Sadly this is going to be one of the last Biggles books that I read for a while, namely because I have finished reading all of the ones that I borrowed off of my Dad and the rest of them happen to be 700kms away in his study. Maybe I'll grab some more the next time I am over there, but considering the number of books that are on my shelf:

 

I don't think I am going to be scrounging for reading material any time soon (though spacing some of the really heavy reads with a couple of adventure novels is always a good thing).

 

Anyway, this one was pretty awesome, and in fact Biggles doesn't even appear until the end even though he is still the major character in the book. This is one of those stories where the main character literally dominates the text yet doesn't even make an appearance, or if he does, then it is near the end. The reason I say that is because Biggles goes off to do something and doesn't come back and after pestering their senior officer Algy, Ginger, and Bertie learn that Biggles went off to do some commando work and apparently got captured (or at least that is what they believe because the enemy isn't bragging about it).

 

This book has everything that you would want in an action/spy thriller. It is set in an exotic location (Monaco) and has lots of spy stuff such as dead letter drops, secret societies, and our heroes skulking around in the dark trying to gather clues to find out what had happened to their friend. Mind you, I sometimes wonder about the British army because it sounds as if they were ready to give up on Biggles and it was only because his friends pushed their CO into letting them attempt to rescue him that he ended up getting saved.

 

 

 

I have also noticed that this book was written during World War II, though I suspect that the collection that I read (The Biggles Omnibus) was compiled afterwards because Johns has a little blurb where he talks about how there were commando operations (such as when Mussolini was rescued by the Germans after being captured by Italian revolutionaries) that would make you never want to watch a spy thrillers, or adventure movies, again simply because the truth is actually much exciting than fiction.

 

I also noticed that the book contained a map of Monaco though these days, with Google Maps, one probably doesn't need one. Anyway, here is a map that I found on the internet:

 

 

 

It is also funny reading about places that you have actually visited. Okay, the closest that I got to Monaco was the railway station, namely because we had been travelling by train from Florence and needed to get to Nice before dark and it was getting late. I had planned on getting off the train, but then there was only so many stops that I was able to do. Having spent an hour in Pisa I simply didn't have time to also visit Monaco (even though I did want to check out the famous casino). Mind you, you don't actually get to see much of Monaco from the train because the entire journey is underground and you only get a couple of glimpses when the train comes out of the tunnel. When Johns mentions that the region around Monaco is incredibly hilly he is not kidding.

 

The other funny thing was how Johns talked about the Italians going for a swim in the harbour, which is something else that I saw when I was over there. Being from Australia when we want to go for a swim we generally go down to the beach – there tends to be plenty of beach to go around. However in places like Naples, and Monaco, where there isn't any beach, people simply jump into the harbour for a swim. In a way I reckon that would be much better, especially since you have deep water and can actually swim, as opposed to wading out until the water is deep enough so that would can stop paddling and start swimming properly. In fact when I was in Naples I was having a really, really hard to trying to find a decent beach in which I could have a swim (it was stinking hot when I was there), and I really wasn't all that keen to go for a swim in the harbour (besides which there was nowhere to change).

 

Anyway, I have to finish off but this is a rip-roaring great story, though there are a few times when Johns uses certain terms to describe the Italians which I thought was a little uncalled for, though since these words were coming out of the mouths of the heroes then it is somewhat understandable.

 

Oh, I should also mention that there is a bit of a romance in this story as well, but then again what would a spy story be without a bit of romance?

A Biggles book where you can see how he's going to get drawn into Major Raymond's end of things. This story is about a schoolboy who pretends to be in the RAF to rescue his brother. His mentor in 266 squadron is Biggles, and Algy also features.

The interesting part for me as an adult is the descriptions of what it was like.

"...Looking down he saw an expanse of brown earth, perhaps a mile in width, gradually merging into dull green on either side. Through the brown expanse that coiled like a mighty serpent across the landscape from west to east ran tiny zigzag lines, hundreds of them, making a cobweb-like pattern. His breath suddenly came faster as he realized that he was looking at the actual lines where two mighty armies were entrenched, grappling in a stupendous life and death struggle. From time to time tiny white puffs appeared, and drifted sluggishly across the brown expanse. They looked harmless enough, but he knew that they must be the smoke of bursting shells."

Any story where one of the heroes falls asleep during the debrief has a fair bit of realism involved.

