globeandmail.com: Did this German fighter pilot kill a children's literary hero?

globeandmail.com: Did this German fighter pilot kill a children's literary hero?:

TU THANH HA
From Monday's Globe and Mail
March 17, 2008

If only he had known. Now, in the winter of his life, an elderly German war veteran has stepped forward to say he believes he shot down his literary idol - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of the beloved children's tale, The Little Prince.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have fired - not on him," said the 88-year-old former Luftwaffe fighter pilot Horst Rippert.

The death of the French pilot, who disappeared while on a solo flight for the Allied forces in 1944, had been one of the great mysteries of aviation and 20th-century literature.

In addition to penning The Little Prince - one of the top 50 selling books of all time and translated into more than 100 languages - Saint-Exupéry also wrote eloquently about the pioneering days of aviation, bringing a lyrical touch to tales of risk-taking pilots in exotic locales.

During the weekend, French papers published excerpts from an upcoming book revealing that Saint-Exupéry may have been shot by one of his own readers.

"In our youth, we had all read him; we loved his books," Mr. Rippert said in the excerpts.

"He could deftly describe the sky, the thoughts and feelings of pilots. His work inspired our vocation for many of us. I liked the man."

Mr. Rippert said he suspected within days that he had shot down the famous writer. But he kept quiet, keeping the secret for more than six decades.

"You can imagine what would have happened to my career if people had known what I had done during the war," he said.