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

[gaynako]

That's the BIG Question ! Where is the Rippert's log book ? A pilot never part with his log book..On the log book, we will be able to find what he was doing on the 31st of July 1944. If it is said to be lost, we can consider the whole thing to be just dirty trick.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by gaynako

A pilot never part with his log book.

I have spoken to Luftwaffe pilots who had their logbooks taken by the US or British troops who captured them; another whose home was in the Soviet zone and destroyed his logbook because he feared what would happen if he was found with a "Nazi" document. The late Erich Sommer lost most of his personal effects when a trailer fell into a ravine when his unit was retreating through the Alps from Italy.

[P61Studies]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

I have spoken to Luftwaffe pilots who had their logbooks taken by the US or British troops who captured them; another whose home was in the Soviet zone and destroyed his logbook because he feared what would happen if he was found with a "Nazi" document. The late Erich Sommer lost most of his personal effects when a trailer fell into a ravine when his unit was retreating through the Alps from Italy.

Destruction of flight logs and the like is nothing uncommon on any side really. Strictly speaking, it certainly isn't the wisest thing, for those who did it, to take logbooks in the air with them. Logbooks can contain valuable intel for the capturers. On the ground, tons and tons of German documentation was destroyed on the ground to prevent it's capture; I'm sure more than a few logbooks ended up in burn cans. The same situation befell US forces during the fall of the Philippines in 1942. I'm sure the Brits went through the same in the Far East, France & the Lowlands and so on.

As far as my take on Exupery...this sounds like a lot of BS. The reality is we'll probably never know to a majority satisfaction who killed him, or if it was an accident or whatever other theories are floating around.

On another note, I recall that not too many years back, Exupery's medals were up for auction. Anyone know anything about that?