Whatever the cause, it was one of the greatest losses to the literary/aviation world.
I have been madly in love with Antoine de Saint-Exupery since I read "The Little Prince." Even though it was originally penned as a childrens' book, the profundity of his message is something all of us should inherit: It is with the heart that one can see rightly - what is important is invisible to the eye.
Exupery deserved those epulets on his shoulder...but the ones on his heart is how I choose to remember him.
I have actually started a compendium of writing called "Letters to Antoine." It is less about the mechanics of flight - more about the metaphor. His hand may have been on the stick, but what he was truly grasping was the magic of the pen.