Today, the French Author, Illustrator, Aviator and Aristrocrat, Antoine de Saint-Exupery was born in 1900.

He was a successful career pilot, beginning before WWII flying airmail routes in Europe, Africa and South America, until the war broke out whereupon he joined the French Air Force, flying reconnaissance missions until France's armistice with Germany in 1940. On December 30, 1935 he and his mechanic-navigator, Andre Prevot crashed in the Sahara desert after almost 20 hours in the air attempting to break a speed record in a Paris-Saigon air race with prize money totaling 150,000 francs (scenes of which later come to play in his children's book).

Saint-Exupery's first adult book was published in 1929 entitled, Courier Sud (Southern Mail), followed by the 1931 publishing of Vol du Nuit (Night Flight). After several more books, he wrote his first children's book, The Little Prince, published in 1943 from New York City. Saint- Exupery disappeared flying his ninth reconnaissance mission, departing in an unarmed P-38 on July 31, 1944.

I can't help but wonder what Antoine de Saint Exupery would think about our current state of global affairs...

(-Wikipedia)