THE WINGED LIFE

A PORTRAIT OF

Antoine de Saint-ExuperyPOET AND AIRMAN

BY

RICHARD RUMBOLD AND

LADY MARGARET STEWART

David McKay Company Inc.

NEW YORK

All rights reserved, including the

right to reproduce this book, or

parts thereof,in any form, except for

the inclusion of brief quotations in

a review

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TONBRIDGE PRINTERS LTD

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Dedicatedto M.C. -from us both

CONTENTS

Introduction: Sketch for the Portrait 9

i. The Cradle of Dreams 17

II.March Winds 29

in. Didier Daurat: the art of leadership 41

iv. Expanding Horizons 55

v. Art versus Action 77

vi. Three Heroes in South America:

1. Saint-Exupery and the Cyclone 87

2. Mermoz the Pioneer 95

3. Guillaumet and the Andes 101

vn. Night Flight 107

vm.'The Blue Epoch' 123

ix. Desperate Crusader 143

x. Flightto Arras 163

XLExile and Return 183

xii. The Last Year 199

INTRODUCTION

SKETCH FOR THE PORTRAIT

by Richard Rumbold

In writing this book my collaborator and I had two aims in

view. Firstly,to shed some lighton the life and ideas of acomplex, giftedand fascinatingindividual; a man whose life

was packed with adventure, both in the realms of action and inthe realms of thought; who was pioneer airman, writer, poet,philosopher,administrator, mathematician, scientistand practicalinventor. Secondly,and in so doing, to say something aboutthat relativelynew discovery" flying;about the psychologyof the airman; and about the beauty and interest of his

profession.As it happens, these aims are largelyidentical. For Saint-

Exupery not only spent a largepart of his own life in the air,but was the author of incomparably the best books that havebeen written on the subject.Men of action seldom write well,men given to reflection seldom lead adventurous lives: Saint-

Exupery combined the best of both worlds. His three main

works" NightFlight,Wind, Sand and Stars and Flightto Anas "

carry the authenticityand conviction, which spring from professional knowledge and experience, while at the same timethat experience is conveyed with the insight,the sensibility,andthe power and grace of language of the born writer.

Maybe it is unfair to compare the great literature of the sea,which possesses its Smolletts and its Conrads, with the literature

of flying,for men have sailed the sea for thousands of yearswhereas the air is still a new and comparatively unexploredelement; even so, flyinghas inspiredsurprisinglylittle good

THB WINGBD LIPS

writing.David Garnctt's Rabbit In The Air (abook throughwhose pages the wind blows);LlewellynRhys'EnglandIs MyVillage;Cecil Lewis' SagittariusRising;Anne Morrow Lindbergh'sListen,The Wind

. .

.;JulesRoy'sThe Happy Valley"the list,alas,is a short one. At the head of itstandsAntoine de

Saint-Exupery:the onlyman who has written about the airwith genius.

The air,too, playeda largepart in determininghis outlookon life.Saint-Exuperywas a humanist;he believed" unfashionable as it sounds today" in the self-sufficiencyof humanvirtue,recognisedthe possibilitiesopen to man as a spiritualand creative being,and extolled the values of friendship,love,responsibility('Forwhom the belltolls. . .'),compassionand,beauty.'My civilisation,'he wrote, 'isfounded upon thereverence for Man present in all men. . . . What makes it

great is that a hundred miners are calledupon to risk their

livesfor a singleminer entombed And what theyrescue inrescuingthat man is Man/

This religionofhumanity,the corner-stone ofhisphilosophy,he acquiredas a young man when he joineda small band ofpioneerairmen openingup, in the teeth of incredibledangers,die firstair routes linkingFrance with her North Africancolonies and thence with the principaltowns and cities ofSouth America.

Thus, as he relatesin Wind, Sand and Stars,about ten ortwelve airmen,among them Saint-Exuperyhimself,once foundthemselvesstranded for the nightin a lonelyremote spotin theSahara. (Thecrews alwaysflew thispart of the route in convoyowing to the danger,in case of forced landings,from hostileMoorish tribesmen.)As it turned out, it was almost the exactspot where two fellow-pilots,Gourp and Erable,had beenmurdered the year before;and Saint-Exuperyand his companionsknew thatthere was a raidingparty of three hundredMoors lurkingsomewhere in the vicinity.They prepared

10

INTRODUCTION

themselves as far as possibleagainstattack,barricadingthem-;selvesround with wooden packing-cases,and placinginsideeach case, as in a sentry-box,a lightedcandle,shieldingitfrom the wind. 'And so,'continues Saint-Exupery,'on thisnaked rind oftheplanet,in an isolationlikethatofthebeginningsof the world,we builta villageof men. Sittingin the flickeringlightof the candles on thiskerchief of sand,on thisvillagesquare, we waited in the night.We were waitingfor therescuingdawn " or for the Moors. Something,I know notwhat, lent thisnighta savour of Christmas. We told stories,we joked,we sang songs. In the air there was thatslightfeverthat reignsover a gailypreparedfeast.And yet we wereinfinitelypoor. Wind, sand and stars. The austerityofTrappists..But on thisbadly-lightedcloth,a handful of men who possessednothingin the world but theirmemories, were sharinginvisibleriches We had met at last.Men travelsideby sideforyears,each locked up in his own silenceor exchangingthose wordswhich carry no freight" tilldangercomes. Then theystandshoulder to shoulder. They discover that theybelongto thesame family.They are likethe prisonerset freewho marvelsat the immensityof the sea.'During the rest of hislifeSaint-Exuperywas to experience

againand againthese moments of fusion;moments in whichtheresprang up a joywhich he believedto be 'themost preciouspossessionof our civilisation';moments in which,the barriersof separationbetween xjian and man broken down, he suddenlybecame conscious of the sparkand flame of our commonhumanity;moments in which he felthimselfunited to others,as others were united to him, by invisibletiesin the depthsoftheheart;moments in which,as thoughmergedin some deeperwider whole,he seemed to sense the greatrefreshingwinds of auniversallifeblowingabout him. And these moments wereone of the springsof the humanistic outlook which irradiateshiswork.

ii

THE WINGED LIFE

With his many, varied and apparentlycontradictorygiftsSaint-Exuperyappears at firstto be a ratherpuzzlingcharacter.Even to his own countrymen he was somethingof an enigma.'Quelgar^on extraordinaire,'theyalwayssay of him; 'iln'etait

pas tout a fait de ce mondef " implyingthat he was odd,eccentric,a bit of a fantast,a man with only one foot inthe real world. But in this,too, his love of the air also givesus a clue.

What firstof alldoes flyingsignifyfor the soul of man?Surely,in the firstplace:ascent, endeavour,aspiration(assymbolised,for instance,in the beautiful classicallegendofDaedalus and his son, Icarus).'There/ as the poet, MichaelRoberts,wrote:

'There,in the equipoiseof motion, bird and pilotHoldingthe substance and the shadow distant,riseIn the impossibleelement,expendtheirspirit,Passioned by their own speed,tillthe spiritfails

. .

.'

Secondly:escape, release,freedom, the longingfor pure,untrammelled,unobstructed movement, the longingto shakeoff the fettersof thisearth. 'Oh, that I had wingslike a dove!For then would I flyaway and be at rest . . .',as the Hebrewpsalmistlaments.v

Now these two impulses" aspirationand escape " were thetwo main springsof Saint-Exupery'slifeand art. In otherwords, he was an idealistand a mystic;an intenselyreligiousman who, livingin our irreligiousage, our age of 'Angst'anddespair,embraced not the disciplineof the monastery, but thatof a hard,exactingand perilousprofession;who soughtdetachment, renunciation and self-immolation,not in the austeritiesof the Trappist,but in physicalinsecurity,hardshipand danger;who meditated not on God in the lonelinessof the cell,but ona mystiqueofhumanityin the solitudesand perspectivesof thestarryheavens.

And, as we shallsee, the centraldrama of hislifeand character

INTRODUCTION

layin the conflictbetween these mysticaland idealisticimpulsesand the claims of the every-daypracticalworld " the world ofmakeshift,compromise and opportunism.As a result,thependulumof his mind was alwaysswinginguneasilybetweenthepolesofoptimismand pessimism,euphoriaand despondency,hopeand despair,likethe graphof a manic-depressive.

Towards the end of hislife,faced by the growth,on the onehand of a soullessWestern materialism,on the other of equallysoullesstotalitarianideologies,his philosophicalhumanismseemed at times a ludicrous anomaly;for he believed that thehuman spirit(andthat for him meant particularlythe spiritof Europeantraditionand culture)was beingslowlystrangledto death by these two anti-human forces" Thomme robot,-I'homme termite,'as he termed them. Consequently,themoodsof hopeand elationdiminished and the moods of gloom anddespondencyincreased.

And afterhis death in 1944 a letterwas found amongst his

papers in which he declared that he did not mind whether or

not he was killedin the War. 'I am sad,'he wrote, Tor mygeneration,empty as it is of all human content (detoutesubstancehumaine)

.

One cannot liveany longeron refrigerators,on politics,on balance-sheetsand cross-word puzzles.Onecannot live any longerwithout poetry, colour and love.'Andhe concluded: 'My impressionis that we are approachingtheblackestperiodin the whole of human history.'This letterledtothe theorythathe had committed suicide,eitherdeliberatelyoras the victim of an unconscious death-wish;an unlikelytheory,on the whole, yet impossibleto refute,for he disappearedmysteriouslyon reconnaissance operationsover the Mediterranean, leavingbehind no traces of himself or his aircraft.

A finalword as to how thisbook came to be written in

collaboration.

Duringthe war, as a pilotin the R. A.F.,Iquicklysuccumbed,likeso many other airmen, to the spelland noveltyof flying:

13

THE WINGED LIFE

the speed,the lightness,the ballet-likegrace of movement; thestrange fantasticgeometry of loops,spins,rollsand rectangularcircuits round the aerodrome; the sense of exhilaration oneexperiencedin the great heightsand solitudesof the sky;thedifficult,but exciting,adjustmentof one's mind to a new *feeTof time and space; the sudden,revivifyingcontact with Nature"

with cloud and wind and star; the firstcross-country flightsin which one inevitablygot lostbecause one had not yet trainedone's eye to look for landmarks in the jigsawpuzzleof theearth;the freedom,the peace of mind, one found away fromthe hard,resistingearth in that light,blowy,oxygenous, sky-blue element;the light-heartedrelationsof airmen with oneanother and the discoveryof oneself and them which grew upin thiswelter of new experiencesand adventures;and last,butnot least,the sense of comradeshipwhich we felt in thosemysteriousuncanny silencesbefore a raid or which was transmitted by the warm, human, friendlysmile of the fitteras hedrew away the chocks from under the wheels of the aircraft.

