Biggles Books

The Boy Biggles
* * *

Short Stories

Entertaining enough accounts of Biggles as a child in India, usually involving some wild or deranged animal. Biggles is meant to be 12 years old in this book, but he comes across as more of an adult than a preteen, especially ordering other people around, including adults.

I did have to question the parenting of Biggles’ father though. He allows Biggles to go hunting  a man-eating tiger with Capt Lovell who has a heart problem. Biggles risks his life to get the guy his heart pills after he has a heart attack, coming close to be dined on by a tiger and a few chapter’s later, his dad is once again putting Biggles in the care of the Capt, this time to hunt a bear. HellOOOO?  Wasn’t the first time enough to know that Capt Lovell is probably not the best guy to rely upon?

This was the last set of Biggles short stories published. 

Biggles Goes to School

* 

Short stories.

Originally published as serials in Boys Own Paper. Probably slung together quickly with no motivation from Johns except to meet the demand of readers wanting to know what Biggles was like at school. 

Biggles Learns to Fly

* *

Short stories

Well written, but pretty formulaic short stories (taken from The Modern Boy magazine)  where Biggles starts out as a pilot, learns by some rookie mistakes and eventually becomes an experienced war pilot.

There are a couple of gems in this one though: "Ready for the Show" (The Show) and "Share this amongst you" (Dirty Work). Johns does a great job to show the stress and the horrors of war flying and how the pilots can become numb to the dangers. 

The Camels are Coming

* * * * *

Short Stories.

Some great short stories of Biggles in WW1. Starts from his early days and goes right through to the end of the war. This lines up alongside other Biggles books with WW1 short stories.

The highlights are definitely the first two Algy stories and also the tragic love story where Biggles meets his only ever love: Marie Janis.

Algy's first appearance.

Biggles in France

* * * * *

Short stories

Biggles at 266 squadron. We see him gain further experience and even get promoted to Captain despite making an ass of himself on a couple of occasions. We also see a budding rivalry between Biggles and Wilks of 287 squadron.

One complaint I have… and I have this complaint in many Biggles books I read, is the “author intrusion”, especially when Johns forecasts events before they happen and then proceeds to tell the story leading up to it. Eg, “He was going to regret his decision”… or “little did he know that a short while from now he would be bla bla bla”. Thus it takes away a lot of the anticipation, because you immediately know what’s ultimately going to happen.  One specific example in this set of stories where he ruins the experience for the reader is in “Out for Records”, where Johns writes “The occasion on which he (Biggles) scored four successes was…” and then proceeds to tell the story of how he shot down four enemy aircrafts in one day.  It’s like he’s just told us the end of the movie before we’ve watched it! 

Biggles of 266

Short Stories

Originally published in 1932. All these stories appear in "Biggles in France"

Biggles Flies East

* * *

Contains plenty of flying action.

Biggles, after being mistaken for someone else, ends up on a mission as a double agent in Israel, where he meets his future nemesis Von Stalhein for the first time. 

Algy only makes cameo appearances.

Biggles of the Camel Squadron

* * * * *

Short stories 

Classic Short stories of Biggles in 266 Squadron. Biggles is now a senior member of the squadron. We are also introduced to the Professor, an eccentric young Brit with a thing for Mathematics.

I do have a few questions thought after reading this lot of stories...

Why is it that Biggles insists the hun have little imagination, but yet when they do come up with something imaginative he considers it  “Devilment”?

Why is it when Biggles and his squad destroy secret German weapons (which worked really well) that the Germans never build any more of the same weapons again?

Why does Biggles godfather call him Biggles?

(Algy is also in these stories)

Biggles - The Rescue Flight

* * 

Biggles plays a secondary role in this story about a couple of boys (Thirty & Rip) who manage to con their way into the RAF to try to rescue Thirty's older brother who was shot down and possibly captured by the Hun.

