PILOT WHO SHOT DOWN FRENCH LITERARY HERO IDENTIFIED
Received Saturday, 15 March 2008 15:58:00 GMT
BERLIN, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - A former German fighter ace identified as the man who shot down French literary hero Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944 said Saturday he would have held his fire had he known who his victim was.
"If I had known it was Saint-Exupery I would never have shot him down," Horst Rippert, 88, told AFP, adding that the Frenchman had been one of his favourite authors.
Rippert said he had been flying a Messerschmitt Me-109 over the Mediterranean near Toulon on July 31, 1944, when he spotted Saint-Exupery's twin-tailed Lightning.
"He was below me," Rippert said. "I saw his markings and manoeuvred myself behing him and shot him down."
Rippert, who scored 28 victories during the war, became a radio sports journalist after the war, said he only found out for sure recently who it was he had killed.
The former fighter pilot was tracked down by a French diver, Luc Vanrell, and the founder of an organisation researching aircraft shot down during the war, Lino van Gartzen.
The results of their findings are recounted in a book, "Saint-Exupery, the last secret," to be published in French on March 20.
For many years mystery surrounded the disappearance of Saint-Exupery, 44, a pioneer aviator known for his books about flying and his children's fantasy "The Little Prince."
He was serving at the ripe age of 44 with a Free French air force reconnaissance squadron based in Corsica when he failed to return from a mission to prepare for the landing of the allies in southern France.
Two years after a bracelet belonging to him was found in a fisherman's net off Marseille in 1998, diver Vanrell found remains of the Lightning, which were brought to the surface and identified from its serial numbers.

Received Saturday, 15 March 2008 15:58:00 GMT
BERLIN, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - A former German fighter ace identified as the man who shot down French literary hero Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944 said Saturday he would have held his fire had he known who his victim was.
"If I had known it was Saint-Exupery I would never have shot him down," Horst Rippert, 88, told AFP, adding that the Frenchman had been one of his favourite authors.
Rippert said he had been flying a Messerschmitt Me-109 over the Mediterranean near Toulon on July 31, 1944, when he spotted Saint-Exupery's twin-tailed Lightning.
"He was below me," Rippert said. "I saw his markings and manoeuvred myself behing him and shot him down."
Rippert, who scored 28 victories during the war, became a radio sports journalist after the war, said he only found out for sure recently who it was he had killed.
The former fighter pilot was tracked down by a French diver, Luc Vanrell, and the founder of an organisation researching aircraft shot down during the war, Lino van Gartzen.
The results of their findings are recounted in a book, "Saint-Exupery, the last secret," to be published in French on March 20.
For many years mystery surrounded the disappearance of Saint-Exupery, 44, a pioneer aviator known for his books about flying and his children's fantasy "The Little Prince."
He was serving at the ripe age of 44 with a Free French air force reconnaissance squadron based in Corsica when he failed to return from a mission to prepare for the landing of the allies in southern France.
Two years after a bracelet belonging to him was found in a fisherman's net off Marseille in 1998, diver Vanrell found remains of the Lightning, which were brought to the surface and identified from its serial numbers.


Pilot who shot down French literary hero identifiedcrapo

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Uno de mis veteranos compañeros del Foro U-Historia nos informa de esta noticia:

'El Principito' / Antoine de Saint-Exupéry en 1944

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Götze Por si queréis trasladar al resto de foros de la 2GM.

One of my veteran friends of the Forum U-Historia informs us of this article:

'The Little Prince' / Antoine de Saint-Exupery-1944'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Götze If you want to move the rest of the WWII/WW2 forums. .

A German aviator said to have downed the plane of the author of 'The Little Prince'
Horst Rippert, 88 years old, made the shot the plane, which was headed by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944 and whose body has never been found.
The man said the newspaper 'La Provence'.
For more information:
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/360567/piloto/derribar/principito/
http://www.laprovence.com/articles/2008/03/15/338952-Region-Ils-ont-retrouve-le-pilote-qui-a-abattu-Saint-Exupery.php
http://www.laprovence.com/articles/2008/03/14/338911-Region-en-direct-Video.php




Jan.

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La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish

Incredible story. Thanx for sharing it, Skipper!

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You are welcome Kai. I saw Rippert's interview on TV . It was excellent they also showed a picture of him in 1944. Apparently he served under JGr.200 for a few weeks because JG27 was reorganizing in Germany during the mid Summer.
The P-38 was found a few years ago.
St Ex was very popular among flyers from all nationalities and was well known in Germany way before the war. He was a novelist and a veteran pilot from the Aeropostale in the 30s. In fact he was too old to fly but he was so passionate that even forbiding him to fly his P-38 would not help.

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Hi Jan, I just merged our two posts as they were dealing with the same topic.

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Good post, both of you.

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Best Regards,
JW

hmmmmmmm JG 27 you say, mid summer the unit was in defense of Normandie except II. gruppe stationed in Austria taking on the US 15th AF with twin engine Bf 110G-2 II./ZG 1

Hi Skipper, thank you for this story. Really sad to read.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

"Two years after a bracelet belonging to him was found in a fisherman's net off Marseille in 1998." Wow! What are the odd in that ever happening? What became of the bracelet?

Erich, I mentionned he was assigned to JGr200 while JG27 was reorganizing

The story of the Bracelet is incredible. The poor fisherman was even accused of making it up. But then a passionate diver started looking at the place the fisherman had dropped his nets and he found two wreckages, a P-38 and a German fighter. Then parts of the P-38 were salvages and the serials were checked. The fisherman was right! I think he donated the bracelet to the next of kin or to a museum, I don't remember.

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A moving story, thank you. I myself have read a few of St.Ex's books, Le Petit Prince of course, plus Courier du Sud, Vol de Nuit, Terre des Hommes that I remember.

I'm impressed here Za, those are some of his major works.

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Thank you. How sad...it must have been hard emotionally on the German pilot when he was told.

I wonder how many others had to face learning that they had killed someone they knew or knew about and wished the vagary of war had not put them in that place and time.

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

Amazing! Just a few days ago I saw a featurette in the newspaper on him which said that he had "disappeared" on a reconnaissance mission. It also said that they had found some pieces of his plane near where he disappeared a few years ago.

I will let you know about the follow ups, I'm certain there will be something.

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Good post.

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There was a interview of Horts Rippert yesterday on French national news , He again said that had he know it was Saint Ex he would "never have shot, not at him" I will try to find out if there is an English translation available. If not I can always post the link in Franch, you would at least be able to see the video

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Y si alguno entendéis el Francés podéis pasaros por el INA Francés y sus audiovisuales..

Saint Exupéry in the "Institut national de l’Audiovisuel -INA" Archives pour tous



Jan.

__________________
La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish

Skipper

...you are not concerned at Jacques Pradel's involvement here - for non-French readers Pradel is a well-known TV 'investigative' journalist & reseacher into paranormal phenomena - makes documentaries on 'mysteries' such as the Roswell incident/autopsy...

..besides, Rippert's story just doesn't stand up...why has he waited 60+ years to tell his story..how did he know Saint-Ex was flying this plane (assuming he ever saw it), where is his victory claim etc etc....