Yes, it had seemed a new life,perhapsan infinitelyexpandingblossominglife;and in findingitI had feltas happilymystifiedand elated as those fifteenthand sixteenth century explorersmust have feltwhen, for the firsttime, theylanded on remoteand virginshores.

After the war I wanted to try to express what the discoveryof the air had meant to me; and I begancastingabout for someform in which to throw togethermy impressionsand memories.But later,abandoningthisscheme,I decided instead to try myhand at a Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Not longafterwards I met MargaretStewart, who havingbeen the wife of a pioneerairman, as well as the daughterof aformer Air Minister,Lord Londonderry,shared my enthusiasmfor the air;it was not longbefore she alsobeganto share myinterest in theprojectedbiography.So we decided to collaborateon it together.

At that time she owned a small privateaircraft,a Miles

INTRODUCTION

WhitneyStraight,and togetherwe flew allover France collectingour material,mainlyfrom interviews with "aint-Exupery*srelations,friendsand fellow-airmen. It willbe onlytoo evidenthow much we owe to the helpallthesepeopleso generouslygave us.

In particularwe desireto thank Saint-Exupery's mother, theComtesse de Saint-Exupery;his wife, Consuelo de Saint-Exupery;Mile. Louise de Vilmorin;Princess Marthe Bibesco;Mme. Henri Guillaumet;Mme. Pierre Jean-Jouve;Mme. HenriMonnet; M. Didier Daurat;M.JeanLeleu;General Corniglion-Molinier;General Gelee;M. Leon "Werth;M. Neri; and Mr.Paul Willert.

No studyof Saint-Exuperycould be written withoutgenerous use of biographies,memoirs and articles,and we areparticularlygratefulto Pierre Chevrier and his publishers,Messrs. Gallimard,for permissionto quote from hisbiographyAntoine de Saint-Exupery(quotations,allrightsreserved,on pp.26, 29, 51-2, 119, 121, 124, 125-6, 146, 147, 158);to Georges Pelissier,author of Les Cinq Visagesde Saint-Exupery,and his publisher,Flammarion and Co.; and to theEditor of FigaroLitteraire.

Messrs. Heinemann have most kindlyallowed us to quotefrom translationsof Saint-Exupery'sbooks publishedby them;and Mr. T. F. Burns, of Messrs. Hollis and Carter,has done

likewisein the case of The Wisdom Of The Sands.Mr. and Mrs.Michael Hillaryhave kindlyallowed us to quote from RichardHillary'sThe Last Enemy and from letterscontained in Mr.Lovat Dickson's biographyof Richard Hillary;and we arealso gratefulto Sir Oliver Harvey for permissionto quoteextracts from hisspeechon Saint-Exuperyand Hillarymade ata meetingof the Association of Combatant Writers in Paris.

Mr. John Phillipsof Time-Lifehas givenus the righttoreproducethe photographon the frontispiece.

We also acknowledgeour debt to Ren" Delange'sLa Vie

15

THE WINGED LIFZ

de Saint-Exupery, which includes L"on Werth's charming study

of him, Tel Queje Vai Connu; to an issue of the French literary

magazine, Confluences, devoted exclusively to appreciations of

Saint-Exupery by people who knew him at different periods;

to Mr. R A. Shuflrey's two essays on Saint-Exup6ry; and to

Mr. Lovat Dickson's Life of Richard Hillary.

Iam

also deeply grateful to my friend, Mr. Archibald

Colquhoun, who gave me lavishly of his time and help in the

latterstages of the work; and to my friend and companion,

Mrs. Hilda Young, who typed a great deal of the manuscript.

R.R.

CHAPTER I

THE CRADLE OF DREAMS

Atoine-Marie-Rogerde Saint-Exup6ry was born at No. IPlace Bellecour in Lyons on the 29th June, 1900, and he

was oneof five children

"

three sisters,Marie, Simone and

Gabrielle,and a younger brother, Francois.On both sides of his family he belonged to the ancient

nobilityof France. The family name of Saint-Exuperyis a veryold

one, datingback as far as the fourth century; his mother'sfamily,Boyer de Fonscolombe, though not of such distinguishedlineage,had been settled in Provence for many generations.

The Comtes de Saint-Exupery derived their name from thesmall market-town of Saint-Exupery, situated in the hillycountry of the Limousin, in south-west France. In the Middle

Ages they had been Chevaliers,or Knights,and it was one oftheir privilegesto ride in the carriagesof the King. An earlymember of the familyhad been that Bishop of Toulouse whowas a friend of both Saint Jerome, the fourth-centurySaint,and of Pope Innocent the First.

According to Saint-Exupery's friends,there was alwaysmuchof the aristocrat about him; he radiated a kind of aristocratic

effulgenceof dignityand good manners, as though the bloodof his ancestors stillflowed strong in his veins. And, as one of

them remarked, even about the ring of his name, with itscombined suggestion of knight-errantryand saintliness,therewas an aura of the heroic days of Christian chivalry.Certainly,this aristocratic tradition was reflected in his physicalfearlessness,his courteous diffidence and his sense of responsibilitytowards others.

By the time of Antoine's birth the Saint-Exup6ry family

B 17

THfi WINGED LXFS

had passedthroughthe vicissitudescommon to many suchfamiliesthroughoutFrench history.The old home had longgone, and the Saint-Exuperyswere poor. Antoine's father,Jean de Saint-Exupery,worked as an insurance agent in theRhone district.He died in 1904, four years afterthe birth of

his elder son, and he lefthis widow littlemoney to bringupfive young children.

Their difficultieswere partlyresolved by the kindness ofMadame de Saint-Exupery'srelations.The children spent halfthe year at the Chateau de la Mole, in the Var, the home oftheir maternal grandmother.All his lifeAntoine loved thissunlitregionof France " 'theonlycorner of the world,apartfrom Greece,where even the dust has a fragrance.'Simone,his favouritesister,latermarried the Comte d'Agay,and"hewas a frequentvisitor to theirhome at Agay,a littlevillageonthe Mediterranean coast between Cannes and St. Raphael.

In the summer Madame de Saint-Exuperytook the childrento staywith theirgreat-aunt,Madame de Tricaud,who livedat Saint-Maurice-de-Remens,a country house near Amberieu,which isnot farfrom Lyons.Madame de Tricaud was a formidable woman who intimidated her relations,her domesticstaffand even the localvillagersby her domineeringcharacter;at Saint-Maurice she insisted on household prayers morningand evening,and would beginintoningthe firstwords ofprayer when stillseated at the dining-roomtable;then shewould jump up, stillintoning,and sweep majesticallyforwardto the chapel,with a retinue of nephew,nieces,cousins andservants followingmeeklyin her wake. Even the localpriestwas terrifiedof her. 'Father,I have lost my temper today/Antoine once overheardher sayingin her privateConfessional.To which thefrightenedAbbe quicklyreplied:"Madame, I amsure itwas for a very goodreason!'

As a child Antoine was rather a handful,accordingto hismother who now livesat Cabris,a quiet,delightfullyunspoilt

18

THE WINGED LIFE

The weather was fine.A fresh breeze,a slightswell.We slidalongat a fastpace, the water rustlingagainstthe hull,makingthatsound which sailorsreferto when theysay the ship"talks."In thathalcyonatmosphere,well-known to thesailingenthusiast,one feelsa carefreegaietywhich makes one want to burst intosong. Antoine sang allkinds of ribaldsongs, interruptinghimselfevery now and againto express hisdelightat discoveringthisnew pastime."Think of it! Ifonlythe boat were a littlebiggerand one could batten her down in allweathers,andstock her with provisionsand a spare set of sails,one couldroam the seven seas for ever. It would never be necessary totouch land at all,except at desire;one would become awanderer, freed for ever from the ties of this earth." AndAntoine resumed his song . . .'*

To his friendsSaint-Exuperyalwaysgave the impressionofa man illat ease in thisworld,as thoughhe resenteditsconfinement. 'He was likethe hero of his own fairystory, The LittlePrince' as Princess Marthe Bibesco,who had met him inRumania, expressedit.'He seemed not to belongto thisearthat all/she went on, 'but to have droppedon itby chance fromMars or Jupiteror one of the otherplanets.But that,'she added,'was the source of his strange and elusivecharm; ithad a kindof evanescent quality.'

Can this 'other-worldliness'be explainedby some earlyinfluence?There are two conflictingviews about the effectsofhis childhood

upon him. The well-known French psychoanalyst,Madame Pierre Jean-Jouve,who had known him wellduringthe 'thirties,told us he lived to an abnormal extent in aworld of dreams and make-believe;even hislove of flying,sheconsidered,became in the end a kind of escapism,a desiretoblot out the realitiesof lifethroughwhat she called 'lafuitedans 1'extase.'It was difficult,she said,to account for thisescapismunlessin childhood he had had a psychicshock which,

1 Les Cinq Visagesde Sdnt-Exuptry.

2O

THE CRADLE OF DREAMS

in a person so sensitive,could easilyhave driven him to seek arefugein fantasy.

On the other hand, the orthodox view, confirmed by hisbiographers,is that his childhood was emotionallysecure" infact,blissfullynormal. In hisbooks thereare poignantreferencesto the familyand the home, and throughouthis lifethesememories seem to have acted as a stabilisinginfluenceon him.'The marvel of a home,'he once wrote, 'isnot that it sheltersor warms a man, nor that he owns itswalls. It comes from

those layersof sweetness which it graduallystores up in us.May itform,deepin our hearts,thatobscure range ofmountainsfrom which springsthe sources of our dreams.'1Familyand home were emblems and symbolsof security;of

a continuingtradition which transcended the hazards andtransience of individuallife;of enduringspiritualrealitiesin aworld of flux and uncertaintyand change.Once aftera forcedlandingin the Sahara he recalled'thestatelycupboardsof ourhouse. They openedto displayheapsof frozen stores, pilesoflinen as white as snow. And the old housekeepertrottedlike arat from one cupboardto the next, forever counting,folding,unfolding,re-countingthe white linen;exclaiming,"Oh, goodHeavens, how terrible!"at each signof wear which threatenedthe eternityof the house;runninginstantlyto burn out her

eyes under a lampso thatthe woof of thesealtarclothesshouldbe repaired,thesethree-master'ssailsbe mended, in the serviceof somethinggreaterthan herself" a god,a ship/

Yet, in spiteof thesenostalgicmoments, he was fartoo muchof an individualistever to accept as a way of lifefor himself

the Catholic and Conservative order in which he had been

broughtup. He respecteditsvalues" itssimplecode of reverenceforGod, forthehome and thefamily,and for the soil" envyingthestabilityand contentment which could resultfrom acceptanceof those values.But his own lifewas a completenegationofthem: he lost when young his earlyChristianfaithand never

1 Wind, Sand and Stars.

21

THE WINGED LIFE

recovered it;he married an extravagantlyunconventionalwoman by whom he never had any children;nor did he everthrustdown roots in any localityor settleanywherefor longat a time.

