Top 10 Fun Facts about Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Photo Source: Wikimedia

Top 10 Fun Facts about Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist, and pioneer aviator. He is also the author of the bestseller novel “Night Flight”.

Antoine was born on June 29, 1900, in Lyon, France, to an impoverished aristocratic family. He was the third born child of Marie de Fonscolombe and  Jean de Saint-Exupéry.

Saint-Exupery was an inventive child, he conducted bathtub experiments, attached wings to his bicycle, and also wrote poetry about his home and his family.

His works are the unique testimony of a pilot and a warrior who looked at adventure and danger with a poet’s eyes. His fable ‘The Little Prince’ has become a modern classic.

Here are the top ten fun facts about Antoine de Saint-Exupery;

1. Antoine de Saint-Exupery experienced his first flight at age 12

Saint-Exupery fell in love with aviation at a young age. After failing his naval exams and dropping out of architecture school, Saint-Exupery became relentless in his pursuit of becoming a pilot.

In 1921, he was conscripted into the French air force and he qualified as a military pilot a year later. He joined a famous airmail line, ‘Aeropostale’ in Toulouse In 1926.

Antoine worked as a test pilot, a public attaché for Air France, and a reporter for Paris- Soir In the 1930s.

2. Antoine de Saint-Exupery miraculously survived a plane crash in 1935

In 1935, Saint-Exupery along with his mechanic-navigator Andre Prevot crashed in the Libyan Desert during an attempt to break the speed record in a Paris-to-Saigon air race.

Both Saint-Exupery and Prevot miraculously survived the crash, only to face rapid dehydration in the intense desert heat. Their maps were primitive leaving them with no idea of their location.

Lost among the sand dunes, their supplies quickly dwindled. By the second and third day, they were so dehydrated that they stopped sweating.

On the fourth day, a Bedouin on a camel discovered them and administered a native rehydration treatment which saved their lives.

3. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a Fighter Pilot in the Second World War

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As the Second World War broke out, Saint-Exupery began flying ‘near suicidal’ reconnaissance missions until the fall of France in 1940.

Antoine traveled to the United States in an attempt to persuade its government to enter the war against Nazi Germany.

He lived in New York between January 1941 and April 1943 and it was during this period that he wrote extensively and emerged as a prolific writer.

In 1943, he went back into the War again, this time fighting with the American troops and flying the famous French reconnaissance bomber, Bloch MB.170.

4. Antoine de Saint-Exupery made a Breakthrough in writing with the Novel Night Flight’

Photo by lapresse.ca from Wikimedia

In 1931, Saint-Exupery came out with his second book, ‘Night Flight’, a novel about the harrowing adventures of brave pilots.

Antoine used his plane as an instrument to explore the world and to discover human solidarity in the fraternal efforts of men to accomplish their tasks.

His novel became an international bestseller immediately after it was released, winning the Prix Femina. It was later acted as a movie by Clark Gable, making Saint-Exupery an international sensation.

5. Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Airmail Job made him an Explorer

During his stint as a pilot in Aeropostale, Saint-Exupery discovered his ability in exploring. He thrived in that field and emerged as an avid voyager.

Reminiscing about his shack in Cape Juby in Western Sahara, he wrote “I have never loved my house more than when I lived in the desert.”

The Aeropostale’s airplanes were prone to regular accidents as they were not well maintained. This made him very reliant on his fellow pilots, as they were always rescuing each other.

6. Antoine de Saint-Exupery had a strained Marital Relationship

Photo by Elgaroberro from Wikimedia

In 1931, Saint-Exupery met and married a charismatic, and fiery widow named Consuelo Carrillo from El Salvador.

In her memoir, Consuelo revealed that Saint-Exupery proposed the same night they met in Buenos Aires. She moved to France to be close to him bringing a puma as a present.

After both were found to be involved in extramarital affairs. they were forced to live separately.

7. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a Reckless Pilot

Photo by Harry Zilber from Wikimedia

Though Antoine was an experienced pilot, he was very unprofessional and a reckless flier. People would find balled-up pieces of paper in the cockpit and there one time he delayed landing until he finished the novel he was reading.

Despite Antonie surviving several plane crashes,  his luck run out in 1944, when he was killed after his plane was shot down in the Mediterranean Sea.

8. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was an Accomplished Writer

Saint-Exupery was an accomplished writer, and  He published his first novel “The Aviator” in 1926.

His publication of the “Night Flight” in 1932 established him as a rising star in the literary world. The novel was his first major work to gain international recognition, and it went on to win the Prix Femina.

Antoine wrote extensively during the two years he stayed in the United States of America, before coming back to France where he died one year later.

9. Antoine de Saint-Exupery died Doing what he Liked

On July 31, 1944, Antoine left Corsica in an unarmed P-38 for a reconnaissance mission over occupied France. He failed to return to the base at the appointed time and did not make any radio communication.

Search and rescue teams failed to find him or his plane,  and he was deemed to have died in action. His mysterious disappearance made international news with many unfounded speculations.

In 2000, a scuba diver discovered plane wreckage in the Mediterranean Sea which was later identified as Saint-Exupery’s missing plane.

 Antoine’s body has never been recovered and what happened to him remains unknown.

10. Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a National Hero in France

Image by French Banknotes Designer from Wikimedia

Saint-Exupery had achieved fame in France as an aviator, a military pilot, and an accomplished writer.

In 1993, the French government issued a commemorative banknote of 50-franc comprising his portrait and several of his drawings from his bestseller novel‘The Little Prince.’