If there is one person that you can expect to deliver the goods it has to be Biggles. Seriously, we are talking about the guy who, according to Captain W.E. Johns, single handedly defeated the Germans in World War I, and by the way he is going in this collection of books that I am reading, seems to be on his way to produce a repeat performance in World War II. Together with his buddies Ginger and Algy they make up what is effectively a special forces outfit who have no problems going behind enemy lines to cause as much havoc as possible – and he certainly does that in this book.

 

 

Anyway, the British have a problem in that they need rubber and all of the rubber now happens to be located in Japanese held territory. So high command basically tells Biggles to fly over to Burma and bring some back. As well as successfully reopening a rubber route, he also manages to occupy a section of Southern Burma while sending the Japanese packing. In doing this he raids two Japanese outposts, bogs a handful of destroyers in an estuary, and and sinks two transports loaded with Japanese troops who happen to be heading in his direction to pretty much crush him and his band of jolly good fellows. Upon putting this book down I said to myself – gee, this must have put a huge dent in the Japanese's plans to create a Pacific/South East Asian Co-prosperity sphere.

 

Anyway, as I was reading this book I came across a number of planes that were mentioned that I had no idea what they looked like, and one of them happened to be a Gosling. So, being my curious self, I decided to type Gosling into Google so see what came up. Low and behold this is what my query returned:

 

 

 

Okay, that looks nothing like an aeroplane. So I decided to narrow my search down a bit and type in ''Gosling Airplane” and to my surprise Google decided to spit out this:

 

 

Maybe his middle name happens to be 'airplane' but somehow I doubt it. Anyway, after a few frustrating tries on navigating the Googlespehere I finally came across what I wanted, a picture of a Gosling, the type that Biggles and his band of airmen were flying across the Indian Ocean.

 

 

The surface of this is the derring do of the adventurous World War I pilot, but underneath this is an acknowledgement that many of the pilots ate breakfast together and then didn't ever see each other again. Captain W. E. Johns is writing about stuff he knows about, he served in World War I as a pilot and knew the stories, probably just vaguely fictionalised the stories and they're here as a snapshot of a time and a place.

These are short stories, some a chapter long, others a few chapters looking at life in wartime Royal Flying Corps, yes it's a male only cast but that reflects front-line wartime situations that it's set in.

It's interesting to read as a kid and interesting to read some of the subtext as an adult.

 

Once again the allies are losing planes, however this time it is the route between India and China and this is causing problems for the Chinese attempting to hold off the Japanese invasion. As can be expected, when the RAF has a problem there is only one person that they can call in to help: Biggles. Oh, and also his squadron, which usually consists of Algy and Ginger (and a couple of others though they don't tend to be as regular as Biggle's two friends, though I don't remember Ginger in any of the World War I stories that I read).

 

So, when I discovered that the mission involved disappearing planes, and that they all thought it was some secret weapon all I could think was 'here we go again'. The previous Biggles story that I read, Biggles Sweeps the Desert, also involved disappearing planes which was thanks to some Nazi secret weapon, so I was starting to wonder whether Captain Johns was being a little lazy with some of his plots. Mind you, I certainly haven't been reading these books in any sort of order, and due to the number of them that were published (and the price tag as well – you could be paying anywhere up to $300 Australian dollars for an early edition with the dust jacket) I am simply going to read them piece meal in whatever order I manage to get them (and even then I'll only be reading the ones on my Dad's bookshelf).

 

 

So, we have disappearing planes and quite possibly another secret weapon (this time invented by the Japanese) so Biggles puts on his Sherlock Holmes cap, grabs his magnifying glass (well, metaphorically speaking that is) and tries to unravel the mystery. As it turns out there is a nice little twist and suddenly we discover that they are up against Japanese spies and a secret organisation whose goal is to shut down the air routes from India to China. As such we have a good old spy adventure where Bigglesworth is not just donning his Sherlock Holmes attire, but also grabbing his Walther PPK and his vodka-martini, shaken not stirred, and going out to put an end to this nefarious plot.

 

 

Okay, I may be sounding a bit cliched here, though from my experience many of the earlier James Bond stories were more mystery thrillers as opposed to action adventures, and in a way so is this story. Sure, we have a couple of dog fights, but then a Biggles war story wouldn't be a Biggles war story without him jumping into a Spitfire and shooting some Japanese (or Germans) out of the sky. Anyway, I really don't want to say all that much more because I will end up completely ruining the plot, particularly for those of you who may actually go out and get their hands on a Biggles book. Sure, I could tell you what happens in this book because, well, there are over a hundred other Biggles books out there for you to read, however it may simply turn out that the one I spoil is the one that you may have found the best.

 

Oh, here is a picture of a Japanese Zero (can't have a Biggles review without a picture of an aeroplane):