Itmay well have been,as Madame Jean-Jouvealsosuggested,that there was a constant inner conflictin him between his

restlesscravingfor adventure and thelongingfor the patternedordered existence of his childhood;in any case, she thought,much of hislaterbehaviour,particularlythe strangetaleof hismarriage,could onlybe explainedas a reaction againsttherigidconventionalityof hisfamilyupbringing.

In 1912 one of the earlyflying'aces'of those days,an airmancalledVedrines,came to Amberieu to givea flyingdisplay,Antoine hungabout the fieldfor severaldays,makingfriendswith the mechanics and admiringthe machines,and eventuallypersuadedVedrines to take him up for a 'flip.'The futurepilothad been givenhisbaptismof the air.

The flightinspiredan ecstaticpoem onlythreelinesof whichare extant today:

*Lesailesfremissait(sic)sous le souffledu soirLe moteur, de son chant,bercait1'ame endormie,Le soleilnous frokit de sa couleur palie

. .

/*

It was dedicated to one of hismasters at the Collegeof Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix,a Jesuitschool at Le Mans, a townabout a hundred miles south-west of Paris.

The Comtesse de Saint-Exuperyhad come to settleat LeMans at the end of 1909, and Antoine,then ten years old,wassent in the autumn of that year to the school as a day-pupil.The street in which the school issituatedhas since been proudlyre-named 'Rue Antoine de Saint-Exupery/

On the outbreak of war in 1914 she decided to send her two1 The wings tremble under the eveningbreeze, "The engine,with itssong, rocks the sleepingheart,The sun's palewarmth shines down upon us ...

22

THE CRADLE OF DREAMS

sons forsafetyto Switzerland,where theywere educated at theCollegeof St.Jeanat Fribourg.This was a school run by theMarist Fathers,a well-known Catholic missionaryorder. Inthe meantime, the Comtesse, who had received trainingand

diplomasas a hospitalnurse, tended the war-wounded passingin hospital-trainsthroughAmberieu station.

In SwitzerlandFrancois,her younger son, fellillwith cardiacrheumatism, was broughtback to Amberieu, and died.Antoinewas present at hisdeath-bed,and the boy,who was onlyfifteen

years old,suddenlyexclaimed to his elder brother: 'Antoinc,go and fetch Mamma, because I am goingto die soon/ Andwhen his mother entered the room he said to her: 'My littleMother, you must not worry about me. I have alreadysensedcertainthingsabout lifewhich are very ugly,and I don't think,ifIhad grown up, I should have been ableto facethem. Ishallbe

better-offin the placewhere I am goingto now.5 Antoine, whowas extremelyfond of Francois,was deeplymoved by his

composure and resignation,and his death,which left himbroken-hearted,may wellhave caused thepsychicshock referredto by Madame Jean-Jouve.

At schoolAntoine was not an outstandingscholar.He workedby fitsand starts,and then onlyat the subjectswhich happenedto take his fancy,which were chieflyLatin and French composition.Curiouslyenough,he never showed at thisage anysignof that giftfor mathematics which laterled experts toclaim that,had he givenallhistime and energy to thissubject,hewould have made a distinguishedcontribution to it.

Both the priestsand his school-fellowsfound him puzzling,for even at thisage hismoods changedquickly.At one momenthe would be gay, open-hearted,fullof generous enthusiasms;at the next hislivelinesshad suddenlychangedto a broodingtaciturnity.It was generallyagreedthat,thoughgentle,good-natured and lovable,his character showed traces of marked

instability;and, in particular,it was difficultto account forthose sudden fits"f absentmindedness when, imperviousto

23

THE WINGED LIFE

the external world,liewould lapseinto longspellsof daydreaming.Accordingto his historymaster at Fribourg,atwhose tablehe sat for meals,he would come into the refectorywith a preoccupiedlook,bargeinto chairsand furniture,andknock over the milk-jugsand cofiee-potson the table likeninepins.It was not onlythathismovements were clumsy,butalsothathe could not be bothered to controlthem.

He was alreadytalland broad-shouldered,and soon he wasto developthe physiqueof a heavy-weightboxer. 'Monolithic,massive and gauche'his friend General Chassin wasto callhim; and he goes on to describe 'hisMickey-Mousenose, his black eyes juttingfrom their sockets,his luminousgaze, hislivelycarelessair,and hisintenselyradiantpersonality/His appearance was not prepossessing;he had a very shortneckso that his head seemed thrust down on to his shoulders;prominenteyes thatgave him a permanentlystartledlook;anda nose tiltedabruptlyat the tipthat earned him the nick-nameat school of 'Pique-la-lune,'literally'Peck-the-moon/

As a young man Saint-Exuperywas painfullyconscious ofhis ungainlyappearance, which made him shyand diffident,especiallywith women. But any suggestionof freakishnesswasdispelledby a warmth and vitalityof manner which hisphotographsrarelyshow. A boyishfriendlygrinwould quicklyspreadacross that bigswarthyface,and accordingto LeonWerth, 'eventhetipof hisnose would quiverwith a movementlikea wink';and when in the gripof an idea he would thrusthishands eagerlyforward,palmsupwards,as thoughwantingto ofierhislistenersa gift.He was a man with a strongpersonalmagnetism.

After matriculatingat Fribourgin the springof 1917, Saint-Exuperywent to the Ecole Bossuet in Paris,to studyfor theentrance examination into the French Navy. The Rector of theEcole Bossuet was at that time the Abbe Sudour who, by allaccounts, was an interestingand remarkable person. Like so

24

THE CRADLE OF DREAMS

many of the best French ecclesiastics,he was a cultivated manwith considerable knowledgeof the world, and he had alsodistinguishedhimself as a chaplainin the earlypart of the1914-18 war. But hisrealvocation layin the guidanceof youth,and recognisingAntoine's sensitive idealisticnature he tooka paternalinterest in him. He was later to come to the

young man's rescue at one of the most criticalmoments of his

life.

The Abbe may have detected,even at thisage, qualitiesthatwould fit him for Holy Orders. He may have observed the

underlyingearnestness and intenseness in a characterwhich, alltoo clearly,would never be satisfiedwith the lifeof the averagesensual man, with its combination of mundane ambition and

hedonistic pursuitof pleasure.But, in fact,the Abbe's influenceseems to have been feltleastin questionsof faith.Antoine wasalreadydriftingaway from the Church. Yet thoughhe wasnever to practisehis religionagain,the effectsof a Catholiceducation are seldom eradicated. At the end of his life,in his

desperatesearch for a refugeand a pattern,he even hinted thathe mighteventuallyfind himself a monk.

In June 1919 he sat for the naval examinations. He was

ploughedand even given a bad mark in the one subjectinwhich he mighthave been expectedto do well " literarycomposition.But he was never able,now or at any other time, to

conjureup emotions which did not find an echo in his ownheart,or to describe events which did not follow closelyhisown experience;and he was bored with the subjectset by theexaminers: 'An Alsatian returns to his villagewhich has againbecome part of France. Relate his impressions.'Antoine'simpressionswere nil;he sent in an almost blank paper.

Disheartened by a failurewhich meant the abandonment ofa life-longcareer he spent the next eighteenmonths from theautumn of 1919 to the springof 1921 driftingaimlesslyin Pariswithout any realjob or prospectsand with very littlemoney.He had a talent for drawingwhich was later shown in his

THE WINGED LIFE

water-colour illustrationsfor The LittlePrince,and for a timehe studiedarchitectureat the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In order to

supplementa small allowance from his mother he became an-

'extra*for a time in the opera Quo Vadis,then running at atheatre in the Champs-Elysees;cast as one of the Christianspersecutedby Nero, he was givena few additionalfrancs forbruisessustainedin the 'arena.'

His poverty must have been acute. He ate in cheapbistros,livingmainlyon bread,sausage and cheese,and sleptin dingylodgings,from one of which, a dismal littlehotel in theBoulevard Ornano, he wrote to hismother: 'Itis no joke

. ..

my room is so sad ... I haven't even the heart to sort out mycollarsfrom my socks.'But when she offered to pay his fare

for a short holidayin the South of France he forbade her tostint herselffor his sake.

He had many relationsand friends in Paris who would

gladlyhave givenhim a freemeal,but out of pridehe refusedtheirhospitality.For short periodshe would stay at the flatofa cousin,now the Vicomtesse de 1'Estrangeand a distinguishedresearchworker at the Institut Pasteur;she stillremembers the

jumbleand disorderof hisbedroom and hishabit of wanderinginto the flatat allhours of the dayand night.

Post-war Paris was the worst placefor a restlessand imaginative youthprone, likeallyoung men who have not yet foundan outletfor theirtalents,to allthe naggingterrors of failure.He had been too young to fightin the war, and the sightof thesoldiersreturningvictorious and feted from the Marne andother famous battlefields,made him feel both envious andinferior.There were, as Madame Jean-Jouveand another friendof thisperiod,Louise de Vilmorin,noticed,strong narcissisticimpulseswhich made him long,even more than other youngmen in his situation,to prove himself in dangerand action.He feltas ifhe had missed for ever some vitaltest of hismanhood.

Later on he came to recognisehow importantfor him was

26

CHAPTER II

MARCH WINDS

l\ /I ot^er' ^ adore this metier,' was his cry of discovery toJLV JLMnie. de Saint-Exupery. 'You cannot imagine the calm,the solitude, one finds at twelve thousand feet alone with one's

engine. And then this charming comradeship on the ground;one dozes stretched out on the grass waiting one's turn to fly,keeps one's eye on the plane one is going to take over and tells

one another stories. They are all stories of marvels, such asabout forced landingsnear obscure littlecountry villageswherethe

mayor in his patrioticexcitement invites the airmen todinner.

. . .

Fairy-taleadventures! They have almost all beeninvented on the spot but everyone marvels at them, and when

one takes off in one's turn one feels so romantic and full of

hope. But nothing ever happens. .

.

and on landingone consoles oneself

...

by saying, "My engine heated up, old chap,I was scared

. .

." It heatedup so little,that poor littleengine

..

