Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: OIO on April 08, 2004, 09:01:19 PM
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=4&u=/nm/20040408/od_nm/france_exupery_dc
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - A plane raised from the Mediterranean 60 years after it crashed, killing author Antoine de Saint-Exupery, has been identified and will be put on display in southern France, officials said Wednesday.
Saint-Exupery, whose fable "The Little Prince" is considered a classic of flight, love and loneliness, disappeared on July 31, 1944, during a wartime aerial reconnaissance mission.
"The wreck of the plane that was raised last autumn near the Riou island has been identified as the (Lockheed Lightning) P-38 on which Saint-Exupery made his last voyage," said Jean-Claude Gaudin, mayor of southern Marseille.
He said the wreck would be exhibited in a Marseille museum to pay tribute to the writer and aviator who died a year after the book was published.
A French diver discovered the remains of the airplane off the coast of Marseille four years ago, after a fisherman hauled up a bracelet belonging to the author and aviator in 1998.
It was raised from 80 meters (262 ft) last October and, though analysis showed the plane was Saint-Exupery's, it remains unclear why it crashed. The author's body has never been recovered.
Saint-Exupery, born in 1900 to an aristocratic French family, tried several times to study liberal arts before deciding to become a pilot.
As an adult, his passion for flying inspired "Vol de Nuit" ("Night Flight") and in 1943 "The Little Prince," an all-time bestseller about a pilot downed in the Sahara who meets a mysterious prince with whom he makes an interplanetary journey.
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Totally awesome. I wonder how many more P38's lay burried in the dirt. I'd be a very happy man to find, or even help restore one. I'd die very very happy to get in the cockpit and fly her :) good dream hehe:D
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Originally posted by XtrmeJ
Totally awesome. I wonder how many more P38's lay burried in the dirt. I'd be a very happy man to find, or even help restore one. I'd die very very happy to get in the cockpit and fly her :) good dream hehe:D
Doing just that right now...
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Restoring a P-38?
Pics ? Please? hehehe
I love the 38.
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It seems that the airplane entered the water in a deep dive, so one of the explanations is that he was indeed shot down by german fighters.
Daniel
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Originally posted by Bodhi
Doing just that right now...
hehe:p
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Parts of landing gear and engine have been discovered, as well as a serial number that enabled the historians to identify the plane.
Its been reported that the propeller blades were not bent, so the engines may not have been running.
However, the report in the Guardian states that the damage to the aircraft shows that it went into the sea vertically at high speed. Wouldn’t a high speed crash into the sea bend/damage the props even if they weren’t moving?
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If they were feathered and he was trying to glide as close to land as possible...
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It was a near vertical impact, hard to believe he was gliding at all...
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Perhaps he was attacked while gliding or maybe he lost control. Seems odd that the props aren't bent but they assume a vertical high speed impact.
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I thought one of the more accepted theory of his disappearence was suicide...