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

[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

[RolandF]

Nothing of the nonsense written in the international press (the usual "Nazi pilot" sensational stories etc.) especially the obvious crap written in the otherwise good informed French "Figaro" appears in the German press of today. In his younger days Horst Rippert has been a reasonable and reliable sport´s jounalist working for the German TV channel ZDF, being one of the first reporters being employed when the channel started to work in the 60s. I hope he has not lost his credibility and his wits due to his high age...

Anyway, I understand the story as follows: German TV journalists from the otherwise very reliable public channel "ZDF" were researching for a known German historical documentary series "Tauchfahrt in die Vergangenheit" about archeological sites on the sea bottom like any kind of ship wrecks.
As one of the topics Saint-Exupery´s Lockheed F-5 reconaissance wreck was chosen. To spread some light on the puzzle they researched the adresses of former JGr 200 pilots being still alive and having been stationed in Southern France during the crucial time in 1944.

Horst Reinert´s name appeared on this list so they contacted their former colleague. When the journalists started to interview Reinert about his opinions about Saint-Exupery´s death (the story of his brother Hans-Rolf aka "Ivan Rebroff" has nothing to do with WW2, here the "Figaro" is writing utter nonsense), he said: "You can refrain from further search - it was me..."

I´m still sceptical because of his 64-year-long silence but ZDF announces a TV report with the final proofs. So let´s see...

Regards

Fran

[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!

[Tom Semenza]

Here's another bizare twist on the Saint Exupery story. I just found this quote from a caption in Osprey's "French Aces of World War 2" by Barry Ketley:

"Cleared to fly another five missions, Saint Exupery successfully completed eight from Bastia before being shot down into the sea by two pre-production Fw 190D-9s on 31 July 1944 off St Raphael." (!?!)

This seems even more incredible than Rippert's claim.

Tom