gemini
Mar 17 2008, 1:01 pm
German Pilot writes book claiming he was the pilot that took down the plane that the
author of The
Little Prince was flying. His body was never recovered.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080316/wl_nm/...K1_BIXBfGWs0NUEQUOTE
German pilot fears he killed writer Saint-Exupery Sun Mar 16, 10:39 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Horst Rippert, an 88-year old former pilot of Germany's Luftwaffe, has said in a forthcoming book that he may have killed French writer and war pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944.
Saint-Exupery, who achieved worldwide fame with his fairy-tale-like book "The Little Prince," died in mysterious circumstances when his plane came down near Marseilles while on a reconnaissance mission. His body has never been found.
Extracts of the book "Saint-Exupery: The Final Secret" were published in Le Figaro magazine over the weekend, and Le Figaro quoted Rippert as saying: "It's me, I shot down Saint-Exupery."
Genie
Mar 17 2008, 1:07 pm
I read about this and dug into the not-so-long-ago findings about this case. When they hauled his P-38 from the sea they said the did not see evidence of the plane being shot down, and that it seemed the plane went vertically down into the sea. At the time they concluded that AdSE committed suicide because of the accusations made against him by de Gaulle and his bunch.
So I'm thinking, case of ex-Nazi pilot sitting in the Alterheim and not getting enough attention? Took the blue pill instead of the pink one?
sarabyrd
Mar 17 2008, 1:09 pm
Does it matter any more, 64 years later? In my opinion, "Le petit prince" is totally overrated except for the illustration of the snake swallowing the elephant, and I threw "Citadelle" out the window. Sticky-sweet hugsy-wugsy fluffy macho philosophy. Thank goodness there was no more of it.
RainyDays
Mar 17 2008, 1:23 pm
There's an interview
"Ich bedauere es zutiefst ...", FAZ.NET March 17th, where he says that he regrets deeply, that he had admired Saint-Exupéry for his writings about flying, and he even considered him a friend.
According to the FAZ article, two books that are about to be published dug out this story, and he now confirms it.
Pleb
Mar 17 2008, 1:23 pm
The little prince was great in my opinion...
gemini
Mar 17 2008, 1:49 pm
I'm with Genie. Sounds like trying to cash in on something he can never proove.
Whether or not one likes the book, it certainly has staying power.
RainyDays
Mar 17 2008, 2:04 pm
As I understand the interview in German, it's not Rippert who is promoting a book (he didn't write one, but the authors Vanrell/Pradel and von Gartzen/Triebel), he just answers questions. And people always have been intrigued by the circumstances of Saint-Exupéry's death.
leisure suit larry
Mar 17 2008, 4:23 pm
Highly doubtful. I am with Genie, I also remember that the wreckage of St Exupéry's plane did not have any bullet holes in it.
On top of that, Mr Rippert is not a very reliable witness: in the FAZ interview he claims to be a holder of the Knight's Cross, Germany's (then) highest decoration for valor. Mr Rippert definitely is no knight's cross holder, he is listed in no directory!
In the post-war years in Germany a lot of shady characters pretended to be knight's cross holders in order to gain status. This just fits well into the unbelievable claims he made.
Just forget about this guy, not worth the publicity.
You are viewing a low fidelity version of this page. Click to view
the full page.
