diff --git a/simgear/compatibility/sstream b/simgear/compatibility/sstream
index d531aac3..6188ce94 100644
--- a/simgear/compatibility/sstream
+++ b/simgear/compatibility/sstream
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ namespace std {
 
    class ostringstream : public ostrstream {
    public:
-      ~ostringstream() { delete ostrstream::str(); }
-      std::string str() { return string(ostrstream::str()) + '\0'; }
+      std::string str() {  return string(ostrstream::str()); }
    };