Alexis Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt
Alexis Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt , full name Alexis Friedrich Karl Christian Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt (born July 30, 1922 in Burgsteinfurt , † December 2, 1943 over the Mediterranean ) was a German fighter pilot .
Life
Alexis zu Bentheim and Steinfurt was a son of Viktor Adolf zu Bentheim and Steinfurt (1883-1961) and his wife Stephanie, née Princess zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1899-1925), daughter of Friedrich zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1868-1945) and Louise of Denmark (1875–1906), daughter of the Danish King Friedrich VIII.
Alexis was the firstborn of the Bentheim-Steinfurt family . He began his training as a fighter pilot at the age of 19 and was one and a half years older than his brother Christian (born December 9, 1923). Alexis took off from Avignon on December 2, 1943 on his first enemy flight during the Second World War , never returned and was considered "missing at sea". The remains of Alexis' Bf 109 recovered from the seabed off Marseille in autumn 2003 were initially mistakenly mistaken for relics of the P-38 Lightning by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry .
Alexis's skeleton was found in 1965 near where Saint-Exupéry's plane crashed. The identity of Alexis has now been clearly confirmed via DNA analyzes . The mortal remains of Alexis zu Bentheim and Steinfurt were transferred to Steinfurt and buried there.
literature
- Claas Triebel , Lino von Gartzen: The Prince, the Pilot and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - The riddle of the last flight. Herbig Verlag, August 2008.
- Susanne Sasse, Lino von Gartzen: Missing over the lake - mysterious crashes and their explanation - Saint-Exupéry, Amundsen and others. Bucher Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 3-76582-034-2 .
Web links
- John Tagliabue: On the trail of a missing aviator, Saint-Exupéry. New York Times . April 10, 2008, accessed October 20, 2017 .
- Domizia Carafòli: "L'ho abbattuto io". Il Giornale . March 16, 2008, accessed October 20, 2017 (Italian).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Michael Kloth: Mysterium Saint-Exupéry. "It will look like I'm dead". Spiegel Online . November 28, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2017 .
- ↑ Stefan Werding: The missing prince - search for traces in the Mediterranean. Westphalian news . December 2, 2008, accessed October 21, 2017 .
- ↑ Christian Deussing: On the ground of all things. Diver Lino von Gartzen. Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 11, 2011, accessed October 21, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bentheim and Steinfurt, Alexis Prinz too |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bentheim and Steinfurt, Alexis Friedrich Karl Christian Hereditary Prince too |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German fighter pilot |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 30, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Burgsteinfurt |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 2, 1943 |
| Place of death | Mediterranean Sea |