Xavier Maniguet was a member of the team of French intelligence service (DGSE

Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure

The General Directorate for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence...

).

Along with Roland Verge, Gerald Andries and Jean-Michel Barcelo, Maniguet bombed the Rainbow Warrior

Rainbow Warrior (1978)

The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...

 in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's Auckland Harbour in 10 July 1985.

A specialist aviation medicine, hyperbaric medicine and sports medicine he, he died on 23 March 2009 at the controls of a light plane on the glacier near St. Sorlin St. Sorlin d'Arves

Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves

Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.St Sorlin is a traditional Maurienne mountain village with some 350 permanent inhabitants. It is positioned in a mountain setting, with its slopes facing the 3000 metre Aiguilles d’Arves and...

, after taking off from the airfield in Meribel

Méribel

Méribel is a ski resort in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps, situated near the town of Moutiers.Méribel refers to three neighbouring villages in the Les Allues commune of the Savoie département of France, near the town of Moûtiers , called Méribel Centre, Méribel-Mottaret and Méribel Village...

.