Biggles and Algy are the only ones who finds out who they are. I'm very disappointed in Biggles here. Even though he himself joined the RAF under-aged and even though he was no a stickler for the rules back in WWI HE really seems to have blatant disregard for the rules and the safety of the two boys in this one. You also have to suspend disbelief that Thirty and Rip can get away with pretending to be officers for so long without being discovered by those higher up. 

The initial rescue mission is over and done with in about 50 pages. Johns, not one for sentimentality in any of his Biggles books doesn't even include a poignant moment where the two brothers reunite. After that we get basically some interlinked short stories, (of no great caliber) mostly revolving around rescuing other escaped officers. 

Biggles, Air Ace

Short Stories 

Already published in annuals and periodicals but not in actual book from. Minimal copies published

(The only Biggles stories I've never read.)

Biggles - Pioneer Air Fighter

Short stories

All are included in "The Camels are Coming" and "Biggles of the Camel Squadron".

The Cruise of the Condor

* * *

Biggles, along with Algy, Smyth and his uncle Dickpa, travel to Brazil in search of Incan treasure.

Pretty much action all the way through, without the longwinded introductions and info dumps that come at the beginning of most Biggles books, although the action is pretty much standard of boy’s books set in places like the Amazon.

Biggles Flies Again

*

Short Stories

The stories take Biggles and Algy from South America, to the Pacific, through the Orient, to Africa and then finally home to the UK.

Sadly, these short stories are only mildly interesting. Very few of them have any real twists or turns. For instance, “The Maid in the Mountains” which describes Biggles rescue of a damsel in distress has no real drama in it at all. It’s a routine rescue and nothing at all goes wrong.  

We also get the first standard W E Johns giant malevolent sea creature in “Beauty and the Beast”.  “Biggles & the South Seas” must have surely been inspired by this story.  

The Black Peril

* * * *

Fast moving book, right from the beginning. Biggles meets Ginger for the first time and they, Algy and Smyth travel to Russia to track down a mysterious Russian aircraft.

Does tend to turn into a game of Cat and Mouse through a large portion of it, but a fun read nevertheless.

Set in England & Russia

First appearance of Ginger 

Biggles Hits the Trail

* * * * *

Biggles. Algy and Ginger once again join up with Biggles' Uncle Dickpa (and his friend Lord Maltenham), this time heading to the Himilayas to find radium.

This one has an unusual sci fi element to it, with blue ray guns, invisible enemies and genetically modified centipedes controlled by electricity.

Fast moving from beginning to end.

Set in Tibet

Biggles & Co

* * *

Biggles sets up an airline to transport gold and diamonds for a client, finding that there are people determined to steal every shipment he makes. The enemy is led by Von Stalhein who is not as dead as Biggles thought. 

Takes Biggles, Algy and Ginger from England to France and then ultimately to a castle in Germany.

Biggles, Charter Pilot
* * 

Short Stories

Capt Johns imagination (or is it Ginger's imagination?) runs wild in this set of short stories which any educated person would say were pure BS. The are narrated by Ginger to members of Biggles Squadron during WWII.  The stories take place between the wars where he, Biggles and Algy were charter pilots and were doing a lot of work for the eccentric Dr Duck.

Could it be that these stories were made up by Ginger to entertain his colleagues, which is why they are a little crazy and weren't told back in the 30s? Or am I just over analyzing it and Johns really wanted these stories added into the cannon, so retrofitted them?

Biggles in Africa

* *

Takes a while to get going and can be slow moving in parts. Biggles, Algy and Ginger fly to Sudan to find a missing pilot only to find there are people who don't want them around... As well as a lot of unusually malevolent wild animals that seem to be more aggressive than you'd expect.

Slightly anti-climactic ending.

Biggles, Air Commodore

* * * *

Plenty of excitement in this one, much of which takes place on an island in the Bay of Bengal. And they also have their first encounter with a couple of very aggressive decapods, which Biggles and his team seem to regularly come across in their adventures on tropical islands... for some reason.

