Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry (June 29, 1900, Lyon, France – July 31, 1944) was a French writer, poet, and professional pilot.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in Lyon, France, into an old noble family. His father was Jean de Saint-Exupéry, and his mother was Marie de Foncillon. He was the third of five children in the family. At the age of four, he lost his father, and from then on, his mother took care of his upbringing.

In 1912, Antoine first flew in Ambérieu, piloted by the famous aviator Gabriel Wroblewski. In 1908, Saint-Exupéry enrolled in the school of the Christian Brothers in Lyon. Later, with his brother François, he continued his education at the Saint-Croix College in Mantes until 1914. He then continued his studies in Fribourg (Switzerland). He was preparing to enter "École Navale," but failed the entrance exams. In 1919, he enrolled in an architecture academy. A significant turning point in Saint-Exupéry's life occurred in 1921 when he was called to the French military. Saint-Exupéry joined the 2nd Air Regiment of Destruction. Initially, he was assigned to a maintenance crew, but later, after passing exams, he became a pilot. He was transferred to Morocco and given the rank of military pilot, and later sent to Istres for further training. In 1922, Antoine completed officer courses in Avord and received the rank of second lieutenant.

In October, he received orders to join the 34th Air Regiment (Bourges, Paris suburbs). In January 1923, Antoine was involved in his first aviation accident, sustaining a head injury. He moved to Paris and dedicated himself fully to writing. However, writing did not bring him substantial success, so Saint-Exupéry had to explore different fields: he worked as a car salesman and a bookstore clerk. It was only in 1926 that Saint-Exupéry found his true calling when he became a pilot for "Aéropostale." In the spring, he started working on the Toulouse-Casablanca, Casablanca-Dakar mail routes. On October 19, 1926, he was appointed as the head of the Cap-Juby (Villa Bens) station on the edge of the Sahara. It was here that Saint-Exupéry wrote his first work, "Southern Mail."

In March 1929, Saint-Exupéry returned to France and enrolled in the advanced air force courses in Brest. Later, Gallimard published his novel "Southern Mail," and Saint-Exupéry was transferred to South Africa as the technical director for "Aéropost-Argentina" (a branch of "Aéropostale"). In 1930, Saint-Exupéry was named a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In June, he participated in a search mission for his friend Guillaumet, who had been involved in an accident in the Andes. That year, Antoine wrote a new work, "Night Flight," and met his future wife, Consuelo.