Publication of Night Flight

Also called: Vol de nuit

Night Flight, a novel of pilots carrying the mail by night in South America, was published and won the Prix Femina.

From 1929 Saint-Exupéry ran Aéropostale’s South American routes from Argentina and opened a mail line as far as Patagonia. For aeroplanes to beat trains and ships they had to fly by night too — and night flying, with the instruments of the day, risked lives.

In 1931 he published Night Flight, the story of one night for a pilot flying through a storm and for those waiting for him on the ground. With a preface by André Gide, it won the Prix Femina that year and made his name as a writer.