The Legerud of Sairut-Effwperyl

QHOIJLD one take a legend and try to cut it x]down to size ? It is a somewhat debatable point. The human race, in the main, does not begrudge its heroes the trimmings added on by time and memory. But in the case of the famous French aviator and poet, Saint-Exupery, perhaps this objective assessment had to be written so that fact could be distinguished from fiction. It is a readable volume, giving as it does a great deal of the background to SaintExupery's life from his student days to the final flight when he vanished in his Lightningin 1944 on a reconnaissance flight from Corsica.

One of the early chapters tells how SaintExupery, frustrated in his efforts to fly while on compulsory military service, manages to persuade his mother, at great personal sacrifice to herself, to put up the money so that he can take a private flying instruction course. These early flights left an indelible impression on Saint-

Exupery for there is passage after passage in his books describing the feeling of union between. pilot and aircraft and the sudden metamorphosis of an aircraft which, one moment cold and inert, springs to life through the pilot's action-" the mystery of metal turned to living flesh " as he describes it in Night Flight.

One whole chapter is devoted to attempting to solve the mystery of Saint-Exupery's last flight and end. After dealing with all possible contin gencies Migeo concludes that Saint-Expury was shot down by a German fighter but even so one is left with the curious feeling that the case is still not proved.

An interesting biography which might usefully be read in conjunction with the Saint-Expury classics, Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.

G. Saint-Exupery. By Marcel Migeo. (Macdonald 30/r.

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