Saint-Exupéry’s Last Flight

Back as an Allied reconnaissance pilot, Saint-Exupéry took off from Corsica to photograph southern France and never returned. Half a century later his bracelet and the wreck of his plane were found off Marseille.

In 1943, though over the age limit, Saint-Exupéry rejoined his old reconnaissance squadron in North Africa. On the morning of 31 July 1944 he took off from Borgo airfield on Corsica in an F-5B (the photo-reconnaissance version of the P-38 Lightning) to photograph southern France, and did not come back.

In 1998 a fisherman off Marseille brought up a silver bracelet engraved with his and his wife’s names; in 2000 the wreck of the plane was found on the seabed near Riou Island and confirmed as his in 2004. Why it went down is still unknown.