Flying with St. Ex

In his eleventh book, Young leverages his aviation experience to detail techniques used by World War II photo reconnaissance and French Resistance pilots throughout his engaging tale that includes numerous interactions with real-life pilot, poet, and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Charlotte Denneau is Young’s main character. An artist, she has created a series of maps locating Nazi facilities in occupied France. The maps need to be sent to England for use by the Allies. Attempting to get her and the maps to safety is Resistance pilot Philippe Gerard flying a Westland Lysander, a short takeoff and landing airplane. The STOL capabilities are necessary as Gerard flies by moonlight into and out of French farm fields lit for only minutes at a time by resistance fighters. Later in the war, Gerard transitions into Lockheed P–38s equipped with cameras for photographing Nazi locations in Italy and southern France with Denneau using her skills to interpret the photos returned by Gerard. Throughout the exploits, Young writes in detail how Gerard avoids capture through his advanced flying skills.

Young is well-qualified to describe such scenes given his experience as a general aviation and former airline pilot. In addition, he served in the Air National Guard through multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as a flight engineer in the Lockheed C–5 Galaxy and Lockheed C–130 Hercules. He also flew combat missions in Bosnia and Kosovo.

In the book, Gerard is close friends with St.-Ex. The pair’s paths cross numerous times as they fly missions throughout Europe and North Africa. Young’s careful research accurately describes St.-Ex’s flying challenges and frustrations as he deals with fame as an officer flying in difficult circumstances while battling his own mental demons.

Young weaves a story that will be fulfilling to anyone interested in World War II history, but will be especially meaningful to pilots who value accurately portrayed flying scenarios.Resistance fighter Philippe Gerard avoids capture through his advanced flying skills.

The Mapmaker and Young’s other novels are available on Amazon. The Mapmaker audiobook debuted in December 2025.

Young is the subject of an interview in episode 243 of the AOPA Hangar Talk podcast. There he gives the backstory of how he developed The Mapmaker storyline and talks more about his aviation background.