In this story, Biggles (alongside Algy and Ginger) is temporarily assigned the rank of Air Commodore, so that he can run an operation to seek out who is sinking ships in the Bay of Bengal. 

Biggles Flies West 

* * * * * 

Entertaining story about pirate treasure. Starts off with a great tale of ancient piracy and a cursed doubloon, which sets the scene for the rest of the story. Plenty of action and a finale with cannons and cutlasses. One of my personal favourites.

With Algy & Ginger 

Set in the Caribbean

Biggles Flies South

* * * * *

Excellent story. Biggles, Algy and Ginger find themselves in one hopeless situation after the other, when they head to Africa in search of a lost Oasis. You can just feel the heat and dryness of the desert as you read it.

Set in the Sudan.

Biggles Goes to War

* * * *

Biggles, Algy and Ginger are recruited to protect a fictional Eastern European country against another fictional Eastern European Country. I'm figuring Maltovia is supposed to be Moldavia. There is a Nieper River in the story. Moldavia has a Dniester River. (Ukraine, its nextdoor neighbour has a Dnieper River. )

Very riveting to begin with, especially with the treacherous General Bethstein. He brought tension to the story early on, but unfortunately Johns underutilized the character, neutralising him quite considerably by the half way mark and removing what could have been some great drama between him and Biggles.

Biggles shows a major character weakness yet again when he refuses to take the job at first, but then changes his mind after a poorly timed threat is made against him, just like what happened in "Biggles & Co". One way to manipulate Biggles? Just issue threats. A bit like calling Marty McFly "chicken" in "Back to the Future". Offer Biggles a job and if he refuses the job, simply phone him later as someone else and threaten harm if he dares take the job. Ouila! Biggles will take the job.

Biggles in Spain

* *

Should have really been named "Ginger in Spain" as most of it involved him trying to rescue Biggles and Algy, not to mention finding himself in the Foreign Legion.

The story is just way too full of coincidences. Them being on a cruise when their ship is bombed, running into an old friend of Biggles in a Barcelona cafe who also happens to be in a perilous situation, which ends up with them getting involved delivering a message for him. Plus several other remarkable coincidences.

The story itself becomes even more ludicrous when Ginger ends up in the Foreign Legion for a couple of days (which kind of got summarized rather than described in detail) and no one even realizes that he's not actually one of them!  From there it continues to go down hill.

Some minor racism with comments like "typical Spanish slackness" and "Spaghetti Wallahs (in referral to the Italians)".

Biggles Flies North

* * * * *

Couldn't put this one down. Had to keep on reading. Tension and drama all the way through.

Biggles, Algy and Ginger head to Canada to help their old war buddy Wilks with an airline operation and a competing airline run by a scumbag named McBain 

Set in Canada

Biggles Flies Undone

* * * * *

Just kidding. No such book

Biggles Secret Agent

* * * * *

Biggles and Ginger are sent to a fictitious country on the border of Germany and France to confirm whether a Professor Becklunder is dead or alive. The professor has created a new kind of explosive which would be disastrous if it got into the hands of the Germans. 

Plenty of mystery and intrigue and a thrilling climax. Very well done. Mystifying why it never made it to paperback. 

Also includes Algy

Biggles in the Baltic

* * 

I found this one difficult to get into. I felt it really needed a firm mission to start with, but instead it was just Biggles setting up a base to undergo various war missions at the whim of his superiors, much like with the earlier WW1 short stories. It didn't really start getting interesting until Ginger went exploring the caves and Biggles had his first run in with Von Stalhein.

Biggles in the South Seas

* * *

Once again Ginger is the main character in this so it should really be entitled "Ginger in the South Seas". He, Biggles and Algy head to the Marquesas to go pearl hunting and come across a really nasty villain named Castanelli, who they have to deal with as well as ultra aggressive sea life, including the obligatory giant sea creature. No creature is ever placid in a Biggles book!

