Writer, pilot, aristocrat: ‘Little Prince’ author Antoine de Saint- Exupéry did it all

In 1944, pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry vanished while flying over the Mediterranean on a mission for the Free French Air Force during World War II.

Saint-Exupéry was much more than a heroic pilot, of course. He was the author of the beloved children’s book “The Little Prince,” which was first published in the United States in 1943. A new animated film version of the book opens in theaters and premieres on Netflix on Friday.

While the pioneering aviator became famous for the children’s book inspired by his own plane crash in the Sahara desert, he was already known for his adult fiction and nonfiction works, most notably “Night Flight” and “Wind, Sand and Stars,” both considered some of the greatest writing ever about flying.

At age 31 — while flying as a commercial pilot with airmail routes in Europe, Africa and South America — Saint-Exupéry published the international bestseller “Night Flight,” a novel based on his airmail adventures in Argentina.

Eight years later, in 1939, the French aristocrat wrote “Wind, Sand and Stars,” a memoir recounting his experiences flying over the African Sahara and South American Andes while working for the Aéropostale airmail carrier. Included in the memoir are details of Saint-Exupéry’s 1935 crash in the Sahara, between Benghazi and Cairo.

While “The Little Prince” is a much more lighthearted account, Saint-Exupéry provided the more serious details of the near-death incident in “Wind, Sand and Stars.” The memoir won various literary awards, including the 1939 National Book Award for nonfiction. It’s a work that’s celebrated for its lyrical prose, its philosophical musings and its visceral excitement — it was named as the third-greatest adventure book by National Geographic.

After flying in the French air force, Saint-Exupéry joined the Free French air force in North Africa during World War II despite his poor health and being beyond the maximum age for a wartime pilot. That’s when the author wrote, illustrated and published his last work, “The Little Prince,” before his plane went missing during a reconnaissance mission.

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