/

It is a delightfulletter,one of the first he ever wrote about

flying,expressing the lightjoy and simplicityof a man's firstflyingdays, and the charm of little aircraft and windswepthangars; reminiscent, too, of certain lyric passages inT. E. Lawrence's The Mint and David Garnett's Rabbit in

the Air.

But it was only after Saint-Exupery had been in the AirForce for some time that he was allowed to qualifyas a pilot.On joining up he had been sent to a squadron based nearStrasbourg, where he found himself doing routine groundduties in the workshops. It was an unheroic beginning, and

seeing the planestakingoff and landingthrough the workshopwindows made him

eager to get his wings. The only way of

29

THE WINGED LIFE

obtaininga pilot'slicencequicklywas to take thingsinto hisown hands. On the airfieldhe discovered a civilaviation com

pany with some old Farman aircraft,and he persuadedone ofthe instructors to givehim flyinglessons.Money was short,particularlyas most of hissmall allowance had been givenawayto comrades to pay forprivatemedical treatment afteryouthful'flings.'But by sellinghis watch and suitcase he managed toafford an hour and twenty minutes' dual instruction.Then the

money ran out.

Althoughthe average periodof dual instruction is ten tofifteenhours he determined to try a solo flightat once. Oneafternoon he confided hisplanto a mechanic,and togethertheyseized a Sopwithfrom one of the hangars.The mechanicshowed Saint-Exuperythe controls,and he took off in highgoodhumour. It was the onlyaircraftin the air,and for twentyminutes his comrades,includingthe mechanic,watched itcirclinground and round the airfield."The more I stared at theground,'Saint-Exuperyrelatedafterwards,'thefirmer became

my decisionnever to land again.That planewasn't like anyother. It had a worryingpropensityto climb,and when onepusheddown on the "stick,"one had the disagreeableimpression of nearingthe groundfar too fast.'Suddenlythere was aseries of explosions,and the spectatorssaw flames shootingfrom the exhaust.By some miracle he managedto bump downon to the ground,onlyburstinga tyre.But as he leaptout,smoke was seen pouringfrom his shoes.*Hey,'shouted the mechanic. 'Your shoes are on fire!''Oh,yes ... !'repliedSaint-Exuperybreezily,'Ithoughtthe

enginewas gettinga bitwarm!'He was summoned before the Commanding Officer who

exclaimed,'You'll never kill yourselfnow, Saint-Ex. If

you were ever going to, you'dhave done it today.'This'dicey'episode,as it would be called in the R.A.F., becamea legendamong his flyingcomrades and laterthroughoutFrance.

30

MARCH WINDS

A few daysafter this flighthe obtained his civil pilot'slicence which enabled him to train as an Air Force pilot,and,followinga short periodin North Africa,he was given hiswings.

His firstreactions to flyinghe laterdescribed in an unpublishednovel,L'Evasion deJacquesBernis,extracts from which appearedin 1926 in the magazineNavire D1 Argent.As one would expect,there are long,enthusiasticdescriptionsof flights" of take-offs,landings,the thrillof handlingan aircraftfor the firsttime, thejoy of lookingupon the earth in a new way, Here and there healreadyreveals his giftfor concise and vivid language,for thepregnant, evocative metaphor.For example:

The powerfulwheels strain againstthe chocks. Flattenedby the wind from the propellers,the grass for sixtyfeetbehind flows like a river. The pilot,with a movement of hiswrist,unleashes or arrests the storm.

In another passage in which veterans are talking'shop'Saint-Exupery conveys the delightwhich the young pilotfeelsin theresponsibilityof his new jobwith its combination of romanticadventure and toughpracticalrealities.Later on in the narrativethe pupilpilotPichou (obviouslySaint-Exuperyhimself)seesa fatalaccident on the airfield,and likemany a young pilot,heis shocked by the apparentlycasual way in which hissuperiorsregardit.With a show of bravado he tellshis instructor that,despitethe accident,he isreadyto flynext day.To hisdismaythe instructor takesthe remark as a matter of course. 'Naturally,'he says, 'youwill do your spinstomorrow/ But Pichou soonrealisesthat this laconic manner, far from beinga signofcallousness,is deliberatelyassumed to hide deeperfeelings.

It was not long*before Saint-Exuperyhimself was involved ina serious accident. One Sunday in the springof 1923 he wasflyingover a feteat Versailleswhen hisenginesuddenlysplutteredand cut out. He had been doingaerobatics over the crowd and

THE WINGED LIFE

in his exuberance had forgottento watch his petrol-gauge.Determined at all costs to avoid crashinginto the holiday-makers he stretchedhis glidetoo far and, while stillat someheightfrom the ground,stalled.He was taken to hospitalwitha fracturedskull.It seems he never expectedto survive,for hemurmured as he came out of his coma: 'Strange,I'm dead,yetI have allthe sensations of a Iiving4nan.'

Ever afterwards he was fascinated by the odd vagariesof the mind at moments of crisis. Once, later on, in the

Mediterranean,when he was trappedin the fuselageof a hydroplanebeneath the water, he analysedhis own sensations andreportedthem laterto his friends.

After the Le Bourget accident,impatientto flyagain,he lefthospitalbefore he was fullyrecovered. For somemonths afterwards he suffered,as a result,from attacks of

vertigo.What isthe truth about Saint-Exupery'squalitiesas a pilot?

There is no doubt that his carelessnessand absentmindedness

often led to disasters.General Gelee,of the French Air Ministry,who was in the same flyingunit as Saint-Exuperyin the SecondWorld War, told us with a smile thatitneeded a brave man to

go up with him. 'Itwas an adventure to flywith Saint-Ex/hesaid.1 alwayshad to remind him to lower hisunder-carriage.And how annoyedhe used to be !"Shut up,"he would exclaim."You've got me into a cold sweat so that I shan'tbe able toland at all!"' Neri, a dark vivacious littleCorsican who wasat one time Saint-Exupery'swireless-operator,alsoreferredtohisabsentmindedness. 'Saint-Ex,was an extraordinarychap/hesaid.'At times he was so preoccupiedthathe hardlyseemed toknow the differencebetween nightand day.Yes,he was a crazyfellow. But allthe same/ added Neri, 'oneofus.'

Yet tributeshave been paidby other airmen to Saint-Exupery'scoolnessand skillin emergency. The famous Frenchpilot,JeanMennoz, relatesthat once in South America Saint-Exup"ry found himself over an airfieldwhere the windsock

32

MARCH WINDS

was blowingin a direction alongwhich the field was toonarrow to land;whilst the other and longerlanding-runwasblocked byhightension wires lyingacross theapproach.Without hesitationhe plumpedfor the hightension cable,flyingneatlyunderneath it and making a perfect'three-pointer/Again,one nightduringthe Second World War, he was testinga new system of runway lighting,and suddenlyfound,as hecame down on the approach,that the lightswere no longervisibleat low altitude.He decided,none the less,to attempt alanding,but justas hiswheels were about to touch the groundhe noticed a vehicleand a group of airmen ahead of him. In the

nick of time he throttled up and, by a stroke of luck,justmanagedto clearthem.

The truth seems to be thathe was an excellentpilotwhen hetook the trouble to concentrate, while in a crisis both his

judgmentand reactions were sound and quick.But all toooften (andit is a well-known temptationto flyers,especiallyat highaltitude)he allowed his mind to wander. Then hewould make those small slipsand errors which in the air sooften prove fatal.

In the springof 1923 Saint-Exup6rywas due for demobilisationfrom the French Air Force. But, havingset hisheart on flying,he made up his mind to applyfor a permanent commission.Then love suddenlyintervened to upset his plans:he becameengagedto Mademoiselle de Vilmorin.

Louise de Vilmorin,who is todaya well-known novelist,was one of the young beautiesof her time. Saint-Exuperyhadbeen at school with her brother,and ever since had been anoccasional visitor at the de Vilmorin home at Verrieres-le-

Buisson, near Paris. Largelandowners who have done muchfor French forestryand agriculture,the de Vilmorins are thegreatseedsmen of France. They were a large,gay and informalfamily,who entertaineda great deal.There were four sons andthree daughters,the youngest of whom was Louise.

c 33

THE WINGED LIFE

From the firsthe was more ardentlyin love than she. Butonce he had made up his mind he was not deterred easily,andwhen Louise de Vilmorin was ordered by her doctor toSwitzerland Saint-Exuperyfollowed her;he even sold hiscamera to cover the expenses of the journey.There theybecame engaged.

But the engagement was disapprovedof by the de Vilmorinfamily,particularlyby Louise'smother, who considered thather daughter,whose healthwas delicate,needed a more stablehome than an impoverishedyoung airman could provide.Saint-Exuperythereuponimpetuouslythrew up his careerin the Air Force. For the sake of love he was determined toface even somethingso utterlydistastefulas a routine officejob.

It was a brave decision which mighthave been disastrous.As it turned out, by releasinghim from the Air Force, iteventuallyopenedthe way to his real career. But for the timebeinghe found himselfsittingmiserablyas an unpaidapprenticein the officesof a bigtilemanufacturer's in the Rue St. Honor".He had no capacitywhatever for businessor indeed for regularmoney-makingof any kind. Material possessionsnever meantmuch to him. Whenever at any time there was money in his

pocketshe alwaysspent it recklessly.He also loathed themechanical,inhuman business of checkingfigures,accountsand balance-sheets,even as he pitiedthe type of man who wascondemned to do it. 'Old bureaucrat,my comrade,it is notyou who are to blame,'he wrote later.'None ever helpedyouto escape. You, likea termite,builtyour peace by blockingupwith cement every chink and cranny throughwhich the lightmightpierce.'1For a year he struggledwith thisuncongenialjob,untilitspurpose suddenlycollapsed.Louise de Vilmorintoldhim she was no longerin love with him and theengagementwas broken off

She had decided that they had littlein common. She1 Wind, Sand and Stars.

34

THE WINGED LIFE

constructive achievement. Thus, this earlyepisode,painfulas it was, broughthim self-discovery.

Restlesswith thisinner problemSaint-Exuperyset about finding a jobbettersuitedto his taste. The firstthat came to handwas that of a salesman for a motor-truck firm,the CamionsSaurer, where for the firsttime he received a salaryandcommission. But thoughhe succeeded in keepingthe job,he is said onlyto have placeda singleorder in the eighteenmonths he spent travellingthe departmentof the Creuse incentral France.. His giftswere not those of the commercialtraveller.

But at leasthe was happier.For the firsttwo months heworked as an ordinarymechanic in the factorylearningthegeneralmaintenance of ten-ton lorries.He enjoyedthe manuallabour,content when his hands were covered with grease andoil,feelingthathe was doinga down-to-earth,honest-to-Godjob.All hislifehe was conscious of a dangeroustendencyinhimself to escape into the abstract;and these artisans,these

simpletruck-drivers and mechanics, with their concreteproblemsand preoccupations,gave him a sense of his ownreality.

