ocean and pieces were at 100- to 300-ft below the surface, less than three miles from the coast between Marseille and Cassis. The key find was a piece bearing the serial number 2734L. The F-5B-1LO Lightning being flown by Saint-Ex was USAAF s/n 42-68223 and 2734 was the plane's construction number. The L referred to a component fitted on the left side of the Lightning.

A piece of the puzzle remains yet unanswered: The cause of the crash. Theories have ranged from hostile gunfire to suicide. The debris has so far yielded no clues. "It is impossible to say if he was shot down, if he lost consciousness, or if he had a mechanical accident," stated Patrick Grandjean of the National Department of Subaquatic Archaeological Research.

"In the end, I think everyone is satisfied," said Philippe Castellano. "We didn't find a body, so the myth surrounding his disappearance will live on."

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Jul 2004
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