ONE hundred years ago, a young boy stood on the airfield of Ambérieu-en-Bugey in south-eastern France, looking on in wonder as the aircraft took off and landed. In those early days of modern aviation, the contraptions that took to the sky were as fascinating as the magnificent men who flew them.
Eventually, the boy plucked up his courage and asked the pilot to take him for a spin in the cockpit of a Berthaud-Wroblewski. So on that sunny day in July 1912, 12-year-old Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had his first taste of flying: an experience that was to leave its mark on the future world-renowned poet and pilot.