Friday, January 4, 2008
List of Biggles books
| The Camels are Coming (1932) The Cruise of the Condor (1933) Biggles of the Camel Squadron (1934) Biggles Flies Again (1934) Biggles Learns To Fly (1935) The Black Peril (1935) Biggles Flies East (1935) Biggles Hits the Trail (1935) Biggles in France (1935) Biggles & Co (1936) Biggles in Africa (1936) Biggles - Air Commodore (1937) Biggles Flies West (1937) Biggles Flies South (1938) Biggles Goes To War (1938) The Rescue Flight (1939) Biggles in Spain (1939) Biggles Flies North (1939) Biggles - Secret Agent (1940) Biggles in the Baltic (1940) Biggles in the South Seas (1940) Biggles Defies the Swastika (1941) Biggles Sees It Through (1941) Spitfire Parade (1941) Biggles in the Jungle (1942) Biggles Sweeps the Desert (1942) Biggles - Charter Pilot (1943) Biggles in Borneo (1943) Biggles Fails To Return (1943) Biggles in the Orient (1945) Biggles Delivers the Goods (1946) Sergeant Bigglesworth CID (1947) Biggles' Second Case (1948) Biggles Hunts Big Game (1948) Biggles Takes a Holiday (1948) Biggles Breaks the Silence (1949) Biggles Gets His Men (1950) Another Job For Biggles (1951) Biggles Goes To School (1951) Biggles Works It Out (1952) Biggles Takes the Case (1952) Biggles Follows On (1952) Biggles - Air Detective (1952) Biggles and the Black Raider (1953) Biggles in the Blue (1953) Biggles in the Gobi (1953) Biggles of the Special Air Police (1953) Biggles Cuts It Fine (1954) Biggles and the Pirate Treasure (1954) Biggles Foreign Legionnaire (1954) Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter (1954) Biggles in Australia (1955) Biggles' Chinese Puzzle (1955) Biggles of 266 (1956) No Rest For Biggles (1956) Biggles Takes Charge (1956) Biggles Makes Ends Meet (1957) Biggles of the Interpol (1957) Biggles on the Home Front (1957) Biggles Presses On (1958) Biggles on Mystery Island (1958) Biggles Buries a Hatchet (1958) Biggles in Mexico (1959) Biggles' Combined Operation (1959) Biggles at the World's End (1959) Biggles and the Leopards of Zinn (1960) Biggles Goes Home (1960) Biggles and the Poor Rich Boy (1960) Biggles Forms a Syndicate (1961) Biggles and the Missing Millionaire (1961) Biggles Goes Alone (1962) Orchids for Biggles (1962) Biggles Sets a Trap (1962) Biggles Takes It Rough (1963) Biggles Takes a Hand (1963) Biggles' Special Case (1963) Biggles and the Plane That Disappeared (1963) Biggles Flies To Work (1963) Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns (1964) Biggles and the Black Mask (1964) Biggles Investigates (1964) Biggles Looks Back (1965) Biggles and the Plot That Failed (1965) Biggles and the Blue Moon (1965) Biggles Scores a Bull (1965) Biggles in the Terai (1966) Biggles and the Gun Runners (1966) Biggles Sorts It Out (1967) Biggles and the Dark Intruder (1967) Biggles and the Penitent Thief (1967) Biggles and the Deep Blue Sea (1967) The Boy Biggles (1968) Biggles in the Underworld (1968) Biggles and the Little Green God (1969) Biggles and the Noble Lord (1969) Biggles Sees Too Much (1970) Biggles Does Some Homework (1997) Biggles Air Ace: The Uncollected Stories (1999) |
Special Air Police
| Later stories told of Biggles' adventures after the war, as a charter pilot of an unidentified amphibian (often illustrated on covers, anachronistically, as either a Supermarine Walrus or Supermarine Sea Otter), his return to service in World War II (initially with a Supermarine S6B type machine in the Baltic) and then as Commanding Officer of 666 Squadron, RAF, a Special Duties squadron sent around the world on specific assignments. Several collections of stories detailed further adventures in peacetime; others filled in his equally adventurous childhood in India and the story of how he came to join the RFC, flying with New Zealand observer Mark Way in an FE2 before he converted to scouts. Biggles' first post-war action saw him in the African desert with new twin-engined types (possibly Bristol Brigand and de Havilland Hornet). Biggles has a small team of friends including his cousin Algy (the Hon. Algernon Lacey), Ginger (Hebblethwaite) and Bertie (Lord Bertie Lissie), who share many of his adventures as pilots in the Special Air Police which they form after World War II, flying Auster and Percival types, under the command of Air Commodore Raymond, who is at this time an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Biggles' greatest opponent is the German spy officer Erich von Stalhein. They first meet when Biggles acts as a spy in the Middle East, where Biggles has some narrow escapes. Von Stalhein returns as an adversary in numerous other adventures. Following World War II, von Stalhein enters the services of the Communist bloc, until he gets imprisoned on the isle of Sakhalin, from where Biggles helps him escape (in Biggles buries a Hatchet, 1958). After this, Stalhein and Biggles are friends. Johns continued writing Biggles short stories and novels up until his death in 1968; in all, nearly 100 Biggles books were published. |
War Service
| Biggles left school and initially joined the army as a subaltern in the Rifle Regiment in 1916. He transferred to the RFC and learned to fly in the summer of 1916, at No. 17 Flying Training School, which was at Settling, in Norfolk, flying solo after two hours of instruction. He then attended No. 4 'School of Fighting' in Frensham, Lincolnshire. Posted to France with just 15 hours solo, he first flew in combat in September 1916 with 169 Squadron, RFC, (commanded by Major Paynter). His observer was another youth named Mark Way, a New Zealander. Biggles began flying the FE2 "pusher", and later the Bristol F2B. In late summer 1917, he was transferred to the fictional 266 Squadron RFC, commanded by a Dubliner, Major Mullen. With 266 Squadron, Biggles flew the Sopwith Pup and the famed Sopwith Camel. A study of the short stories featuring his World War I exploits, suggests that he claimed at least 32 kills, and was shot down or crash-landed eight times. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and the Military Cross and bar. |
The cover of the 1952 hardback edition of Johns' Biggles Delivers The Goods
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Biggles History
| In his first appearance, Biggles was a scout (fighter) pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during World War I. He joined the RFC in 1916 at the young age of 17, having conveniently "lost" his birth certificate. The original Biggles stories were based on Johns' experience — and stories he had heard from other pilots — during his time in France. (Johns, unlike Biggles, did not fly scouts: he was in a bomber squadron.) Biggles was supposedly based on Cyril Lowe. While the purpose of the Biggles stories was to entertain young men, Johns paid attention to historical detail and helped recreate the primitive days of early air combat — when most pilots died in their first combat and before devices such as respirators and parachutes had become practical. Throughout his career, Biggles flew a number of planes which almost delineate the early history of British military aviation, from Sopwith Camels during World War I to Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires in World War II. |
General Stuff
| James Bigglesworth, better known in flying circles as "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer created by W. E. Johns. He first appeared in the story "The White Fokker", published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine, in 1932. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are Coming, was published that same year. |
The dust jacket of an early 1970s edition of Johns' Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter
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