Biggles Defies the Swastika

* * *

Many people say this is one of the best Biggles books, but I don't think so. It was a good read, but nothing all that fantastic, especially considering the insane and lucky coincidences that occur in it, but then coincidences seem to be common in Biggles books.

In this one Biggles is in Norway and like in "Biggles Flies East" finds himself working undercover as a spy, working against the Germans (and Von Stalhein)

With Algy & Ginger. 

Biggles Sees it Through

* * * * *

No long-winded introduction in this story. Just straight into the action.

After volunteering to help out in a squadron over Finland, Biggles and Co end up on a side quest to find some research papers abandoned by a Polish scientist in the Russian snow. What's more, in Biggles' very small world, they stumble across Von Stalhein who is searching for the same thing!

Great story. Definitely one of the best. Nothing ever seems to go right for Biggles, Algy and Ginger. Has a great comedic scene where Biggles is pretending to be clumsy and exhausted as he marches along as a prisoner of Von Stalhein.

Seeing nothing at all wrong with this story apart from the coincidences, I can't see why this never made it to paperback. 

Spitfire Parade

* 

Short stories

About how Biggles Squadron started. Most are just stories from WW1 rewritten for WW2. Introduced the new characters, but it's all the old stuff regurgitated. 

First appearance of Bertie

Biggles in the Jungle

* * *

Biggles. Ginger and Algy head to the jungles of Honduras to deal with a gang of slavers who are using forced labour to mine gum. There is also treasure hunting involved. Biggles always seems to be the lucky one getting to go hunting for ancient treasure!

Very similar to "The Cruise of the Condor" and "Biggles Hits the Trail".

Biggles Sweeps the Desert

* * * * *

A Biggles Squadron novel.

Also known as "Biggles Defends the Desert". 

Great story. Action from cover to cover and no long winded intro like many Biggles stories. Possibly one of his best. Set in WWII with members of Biggles Squadron.

Set in the Libya.

Biggles in Borneo

*

A Biggles Squadron novel.

Very much similar to "Biggles in the Baltic" with Biggles setting up a base in Borneo to help against invaders (this time it's the Japs). Except this one was in the tropics rather than the more colder Baltic. Would have thought the location would make for a more exciting book too and it did at first, but come the second half, it completely lost my interest.

Like Baltic, it lacked a decent mission for Biggles and his team, and it also lacked a decent plot. In fact as I read the 2nd half I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the bloody thing and when I did get to the end it was a major anti-climax. I even felt that Biggles mission had kind of failed in a way because the base was discoverer by the Japs pretty quickly and so became useless to them. Sure they got the main villain, but I'm sure it never actually got rid of the Japanese altogether, did it?

Biggles Fails to Return

*

Biggles has gone missing on a mission in Monaco aiding a princess and for some unknown reason Air Commodore Raymond has given up on him and now wants to pretend he no longer exists. Biggles closest allies are not willing to flag him away for dead as easily as the Air Commodore, so they head over to Monaco to find him.

Pretty dull story with Algy, Bertie and Ginger roaming around trying to find clues of Biggles whereabouts and conveniently ending up in the right place at the right time on a regular basis.

Bertie is now cemented as one of Biggles' main men.

Biggles in the Orient

* * * *

A Biggles Squadron novel.

A great read. Biggles is sent to India to find out what is causing aircraft to crash. Is it a Japanese secret weapon?

Johns does a good job of creating a mystery while not divulging all of Biggles' thoughts and deductions on it so that the reader can solve the mystery along with Biggles. The mystery is actually easy to solve, but still doesn't take away the fun of solving it yourself and reading how Biggles rounds up the culprits afterwards. I'm just disappointed that Biggles didn't at least consider the true cause of the crashes after his first investigation of a crashed aircraft. He should have!

Biggles Delivers the Goods
* *

A Biggles Squadron novel.

The first 50 pages or so are spent setting the scene and learning about the villains and allies in the story. It does finally hit its stride though, although the ending I felt was rather lackluster.