He also found himself in sympathywith them,particularlythe skilledworkers. He realisedthat in theirattitudeto theirwork theyshowed a self-respectand dignitycomparableto thecraftsmen.What a contrast to the clerkswho laboured wearilyin officessimplyin order to earn a livelihood.'Those who givethemselves to labours of love go straightto my heart/hewrote, and he constantlyemphasisesthe importanceof a trade,a metier,in bringingthe best out of men. 'What constitutesthe dignityof a craftis that it creates a fellowship,binds mentogether,and fashions for them a common language/1Andamong theseunpretentiousfellow-mechanicshe found a warm,spontaneoushumanityand compassionwhich he often looked

1 Wind, Sand and Stars.

36

MARCH WINDS

for in vain among the worldly,the sophisticatedand theintellectuals.

He continued throughouthis lifeto feelthis strong bondwith working-classpeople.Referringto his time in the deserfhe once wrote to Doctor Pelissier:'Ihave Hved eightyears otmy life,dayand night,with working-men.I have found myselfsharingtheirtable,for years at a time, as at Juby,where Iwas for two years the onlypilotamongst a lot of mechanics.I know very well what I am talkingabout when I speakofworking-classpeople,and I love them/1

For him the main differencebetween peoplewas not oneof class

" or intelligence.'It is not the intelligencewhichreallyseparatesmen from one another. Intelligenceissimplyamatter of degree" of more or less.What separatesmen is akind of understandingor comprehension,which exists or doesnot exist and which cannot be acquired;and itdividesmen offfrom one another in the same way as the whole human race isdivided offfrom the beasts.And, with the sureness of kinsmen,peoplerecognisethisqualityin one another/

Althoughrelativelycontented in hisnewjobhe was consciousthat it offered him no realprospects.It was now that his oldfriendand mentor, Abbe Sudour,came to the rescue. The Abbemade up his mind to find an openingin which his old pupilcould use his gifts.Amongst the many friendsSudour had made in the "War was

Monsieur Beppo de Massimi, who was now ManagingDirectorof the Lat"coere AirlineCompany, an ambitious pioneerenterprisewhich was then opening up, in the teeth of incrediblehardshipsand dangers,the firstair routes between France andher North African colonies.De Massimi had a great respectfor Sudour, whom he had entrusted with the education ofhis son.

The Abbe decided that de Massimi mightnow be able to1 Les Cinq Visagesde Saint-Exupery.

37

THE WINGED LIFE

helphis old pupil.'He spoketo me about him,' wrote deMassimi, 'interms so eulogisticthathe capturedmy attention.'An interview was arrangedin which de Massimi was at oncestruck by 'thisgreat shy boy who appearedto be so self-conscious about the size of hisbody,even resentingit for thespace it took up in the armchair.'1

When he was questionedabout his record Saint-Exuperywas so reticent that 'heseemed almost to have losthismemory.'But he brightenedup when de Massimi outlined to him thework of the Company.

'What will be my job?'the young man asked.De Massimi hesitated.He knew that Saint-Exup"rywould

only be content as a pilot,but he had come to an understandingwith the Abbe that he should be givenan administrativejob.Saint-Exupery'sfamilyhad hopedtheir son would become awriter,and they were afraid that he mightflingaway histalents,and even perhapshislife,in the riskyprofessionof apilot.

At thattime civilaviation was stillin itsinfancy.The Company'spilotsoften had to use old and obsolete machines,andtheyflew in allweathers over the Pyrenees,the Mediterraneanand the North African desert.By now many of them had losttheirlives,and the veterans were alreadybeingreplacedby anew generationof pilots.

At last de Massimi replied:"As it happens,our GeneralManager needs a deputy.'Saint-Exuperyflushed.I'm afraidI'm onlyinterestedin a

flyingjob/The sincerityin Saint-Exupery'svoice struck de Massimi;

and thiskeenness secretlydelightedhim. It was such a contrastto those pilotswho were alwaysaskingto be transferredtosafe,administrativejobs.

He gave in. On the nth of October,1926, Saint-Exuperywas stayingwith his sister,Madame d'Agay,in the South of

1 Vent Debout,by B. de Massimi.

38

MARCH WINDS

France,when he receivedthefollowingletterfrom the LatecoereAirlineCompany:

Sir,In replyto your request of Sept.ist for employmentwe

have the honour to inform you that we are prepared,subjectto your passingthe necessary tests,to employyou on our lineToulouse-Casablanca. We ask you, therefore,to presentyourselfas soon as possibleto our General Manager at theaerodrome of Montaudran on the Revel-Toulouse road,bringingwith you your travel warrants, your flyinglogbook,and a passportvalid for Spain.The General Manager was Didier Daurat, a man to become

one of the major influencesof hislife.

39

CHAPTER III

DIDIER DAURAT: THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

Itwas fortunate that the youth of one who had such anabiding love for the air should coincide with the great

pioneering days of civil aviation. This was the era of the first

long-distanceflightswhich began with the crossing of theAtlantic by Alcock and Brown in 1919. In that same year asmall group of Frenchmen banded togetherto start up anairline company (which later became proudly known as *LaLigne')between France and French North Africa. They werepatriotseager that their country should be the firstin the field.1

In the back of their minds, even as earlyas 1919, was the dreamof extending the Line across the Atlantic to South America.

The founders of the Company were M. Pierre Latecoere

and M. Beppo de Massimi. Latecoere was an enterprisingFrench industrialist who had made armaments in the earlypartof the war but later turned over his factories to the construction

of aircraft. De Massimi, its Managing Director, an ex-war pilot,was particularlyanxious to preserve the spiritof wartime flying,and he brought into the Company a nucleus of flyerswho hadserved with him in the French Air Force. Amongst them washis own squadron commander, Didier Daurat, a man with abrilliant war record. One of his achievements had been to spotfrom the air the positionof the monster German cannon 'BigBertha.'

1 One of the first (possiblythe very first)airmail flightsin the world had been madein a Bleriot machine on 9th September, 191 1, between Hendon and Windsor. But

passengers were not carried till after the war. A German company wasthe first in the

field with a passenger service between Berlin, Leipzig and Weimar. It was inauguratedon 5th February, 1919. Three days later a French aircraft carrying passengers left Parisfor London. The first British passenger-carrying flightwas not made till25th August

1919. This was also between London and Paris.

41

THE WINGED LIFE

Despitethe encouragement of Marshal Lyautey,then Resident-General in Morocco, these men had to contend from the

outset with obstaclesand difficulties.Althoughthe Companyhad receivedpermissionto carry mails the French Governmentwere reluctantto grantsubsidies;and the onlyaircraftavailablewere mainlyold and unreliable'crocks'which had seen theirbestdaysin the war. Moreover, the onlypossibleflyingrouteto North Africa was by way of Barcelona,Alicanteand Malaga,and the Company ran up againstSpanishobstruction and ill-will in theireffortsto establishlanding-groundsin those places.At that time the Germans were deeplyentrenched in Madridwhere theyexercised a strong influence on Spanishforeignpolicy,and every approachmade by the Company to Spainwas blocked by German antagonismto theirex-enemies.

Their difficultiesmay alsobe gaugedfrom the factthatwhen,on ist September,1919, the firstmail flightwas inauguratedbetween Toulouse and French Morocco, there was extreme

anxietyas to whether the performanceof the aircraftwouldbe adequateto the longand difficultflight,particularlythecrossingof the Pyrenees.Althoughonlythree aircraftweredetailedto make the flight" one to be pilotedby Didier Daurat" seven were linedup on the airfieldof Montaudran in case of

mishap;and out of the Company'stotalreserves these sevenaircraftwere the onlyones that were airworthy.As it turnedout, the flightwas successful.

Their problemsdid not end there. The Line could onlyjustifyits existence if it could carry mails and passengers toNorth Africa fasterthan the steamships.But nightflyingwasthen non-existent,and at thisstagethe Company were losingto the steamshipat nightwhat theygainedover it duringtheday,while theiraircraftwere constantlyat the mercy of localweather conditions.

The pilotsthereforehad to flyin almost allweathers. Thelossof lifewas high.They vanished over the Mediterranean;theycrashed into mountain- sides;theywere broughtdown by

42

THE WINGED LIFE

after the Moors had attacked and fired upon two of their

comrades. He lessened the dangerby arrangingthat aircraftshould henceforth flythe Rio de Oro in convoys of two orthree: if one aircraftcame down in hostileterritoryanothercould then immediatelyland beside it and, in case of attack,rescue the crew and the mails. As an additionalprecautionanArab interpreteralsoflew with the convoy.

Daurat's real preoccupation,however, was not with thecommercial success of the Latecoere Airline Company, butwith die personalitiesof the men whom he commanded. Anidealistand an ascetic,he was primarilyinterestedin humannature and theforgingof men's minds and charactersaccordingto his own severe principles;and the perilsand hardshipsof theLine gave him the perfectopportunityto put those principlesinto practice.

His view of human nature can be summed up in threesimpleprecepts:that human nature, like clay,is infinitelymalleable('L'hommec'est de la pate'" to use his own phrase);thathuman nature, leftto itselfand without guidanceor inspiration, remains at the level of mediocrity;that human natureneeds leadershipto crystalliseand shapeits obscure urges toself-fulfilment

" to rescue it from the temptationsof thatmediocrity.He was a man who combined Christian pityforhis fellow-men with a Nietzschean ardour and determination

to make them transcend themselves" to perfecttheir ownnatures throughthe lifeof heroism,self-disciplineand sacrifice.He was a creative artistwhose medium, insteadof beingpaintor words,happenedto be man.

He selectedhiscrews from allclassesand backgrounds,judgingthem by theirloyaltyto one another and to the spiritof theLine. As Madame Guillaumet,the widow of Henri Guillaumet,one of the pilotsof the Line,expressedit:'My husband andAntoine came from totallydifferentbackgrounds.Antoine wasan aristocratby birth,whereas my husband's familyhad beenpeasantsin theChampagneforgenerations.But itwas wonderful

44

DIDIER DAURAT: THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

to see how Daurat took men from differentclassesand weldedthem togetherand made them realisesomethinghigherinthemselves/ As a result,'thespiritof the Line' was to becomefamous as a phrasethroughoutFrance.

