SALUT ANTOINE
P-38 Lightning F4, 2éme escadrille du Groupe de Reconnaissance 2/33,
1944, pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
original artwork - oil on canvas, 80x30 cm
personal collection

Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint Exupéry was born in Lyon in 1900. In 1922 he obtained his pilot license. Exupéry became one of the pioneers of international postal flight, in the days when aircraft had few instruments. Saint Exupéry continued to write and fly with postal until the beginning of World War II. During the war, he initially flew with the GR II/33 reconnaissance squadron of the Armée de l'Air. After France's 1940 armistice with Germany, he traveled to the United States where he wrote his famous The Little Prince. Following his nearly twenty-five months in North America, Saint Exupéry returned to Europe to fly with the Free French Forces and fight with the Allies in a Mediterranean-based squadron. In his 43 years he was older than most men assigned such duties and he was assigned with a number of other pilots to P-38 Lightnings, which an officer described as "war-weary, non-airworthy craft." Saint Exupéry's final assignment was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around the Rhone Valley preceding the Allied invasion of southern France. On the evening of July 31, 1944, he left from an airbase on Corsica, and was never seen again. A woman reported having watched a plane crash around noon of August the first near the Bay of Carqueiranne off Toulon. An unidentifiable body wearing French colors was found several days later and buried in Carqueiranne that September. Purchase information: Giclée reproductions Limited Giclée print edition Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Canvas Artist matte 340 gsm  80x30 cm ... price ... 60 EUR                          place an ORDER Limited edition of 50, matting paper 230 gsm, format A2 (594x420 mm) English text price ... 25 EUR  Remarque is possible                      place an ORDER Shipping costs: prints:    EU -  5 EUR, outside EU - 10 EUR, delivery in around 2-3 weeks reproductions (without the "blind" frame):    EU -  10 EUR, outside EU - till 20 EUR, delivery in around 2-3 weeks PAYMENT is supported by: PAYPAL, Western Union, Eurogiro, wireless bank transfer, money order check, cash