Biggles Squadron is sent to the Mergui Archipelago in Burma (now Myanmar) to help deliver supplies of rubber from out under the watchful eyes of the Japanese. The ironic thing is, by the end, Biggles has never actually delivered any rubber at all.

Some racist slurs, a high body count and a couple of beheadings, but somehow it still managed to get modern reprints done of it.

The last of the Biggles Squadron books. 

Comrades in Arms

Short Stories

Contains 1 Biggles short story; Thunder over Germany

The story is very average and hardly worth reading. I felt it was a little like a lesson on war flying for young readers. Johns puts the reader into the story as a young cadet named Peter who is leading Biggles to  a German fuel depot which he is to bomb.

Sgt Bigglesworth CID

* * *

The first of the Air Police books.

World War II is over and Biggles' Squadron has been disbanded. Biggles, Algy, Ginger & Bertie are invited by Air Commodore Raymond to join him in the CID. Their first mission takes them from Augsburg Germany to Africa in search of jewel thieves who are using aircraft to perform crimes. Their travels take them to Libya, the Sudan, Ethiopia and even over the Sahara Desert. We also see the return of Von Zoyton (from Sweeps the Desert) and Biggles' pal Wilks even lends a hand.

Takes a long time to get going, but once it's does it's a great read. More mature themes in this, including a description of a very graphic and gristly murder.

Biggles' Second Case

*

Doesn't start to get interesting until half way through and then it's up and down the rest of the time. It's no wonder this one saw few reprints. 

Biggles, Bertie and Ginger are sent on a mission in the southern ocean to track down a submarine of Nazis who don't care that the war has ended. 

Set in the Kerguelen Islands.

Biggles Hunts Big Game

* * * *

A great read this one. Biggles. Algy, Bertie, Ginger and former Squadron member; Tug Carrington, head to Central Africa to take down a counterfeiting ring, using a hunting tour operation (ran by a dodgy airline) as a cover.  

My only complaint is the ending, when the Air Commodore and his men bailed Biggles out of trouble rather than Biggles finding his own way out.

Biggles Takes A Holiday

* * * *

A really entertaining story where Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger go on a mission (in the guise of going on a holiday), to Argentina to rescue old squadron comrade Angus Mackail, as well as bring to justice a sleazebag who is conning people into funding his own little utopia (and secret weapons project) and pretty much keeping them as slave labour in the process. What's more, by some incredible coincidence, Von Stalhein is also involved! Poor old Von Stalhein gets to do lots of lamenting about how he can never seem to get the better of Biggles. 

This one saw very few reprints, which was a pity, but the racism must surely factor into that one, with the natives being referred to as "Golliwogs" and even worse in a conversation between Ginger and Angus... "They're like a lot of animals, squeaking and grunting".  "That's just what they are... These forest Indians are dirty undersized little beasts... when I say animals, I mean animals and not much of an animal at that. A decent dog could teach them a lot..." 

Biggles Breaks the Silence

* *

Also known as "Biggles in Antarctica". 

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger head to Antarctica to find a wrecked ship which contains a stash of gold bars. The first 50 pages is just talking and info dumps. Nothing interesting happens until about page 70, with Ginger acting irrationally, which is very unlike his character. From there it's quite good, with Biggles running rings around the scoundrel Lavinsky. 

What could have been a great ending with Biggles getting off the ice just in the nick of time is ruined completely with them instead being rescued by outside forces. 

Biggles Gets his Men

* * * 

The first three chapters are just talk and info dumps, but things improve a lot after that. Biggles, Bertie and Ginger head to China to rescue some men who have been kidnapped to work as slaves. Yes similar to Biggles Takes a Holiday and yes the same amazing coincidence - Von Stalhein is involved! 

Petroffsky is the definite stand out character in this, providing plenty of comic relief. High body counts and racial stereotypes may explain why this saw few reprints.

Another Job for Biggles

* 

Biggles, Ginger and Bertie head to Yemen and the Rub' al Khali Desert, to put an end to the production of a dangerous drug that renders its victims incapacitated.

