Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de (1900–44), French aviator and author. After serving in the French Army Air Force (1921–23), he flew commercial routes between France, West Africa, and South America. Most of his writing gives accounts of his flying experiences (Southern Mail, 1928) and the philosophical and spiritual meaning he found in its challenges (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939). His most famous work, however, is the fantasy The Little Prince (1943). Saint-Exupéry flew reconnaissance missions during World War II, disappearing over Europe on one such mission in 1944.