Daurat's attitude to these men is summed up in Saint-

Exupery'sNightFlight:'Love the men under your orders butdo not let them know it.'A man of few words and a hard

disciplinarian,he exacted a highstandard of efficiency.Storiesof hisharshness are innumerable. For instance,a pilotone daywas flyingtwo passengers to North Africa,when he remarkedto them thathe was surprisedtheyhad not taken the boat as itwas saferand more comfortable than travelby air.The observation was repeatedto Daurat who promptlydismissed the pilot,remarkinglater:'Itwas hard for the pilotto losehisjob,but itwas stillharder for me to dismisshim: there isnothingsadderthan to see a man surpassedby thejob/The man in questionwas one of the many ex-war pilotswho, afterthe war, hadflocked to the Line but who, apart from theirsalaries,took nointerest in itswork.

In NightFlightSaint-ExuperyportraysDaurat in thecharacterof Riviere,as the lonely,aloof leader torn between his desire,on the one hand, to developto the fullthe moral potentialitiesof his men, and his knowledge,on the other,that to do someans deprivingthem of theirnormal human rightto familylifeand security.For he was intolerantof any influence thatmightdistracthis men from thejob.Thus, he had no use forthe type of woman who attemptedto stand between herhusband and the risksof his career, and he made it a rule that

no woman should cross the boundaries of the airfields.This

rule he took to extraordinarylengths.Once at Dakar whenMadame Guillaumet was standingbeside the hangarsshe sawher husband's aircrafttake off,crash and burst into flames.Butshe did not dare run to his rescue. Such restraint must have

been torturing,especiallyas many airmen died leavingbehindthem wives and young children.Yet Daurat keptthe respect

45

THE WINGED LIFE

of both the crews and theirwives. 'Althoughhe demandedthese sacrificesfrom us/ Madame Guillaumet said,'Daurat isat heart a saint/Daurat himself admits todaythathe was a hardman, but adds that strictdisciplinewas essentialifpilotswerenot to sacrificetheirown and theircomrades' livesby dividedallegiance.1Despitehis ruthlessnessDaurat was a humanitarian. He

believed in the fundamental goodnessof human nature while

recognisingthatthisgoodnessonlybecomes apparent in certain,and perhapsexceptional,conditions.He realised,for instance,that men were readyto sacrificethemselvesfor an idealwhenit capturedtheir hearts and imaginations;and the heroismshcttynin the lastwar, or in Communist undergroundmovements, or amongst Catholicpriestsand laitybehind the IronCurtain,shows he was not entirelywrong.

In the earlydaysof civilaviation the Line made the sameimaginativeappeal.Itwas not onlythatthesemen were spurredon by the excitement of doingsomethingnever done before,but alsothattheyfirmlybelieved that theywere servingthecause of humanity.Like many airmen in those days,theysawthe possibilitiesof commercial aviation in an idealisticlight.'Our very psychology/Saint-Exuperylaterwrote, 'has beenshaken to its most secret recesses. Our notions of separation,absence,distance,return, are reflectionsof a new set of realities,thoughthe words themselvesremain unchanged.To grasp themeaning of the world todaywe use a languagecreated toexpress the world of yesterday/2It was believedthatthe aeroplane,bylinkingthe world more closelytogether,would break

* Note:M^adame Guillaumet herself is an exceptionalwoman who combinesthe Parisian'sgaietyand charm with all the steadfastnessand strengthof character-'ofthe French bourgeoisie.She sacrificed her own interestsfor the sake of herhusband's flyingcareer, cheerfullyacceptingits dangersand anxieties;and inso doing she became herself,in her own way, a part of the Line and its spirit.She now recallsthose dayswith pride.She keepsa littlebookshop in the AvenueFnedland near the Etoile in Paris which she bought (asshe put it)Tor somethingtodo when Henri was killed/This bookshopsoon became a meeting-placefor theveterans of the Line.

- Wind, Sand and Stars.

46

DIDIER DAURAT: THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

down the spiritualbarriersbetween man and man, nation andnation;itwould alsobringthe benefitsof civilisationto remotepeoples,as the crews of the Line were alreadydoingto thedeserttribesof North Africa.

Thus, for Daurat and his pilotsflyingbecame a means ofdedication,as it was in thiscountry for T. E. Lawrence and somany unknown airmen. 'It seems to me,' Lawrence wrotetowards the end of hislife,'thatthe conquest of the air is theonlymajor task of our generation';and he went on to explainthat,in hisview, progress would no longerbe due to the workof isolatedgeniuses,but to the communal effortof the newskilledmechanics and technicians of the mechanical age. Inthishe was expressingthe inarticulatefeelingsof many whosaw hope in an allianceof humanism with technocracy.Thepossibilities" negativeand positive" of science and technicsobviouslyopen up vast fieldsfor discussion,particularlysincethe discoveryof atomic energy; and theoverwhelmingimplications of these problemswere to dog Saint-Exuperyin hislastyears.

Daurat todayis the directorof OrlyAirport.To look at he isnot in the leastimpressive;in fact he looks rather like theEnglishman'sidea of the French bourgeois" plump,round-faced,small in stature. Indifferentto appearances he usuallywears an old hat and an old mackintosh faded by sun and rain;and he smokes incessantly,lightingand relightingthe stub of aGaulois cigarette.But he has that directsimplicityof mannerand speechwhich often characterisesgreat men; he has theknack of reducingthe complexproblemsand activitiesof lifeto simpleproportions.One leaveshis presence with a curiousfeelingof exhilaration and excitement as though one hadsuddenlycome closerto the heart and core of things.

In his simple,direct fashion he spoketo us about Saint-Exup6ry.'But for the Line and itsclangerswould there everhave been a Saint-Exup6ry?'he asked us. Then he went on:

47

THE WINGED LIFE

'When Saint-Exuperyjoinedus he was an immature youngman, but through,our trialsand struggleshe discovered himself"

and hisfellow-men. He discovered another,a nobler sideofhuman nature which was to determine hiswhole outlook onlife.But we were fortunate to possess a Saint-Exup6rywhocould express in unforgettablelanguagewhat allof us feltinour own way, but could not have put into words.'

The influenceofDaurat'sradiatingpersonalityshows throughout Saint-Exupery'slifeand work. Daurat instilledinto him arespectforhuman nature and a sense of thepossibilitiesopen toit.He showed him that certain valueslikecourage, loyalty,andresponsibilitytowards one's fellows,are absolute,sacred andeternalvaluesbecause theygivemeaningand purpose to humaneffortand to our whole lifeon earth;and therefore,it is thefunction of man to practicethesevirtues,not for gainor otherulteriormotives,but independently,for theirown sake and forthe sake of the whole human body.Saint-Exuperymade thisclearwhen he summed up the spiritof the Line in a phrase:'Lecourrier est sacr6;ce qu'ily a dedans a peu d'importance/('Themail is sacred;what it contains is of littleimportance/)

The essence of Saint-Exupery'sview of lifewas that man,by the use of hismoral powers, hisimaginationand hiscreativeability,qualitiesthat set him apart from the other animals,canto a certain degreetransform the raw materials,the crude clayof life,into an intelligibledesign.Out of the chaos of naturehe can, throughhis strugglesand efforts,create a formula,apatternbywhich he givesworth and significanceto hisexistence.'The spiritalone,ifit breathes upon the clay,can create Man'is the concludinglineof Wind, Sand and Stars.This,as Saint-Exupery came to realise,was the very taskthatDaurat had sethimself.

After allthe dismalfutileyears in businessSaint-Exuperywashappyto be back " back in the vivid,adventurous world offlyingand flyingmen. For the time beinghe was not to be

48

DIDIER DAURAT: THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

allowed to flyhimself. He had had a briefand disillusioninginterview about thiswith the General Manager. Daurat hadscrutinisedhim closely,asked for detailsof hisflyingexperienceand then sent him for a spellin the workshops.But Daurat,whose interviews rarelylastedmore than threeminutes,expectedhis pilotsto be, in case of emergency, efficientmechanics aswell as pilots.Althoughhe longedto be in the air he loved the work

shopswith theirrichsmell of engineoiland thehappybackchatand laughterof his workmates;and in his off-dutyhours hewould listen eagerlyto the veteran pilotstellingof theiradventures with the Line. Weary, preoccupied,theywere aptto treat the novices with aloofness and condescension,but

occasionallytheywould letslipa remark which conjuredupfabulous exploitsin the ice-cappedPyreneesor amongst wildMoorish tribesin the Sahara.

In Toulouse the pilotslodgedat *LeGrand Balcon' " a modestpensionkeptby three piousold ladies" and there he wouldwatch them as, back from Alicante or Casablanca or Dakar,

theytook theirplacesat table,grimy,rain-soaked,facesstrainedfrom battleswith wind and storm; and he would contrast their

ruggedstrengthand zest for lifewith the 'shut-in*soulsof theofficeclerks and employeesseated beside them at the tabled'hote.

The two comrades of whom we hear most arc JeanMermozand Henri Guillaumet. Mermoz, whom Saint-Exuperyonlycame to know reallywell lateron, is a fascinatingfigure.Herecallsto mind the Elizabethan and Renaissance buccaneers"

in his dash and boldness of spirit;in his love of bravado and

panache;in the violenceof hisambition;in hisfantasticachievements as an airman whilst stillin the firstflushof youth;and inthe hectic,fevered qualityof his life,particularlyof his lovelife.He was to become one of the greatestof French pilots.

Henri Guilkumet was an utterlydifferentcharacter.Descendedfirom a longline of peasantshe was stolid,simple-hearted,

D 49

THE WINGED LIFE

reliableand above allresponsible;and unlike Mcrmoz he wascompletelyindifferentto publicflatteryand hero-worship.InNightFlightSaint-Exuperyhas givena subtle pictureof therelationshipbetween him and Daurat in the characters ofPellerinand Riviere. Riviere loved him because he talkedonlyof histrade,referringto hisflightsas a blacksmith to his anvil.'

"From the moment theyfirstmet Henri and Antoine werelikebrothers,'Madame Guillaumet remarked,and she addedthatit was partlythe peasant in her husband which appealedtoSaint-Exupery.Complexhimself,he envied hisfriend'ssimple,extraverted nature. Guillaumet's approachto flying,as Saint-Exupery observed,was thatof the craftsman;he would undertake a riskyflightin an unemotional matter-of-factway thoughwell aware of itsdangers.He once remarked to hiswife: 'Ishallnever see the other sideof forty/and he turned out to be right.He was kittedin the Second World War.

Madame Guillaumet also noticed the curious fact that,whereas her husband,the peasant, was a born and a naturalleaderof men, Saint-Exup6ry,thearistocrat,likedtakingorders.In thisSaint-ExuperyrecallsT. E. Lawrence who, as an aircraftsman in the R.A.F., alsofound peace of mind in unquestioningobedience to his superiors,however harsh theirorders mightbe. For Lawrence the R.A.F. was 'thebest modern equivalentto enteringa monastery in the Middle Ages/combiningsubmission and dedication;and Saint-Exuperyin laterlifeoftensaidthatifhe had faithhe would become a monk.

