Pilot Horst Rippert claimed Saint Exupéry : 31 July 1944 / 15 March 2008 !

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Kutscha

Nick, what does XL 4202 para. C say?

No idea, I haven't read that particular file except with reference to operations in Italy.

If anyone wants to check it out, it's on file DEFE3/64 which contains material decypted from 29-31 July 1944. The time needed to decipher the message makes it unlikely that XL 4202 reports on something that happened on 31 July. It may contain an intention for that day's flying though.

[Micozeman]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

No idea, I haven't read that particular file except with reference to operations in Italy.

If anyone wants to check it out, it's on file DEFE3/64 which contains material decypted from 29-31 July 1944. The time needed to decipher the message makes it unlikely that XL 4202 reports on something that happened on 31 July. It may contain an intention for that day's flying though.

Hello.
Sorry to ask a dumb question for this first post but I'm not accustomed with this kind of thing, this Saint-Ex story just amaze me and make me curious...
So are those records you are mentioning are available to public? Are they online?

Thanks and good luck for your research!

[RT]

The feeling of Nick seems pretty good, notices like that concealed for 60 years popping-up at the moment when noboby could argue against...I read the article in the Figaro, there is a picture of Rippert, saying that has half jewish they retain him from front-duty, quite to say that if he was sent in the battle earlier, he will hv win the war, he claims many victories, nd was to hv been decorated of the Ritterkreuz by Hermann himself, + many extraordinary things, concerning his brother Rebroff, who was Ukrainian, as lwf-specialist I am not very pro. but singing is quite my job, nd I hv to say that Rebroff was not a very good singer, nd pretend that he was able to sing 4 octaves....

rémi

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Micozeman

Hello.
Sorry to ask a dumb question for this first post but I'm not accustomed with this kind of thing, this Saint-Ex story just amaze me and make me curious...
So are those records you are mentioning are available to public? Are they online?

Thanks and good luck for your research!

It's all available to the public but only on paper and microfilm, at the UK National Archives. Anyone can visit, you just need some i/d (like a passport) to register as a reader and be issued with a ticket.

[Zemper]

Some additional information that may be of interest....

Here is an article from 2004 where Luc Vanrell, the diver who found Saint-Ex's wreck believes that he committed suicide. According to the article, Saint-Ex suffered from depression, his plane was far of it's planned route and the wreck shows evidence of a vertical crash. http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i040807/i040807.html

The following is taken from Wikipedia about Saint Ex:
"In 2000, a diver named Luc Vanrell found a Lockheed P-38 Lightning crashed in the seabed off the coast of Marseille. Extraction followed in October of 2003. On April 7, 2004, investigators from the French Underwater Archaeological Department confirmed that the plane was, indeed, Saint Exupéry's. The wreckage showed traces of neither shooting nor aerial combat. In June, 2004, fragments were given in June 2004 to the Museum of Air and Space in Le Bourget, France."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exupéry

-Eric Zemper

[Micozeman]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

It's all available to the public but only on paper and microfilm, at the UK National Archives. Anyone can visit, you just need some i/d (like a passport) to register as a reader and be issued with a ticket.

Thanks again for you enlightenments Mr Beal!

[B.F.M. Droog]

When the Lightning of Saint-Ex was found, were there any indication of battle damage?

Regards,

Bart

[Kutscha]

Thanks Nick.

[Andy Saunders]

Rippert? Ritterkreuztrager??

[Jan Bobek]

Originally Posted by Andy Saunders

Rippert? Ritterkreuztrager??

No, do not worry. He had "only" German Cross in Gold.

By thw way the "true" story with Saint-Ex. is rolling over Czech media today. Oh my God, it is like flood.