English: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry exhibit at the national Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget, Paris.

Depicted is part of the nose landing gear remnants of the P-38 Lightning spyplane he was flying when he disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea. Remnants of his specially modified aircraft, an F-5B variant, were recovered in 2003 and 2004 after years of search. The first indication that his plane was in the area came in 1998 when a French fishing crew dredged up Saint-Exupéry's silver identification bracelet in their nets. He was flying an unarmed reconnaissance mission at the time of his disappearance.

His aircraft was found far from its intended flight path, however no cause for his aircraft's crash or his death has ever been determined, although French authorities suggested that his oxygen system may have failed. He was also in poor general health at the time, having suffered numerous previous aircraft crashes.