Both men, too, were inclined to introspection,naggedbya sense of isolationfrom life.No one who reads The Mint,particularlyitsbeautifulconcludingchapter,can doubt that itwas partlythistendencywhich drove Lawrence into a grouplifein the ranks of the R.A.F. Saint-Exuperywas a victim ofthissame lonelinesswhich made him constantlyafraidof beingleftout of things.The role of the outsider,the spectator,wasalwayshateful to him: and even the professionof a writer,inasmuch as it impliedfor him a certain mental detachment

50

THE WINGED LIFE

onlymore exhilaratingbut more worth while. 'Itisn'teasy toexplain/he wrote in a letter,'but that is exactlyhow I likeflyingto be. It should be a metier, not a sport for gigolos.Lateco"re isreproachedfor beinghard on hispilots,but I Hkeit when theydon't ask you whether or not it pleasesyou tofly/Daurat's lesson" the lessonof salvationthroughstrenuousendeavour

"had been well and trulylearned.

One evening,not long afterwards,Saint-Exup"rywassuddenlycalled to the General Manager'soffice.'You'll flytomorrow/ Daurat told him in hisusualabruptfashion.'Itakeityou know the regulations?'Then, aware of the young pilot'skeen, impetuousnature, he slowed him up with a word ofcaution: 'It'sallvery fine to navigateon your compass overSpainin a sea of cloud. It'svery stylishbut'" and then helowered his voice

" 'remember,below that sea of cloud lieseternity//""""ISaint-Exuperyleftthe room proudof himself,'but at thesame time very humble, feelingmyselfill-preparedfor theresponsibility/Hitherto he had onlyflown twice as secondpiloton the Toulouse-Barcelona-Alicante service. But now,as captainof the aircraft,he feltanxious,wonderingwhere onthe route he could make a forced landingin case of emergency.He decided to consultthe calm,wise,practicalGuillaumet.

Guillaumet received him with a reassuringgrin,pouredouta drink,rolledup his shirtsleevesand broughtout the maps;and togetherin the lamplightthe two men went over, stageby stage,the route to Barcelona. 'Shoulder to shoulder withthe veteran/says Saint-Exupery,'I felta sort of schoolboypeace/

As the nightwore on his anxieties graduallyfaded away.Guillaumet unfolded for him not the Spain of tourist ortraveller,but a new Spain,secret, intimate,exclusive,knownonlyto the airman. He did not tellhim about the majestyofmountains or rivers,or about the size of towns and cities,orabout theproverbialSpanishtemperament. He did not tellhim,

52

DIDIER DAURAT: THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

for instance,about the church at Guadix but about three orangetrees on the borders of itsairfieldwhich a pilotmightfailtonotice as he came in to land. 'Beware of those trees " mark

them on the map/ He did not mention the great Ebro riverbut a littlebrook,hidden by water weeds, runningthroughafield.'Carefulof thatbrook;itbreaks up the whole field.Markit on your map/ Then there was a meadow used as a landing-stripwhere the farmer did not keepan eye on his livestock.'You think the meadow empty and then bang!there are thirtysheepunder your wheels/

After leavingGuillaumet Saint-Exuperystrolledamong thecrowds in the streets of Toulouse. It was a freezingstarrywinter's night,and the shop-windows,dazzlinglylit,werefilledwith a festivedisplayof wares. 'In the sightof allthiswealth,'he says, 'Ifeltintoxicated with the prideand joy ofrenunciation/ Of what littleaccount were allthe richesof the

earth comparedto the unswerving,honest-to-God friendshipof a Guillaumet;to the tieswrhich bound him to the airmen ofthe Line throughtheirmutual strugglesand perils;and to flyingwith itsdangers,itstriumphs,itsfrigidecstasies.As he walkedthroughthe streets in thisexaltedframe of mind he looked intothe facesof the passers-by,not with envy but with pity.'Whatcould theyknow of those stars that one by one were goingout?I alone was in the confidence of the stars.

. .. My footfallrang

in a universe that was not theirs/Next morninghe was up at four.Half an hour laterhe was

rattlingover the cobbles of Toulouse in the Company'soldomnibus ;he found himselfsandwiched between a sleepycustomsguardand a few glurnclerksand inspectors'who were about totake up theirdrearydailytasks,theirred tape,theirmonotonouslives/As theyreached the airfieldthe firstpale,fitfulstreaksoflightwere showingin the sky.

Then he took offfor Spain,climbinghigherand highertocross the Pyrenees.

53

CHAPTER IV

EXPANDING HORIZONS

hat was the secret of Saint-Exupery'slife-longdevotionVV to the air? For him flyingwas not simply a beloved

profession,but a vocation, a way of life,which satisfied in him,particularlyin these dangerouspioneeringdays,somethingakinto religiousardour. There was the call to hardship,sacrifice,therenunciation of earthlythings,including,if necessary, thesurrender of one's life

"

what he calls 'the dark sense of duty

greater even than that of love';there was the vision of a wider,

purer, more spaciousuniverse, unsullied by the pettinessesand

contingenciesof every-daylife;and there was the comradeshipborn out of danger and the common love for the metier,wherein men discovered their own and each other's true worth.

All his life Saint-Exupery feltthis devotion to the air, a devo

tion intenselymysterious because, ultimately,it was somethingbeyond himself.

*I fly,'he once told a friend, 'because it releases my mindfrom the tyranny of petty things;it gives me a sense of thewider horizons.' And that was probably as near as he ever cameto findingthe source of his love.

Throughout Wind, Sand and Stars runs this sense of a wider*

more open-hearted,more generous view of things" 2 viewwhich the airman acquiresin the giantperspectivesand solitudes

of the air. In other words, he comes to think of the earth as a

tinyplanet,compared to the universe itself,to the moons, sunsand galaxiesof stars surroundingit: and yet for that very reasonit becomes to him all the more beloved and familiar. This

theme was alreadyimplied in the French title of the book:Terre des Hommes.

55

NORTH

AMERICA

SOUTH AMERIC

Oaka

Montevideo

ia Bianca

Rawson

Santa Cruz

^-^ Punta ArenasOTIERRA OEL

nbuco

The main route of Aeropostale.Toulouse to St. Louis.St. Louis to Buenos Aires.Buenos Aires to Santiago.

St. Exupery'smost outstandingflights,Buenos Aires to Funta Arenas.New York to Guatemala.Paris to a point120 miles west of Cairowhere he crashed in the desert.

THE WINGED LIFE

There was something,too, about the air that appealedto themysticin him. For the pilotnot onlysees the earth in a widerperspective,but also comes into a new and differentrelationshipto it.It is as though,in the process of acquiringwhat iscalled'air-sense/he were leadinga lifein two dimensions. Assoon as he leavesthe groundhe sloughsoffhis ties with theearth:locked up in hiscockpithe isengrossedwith the note ofhis engine,with the dials on his instrument panel,with thefitfulperversitiesof the weather;he isonlyconcerned now withthe earth in so faras ityieldshim landmarks " those towns andlakes,those rivers and railways,which enable him to pinpointhisposition.

The pilotalso enters into a vital active relationshipwiththe whole world of Nature in which by dayhe is concernedwith the speedand direction of winds, and at nightfixes hispositionby the stars. Saint-Exup6ryparticularlystresses thatintimate association between the pilotand the elements. Thescene, he says, may be commonplacefor the passenger, but'from the moment of takingoffitisanimated with a powerfulmagicfor the crew. . . . To the pilotthe sightof clouds massingon the horizon is no mere spectaclebut a matter of concern tohisphysicalbeing

. . .

and between him and it a bond isformedwhich is a veritablelanguage/And as he grows familiarwiththis new world " as he learns more and more to speakthelanguageof cloud and wind and star " the airman feels asthoughhe were conversingwith the whole universe;he debateswhether he will assaultthismountain-range,or allow himselfto be swallowed up in that cloud,or whether he will make adetour over the sea. 'There is a peakahead,stilldistant.Thepilotwillnot reach itbefore another hour of flightin thenight.What isthe significanceof thatpeak?On a nightof fullmoonitwill be a usefullandmark. In faintermoonglow it will be abit of wreckagestrewn in shadow, dangerous,but markedclearlyenoughby the lightsof villages.But ifthe pilotfliesblind,has bad luck in correctinghis drift,is dubious about his

58

THE WINGED LIFE

across thisterritorythat he had an experience,which,thoughweird,isnot unusual foran airman. One nighthe and hiswirelessoperator,Neri, were tryingto land at Villa Cisneros,then are-fuellingpointin the Rio de Oro about half-waybetweenCasablanca and Dakar. As theyapproachedthe airfieldtheyran into dense fog,but flew on untilNeri suddenlysaw a lightglimmeringthroughthe murk. With reliefhe signalledtoCisneros: 'Your beacon in view; con-firm by flashingthreetimes/ But there was no response. And then theysuddenlyrealisedthatthe lightwas, in fact,a star.Completelylost,theyroamed about in the thickeningfog,

steeringon star afterstar,hopingthat each one mightbe thelonged-forbeacon. But every time theyflashed out a signalthey met with the same blank stare. 'Incorruptiblestars.'exclaimed Saint-Exupery,'which would not so much as wink/Their eyes,tiredwith peeringthroughthemist,now saw everywhere flashesof light,phantomshapes,delusivesigns;and theybeganto imagine,halfseriously,halfin jest,thatperhapstheyhad 'slippedbeyondthe confines of thisworld/Finallymessages from Cisneros and other airfieldsalong

the route came through,and they were able to get theirbearings.Among the signalswas a particularlyincongruousone. 'Monsieur de Saint-Exupery/it read,1 am obligedtorecommend that disciplinaryaction be taken againstyou inParis for havingflown too low over the hangarson yourdeparturefrom Casablanca/ They burstout laughing,fortheyfeltthattheyhad been lost in interplanetaryspace amongst athousand inaccessibleplanets/

Saint-Exuperydid not at firsttake the perilsof the Rio de Orovery seriously.Swept suddenlyfrom the sedateprovincialismof Toulouse into thisexotic world,where terrors lurked in thesands,he felta reckless,headyexhilaration.It isfullof sport/he wrote to hisfamily.'Lastyear two pilotswere killed" andI'vethe honour of beingfiredon likea partridgefor a thousand

60

EXPANDING HORIZONS

kilometres. The other thousand are more peaceful.On eachmail flightwe flytwo thousand kilometres on the way out andtwo thousand kilometres back. I've alreadyhad to make aforced landingin the desert but the other plane(we flyinconvoy)was able to rescue me. I'dlanded on goodhard sand.IfI hadn't been rescued itmightnot have been so amusing

. .

