Antoine de Saint-Exupéry shot down by German fighter

[WolfThieme]

On July 31, 1944 the famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was killed near Marseille when a German Messerschmitt shot down his French P 38 Lightning plane. In 2008 the former German pilot Horst Rippert of the Jagdgeschwader 27 claimed that he was the responsible pilot. There were many doubts because Rippert was telling also the he was promoted from Obergefreiter to Leutnant by Hermann Göring in person and also had the Ritterkreuz. There is no prove for this. But I think the Jagdgeschwader 27 registered all encounters with allied war planes and that I do think that not more than one Lightning was shot down near Marseille on July 31, 1944 and who the responsible pilot was. Thank you Wolf Thieme

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi Wolf,

Nick Beale has done some excellent research on this topic: http://www.ghostbombers.com/JG200/Rippe ... ex_01.html

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - http://www.airwarpublications.com

[WolfThieme]

Hi, Andrew, thank you, this was very informative. But at least the fate of Saint-Exupéry is still open. When Rippert was 16 he went to school in our little German town. He had a Jewish grandmother and I think because of that he was never promoted and stayed "Obergefreiter" until war's end.
Regards, Wolf