/

Once he and his co-pilot" it was probablythe firsttimehe was at close gripswith the desert" came down betweenAgadirand Dakar, A broken connecting-rodhad sent themcrashinginto a sand dune. Guillaumet,who was actingasescort, landed beside them, and theytransferredthe mail bagsto his plane.As a singleaircraftcould not carry the three ofthem Guillaumet and the co-pilotflew off to the nearest outpost,promisingto return laterforSaint-Exupery.Before takingofftheyhanded him with greatsolemnitya gun and two clipsof cartridges.'Don't be shyon the trigger,'theywarned him.'Fire on die slightestprovocation.'This time Saint-Exuperytook the dangerseriously.He keptthe gun close at hand.

At sunset his friends returned. They asked him with,apparently,genuineconcern ifhe had seen anything.He hadseen onlya littlegazelle,with which he had tried to makefriends,but he was too shyto mention it.The two others thenconfessed thejoke.They had lefthim in perfectsafetyin a partof the desertwhere the tribeshad longsince been pacifiedandsubdued.

All three men then passeda hilariousnightin the fort ofNouatchott, a lonelydesert outpost in chargeof a French

sergeant and fifteenSenegalesesoldiers.The sergeant seldomreceived visitsfrom other Frenchmen,and theysat up latewithhim, drinkingand swopping stories. In the solitude of thedesert these chance meetingstook on a rare warmth and

intimacywhich delightedSaint-Exupery.As a relaxationfrom flyinghe went out on huntingexpedi

tions into thewilderness.1 have been huntinglionsin Mauritaniaon the borders of the Sahara,'he wrote enthusiasticallyto a

61

THE WINGED LIFE

friend. 'Four daysof travel in the desert.Not even a cameltrack.We navigatedacross the sands avoidingthe dunes,andat nightbivouacked in encampments where our two vehiclesaroused firstfearand then admiration. When we run into herdswe requisitionsheep.It isa "grandseigneur"life.'

The Arab towns and villagesalongthe route of the Linewere alsoexplored.He loved the austere feelingof these 'BeauGeste'towns standingrightout in thenaked desertwith thehardsun glintingon their green-toppedminarets and encirclingfortifications.But he dislikedthe krgerFrench colonialtownsand in particular'dilapidatedand derelict'Dakar. There hecame up againsthis old enemies, the petty bureaucrats,preoccupiedwith theirillnessesand theirshabbydomestic cares,theirhousehold accounts and theirlocaljealousies.'When/ hewrote, 'Icompare allthat to my love of the Arabs and eventhe Moors and theircountry , . . afterallthoseplacesalongtheLine what a dead-and-alivehole Dakar is.'

Now, for the firsttime, he was earninga littlemoney, andhe visitedthe Arab bazaars to buy carpetsand other amenitiesforhisrough-and-readysleepingquartersin theseremote desertttations. Then therewere casual flirtationswith localbeautiesso while away his leisure.In a letterto Mademoiselle Decour,written in a light,rather whimsical vein,he mentions one ortwo of theseliaisons,in particularone with a littledancing-girl

His reallove remained the desert.'Ilived three years in theSahara/he wrote later.*Ialso,likeso many others,have beengrippedby itsspell.Anyone who has known lifein the Sahara. . .

mourns those years as the happiestof hislife.'1He realisedthat the desert heighteneda man's awareness,

sharpeninghisimaginationand senses, which made up for thekck of outer resources. Apparentlymonotonous stretchesofsand became enriched by the memories builtup around themwhile even the silencesof the desertwere various and different.

1 Letter to a. Hostage.

62

EXPANDING HORIZONS

There was the silenceof peace, of tfibalreconciliation;thesilence" a kind of ominous hush" which precededthe comingof a sandstorm;the silenceof highnoon when the sun suspendsallactivities;and the silenceof ambush and intriguewhile theMoors were plottingtheirraids.

He noticed,too, how in that sparse wilderness every visiblefeature of the landscapetook on an enhanced value. Somesmall and otherwise insignificantobject,a dune, a palm tree,or even a bunch of scatteredcamel thorn,was singledout bythe eye; while an oasis,because it was green, growing andalive,was regardedalmost with religiousreverence. On enteringitan Arab would pay ithomagebyplunginghishands intothe gushinglittlespringfrom which it drew itslife;and onlythen would he enjoythe shade of the great date palmsorwander throughitsgroves, green, cool and lusciouswith peachand apricotand pomegranate. Saint-Exuperyrelatesthat someBedouin chiefs were once flown to France on a goodwillmission in an aircraftof the Line. They were not half soimpressedby the EiffelTower and the other sightsof Parisas by a hugewaterfallwhich theywere shown in the FrenchAlps.These men had never seen a forest,or a river,or a rose-treein bloom.

Despitethe excitements of thisnew lifethere were momentsin which he was both lonelyand homesick. When MademoiselleDecour announced her forthcomingmarriagehe broughtupagain,with pathos,the fearwhich continuallyhaunted him ofbeingon the peripheryratherthan in the centre of things.'Itake as much interestin your happinessas thoughI were yourbrother. I am terriblysad to lose even a small measure of ourfriendship.All my friendsget married,afterwhich thingsarenever quitethe same. They build theirlittlewallsabout them,and then I have the feelingof beingshut out. Once upon atime I did not mind it;I saidto myself:"That isanother hearththat welcomes me/* I feltthen that I had in the world little

refugesin which I could be happy" the stable,enduringthings

63

THE WINGED LIFE

which I could alwayscount upon. But everythingaround meis in flux,startingwith my changesof quarters.I can alwaysdo without thesethings" the enduringthings" but allthe sameI do love them. I become ratheranxious ifconditionschangeagreat deal when I am far away. Try to be a friend still:it is

unlikelythatthingswill be quitethe same. I have seen it toooften. I admit that I am a bad correspondent,that I appearforgetfulor distrait,but that is not the realtruth.I have suchneed of certainthings

. .

/ But he ended the letterby tellingher that marriagecan bringnot onlya sense of purpose butthat rare and blessedmoment of fulfilmentin which throughlove allconflictsand complexitiesare gatheredtogetherandresolved.It was a romantic attitude,and when he appliedit tohis own marriagelateritinevitablyled to disappointment.

As mightbe expectedin a characterso unstable,thependulumswung uneasilybetween the lifeof action and thelongingfor asolid,unvaryingrhythmand background.'At times I think Iam mad/ he wrote to the same girl.'Iask myselfwhat I amseekingin allthislife.Iaskmyselfif,afterall,themost intelligentthingis not to try to find happiness.'And then he goes on tocontrast the empty arid desertwith the green, smilingfieldsofFrance, with the boulevards of Paris throngedwith elegant,spritely,attractive women, with the opportunitiesfor culture,pleasureand gaietywhich existin that effervescentcapital.

But these moments of self-distrustwere transitory.It wastypicalof a certain perversityin his nature thathe thoughtofhis country with nostalgiawhen he could no longerenjoyit.Not longafterhe was assuringMademoiselle Decour that hehad 'chosenthehardestand most uncertain lifebecause otherwise I believe one amounts to nothing/

In October 1927 Saint-Exup6rywas on leave in Paris whenhe was hurriedlysummoned to take chargeof the Company'svitalrefuellingstation at Jubyin the Rio de Oro. This new jobwas to mark another stagein hisdevelopment.Duringthe last

64

EXPANDING HORIZONS

year he had been leadingthe lifeof the ordinarypilot" a lifeof sensation ratherthan of thought" but now he was suddenlyentrusted with wider responsibilities.He was broughtintocontact with allkinds and conditions of men throughwhomhe acquireda deeperunderstandingof human nature. It wasthe beginningof his intellectualmaturity.

His appointmentwas the resultof a criticalsituation at Juby.Since the very earliestdaysrelationsbetween the Line and theSpanishGovernment had been strained.The concessions grantedby the Spaniardsto the French AirlineCompany were intenselyresented by the Germans in Madrid,who hopedthattheirownair lineswould eventuallyoperate the route to South America.De Massimi had succeeded,nevertheless,in overcomingSpanishreluctanceto grant him landing-fieldsboth in Spainand in theRio de Onx But now an altogethernew problemhad sprungup. The Spaniardswere findingitalmost impossibleto subduetherefractoryMoorish tribesin the Rio de Oro, and the sudden

appearance of the French Company, whose airmen were soon

beingcapturedand held up to ransom and sometimes evenmurdered by thesetribes,increasedthe generalstate of lawlessness and rebellion.The situation was rapidlygettingout ofhand,loweringSpanishprestigeboth in the eyes of the Moorsand the world outside.

Since 1925, the year in which the Company had beguntooperate this new route, there had been numerous incidents

which received world-wide publicity.On the 22nd of July,1925, two French pilots,Rozes and Ville,had to shoot themselves out of an afiraywith a band of armed Moors whoattacked them aftera forced landing;and in thisincident twoMoors losttheirlives.In December of the same year another

pilot,Marcel Reine " a wild,charming,devil-may-careyouth" was taken prisonerin the desert,and the Moors onlyreleasedhim on payment of an exorbitant ransom.

In the followingyear Jean Mennoz had an even moreharrowingexperience.After beingcaptured,he was locked

i 65

THE WINGED LIFE

up in a cage likea wild beast,and transportedby caravan acrossthe desertfor daysand nightson end; and never once had heseen the face of the Chief of the tribewhich remained hidden

behind a black veil.For a month afterhisrelease" on paymentof a ransom of a thousand pesetas" he suffered from the

effectsof thirstand exposure.Then, on the nth of November, 1926, two airmen, Gourp

and Erable,were flyingacross thisregionin convoy carryinga Spanishmechanic,Pintado. Gourp was forced down byenginefailureat Cap Bojadoron the coast, Erable then landedto pickhim up and the three men were set upon by tribesmen.Erable and Pintado were killedoutrightwhile Gourp,woundedin the spine,was carried off by his captors.In his agony hetried vainlyto end his lifeby drinkinga bottleof tincture ofiodine. He was rescued on payment of the usual ransom butdied a few dayslaterin hospitalat Casablanca.

The publicitygiven to these incidents had infuriatedtheSpaniards,and theywere now threateningto stop allfurtherflightsacross the Rio de Oro. At Cap Juby the Governor,Colonel de laPena, was particularlyantagonistic,and seemedto be going out of his way to offer