Little action, little drama and intrigue. No wonder it never went to paper back. Racist terms such as "Wog", "Sambo" and "dirty stinking Arab" probably didn't help. Going by other Biggles stories, printers seemed also to be reluctant to reprint any stories containing drug production or even talk of drugs (eg Combined Operation & Deep Blue Sea)

One thing that I'm scratching my head about this one, is how can wiping out one crop of drugs completely remove the threat of said drug, especially seeing as the drug is a native plant. Also note how they went about doing it. Remember "Biggles hits the trail?" De-ja vu. 

Biggles Works it Out

*

One of the duller Biggles books. It really failed to keep my interest. All talk and little action. Von Stalhein was underutilized, but I did enjoy his spot-on description of Bertie.

Biggles, Bertie, Algy and Ginger are out to track down a gang of robbers who use aircraft to perform their crimes, and travels to three different locations: Australia, Monaco & Algeria.

Marcel Brissac of the French Air Police makes his first appearance. 

Biggles Takes the Case

* 

Short stories.

Mainly pretty boring.

Biggles Follows On

* * * 

Von Stalhein has been seen in London and Biggles wants to find out what he’s doing there. He soon finds that his nemesis is trying to get soldiers to desert and join a cause in Czechoslovakia. It sends him to there, of course, (along with Bertie, Algy and Ginger) and then ultimately to North Korea where he “follows” the trail of  a young soldier who is working undercover for him.

Starts off really well, but it all petered away once they got to North Korea. Johns even brought in one of his other creations; Gimlet and his team to help mop up, but it just didn’t gel with me. Made me wonder whether Johns was desperate to get people interested in Gimlet, so decided to have him make a cameo at the last moment. The back covers of books around this time also had a blurb there about Gimlet, urging Biggles fans to read some of his adventures. Ironically, he only wrote one more Gimlet book after this, so I guess his attempt at luring in Biggles fans failed.

Biggles Air Detective

* * * *

Short Stories

Entertaining short stories, which take Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger to Bulgaria, Mauritania and also their own home turf. 

Biggles and the Black Raider

* * *

Biggles, Bertie, Algy and Ginger are off to Uganda to track down a scumbag who is raiding settlements, slaughtering, stealing and rustling. His name is the Black Elephant and apparently his name strikes terror whenever it's mentioned. For me though, I can't help but picture is a big, fat, bumbling, mentally challenged black guy. 

Interesting enough story and Johns takes us to an African location that is not just desert.

Biggles in the Blue

* * *

Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie head to Jamaica to track down some blueprints to some secret weapons that were held by a recently deceased former Nazi. Von Stalhein is also after the same blueprints.  

Nothing particularly special, but an entertaining enough read.

Biggles in the Gobi

* * * * 

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger head to China to the Gobi Desert to rescue a bunch of Missionaries, desperately needing to get out of China, however it proves to be a little more difficult than expected.

An entertaining read. A lot of Biggles books lack a good climax but this one is built up nicely and we get an ending where Biggles doesn't need outside armies to rescue him.

I'm surprised this one has never made it to paper back, because I can't see anything really wrong with it. There is a massacre (although not really much in the way of graphic details), which may have been the reason for this. However no worse violence than some other Biggles books that have been reprinted. Perhaps it was simply the graphic description of bird blood and guts on Biggles's windscreen that was deemed too gristly for young boys?

In this one, Algy takes center stage while Biggles and Bertie take a back seat.

Biggles of the Special Air Police

* * *

Short stories

The first half is stories of Biggles time in Scotland Yard. Second half is stories from WW1 which are already published in previous Biggles books. 

Reasonably good Air Police stories with the first one being the best: The Case of the Black Gauntlet. 

With Algy, Bertie & Ginger.

Biggles Cuts it Fine

* 

Tediously dull stuff and full of deja-vu moments. Submarines in lagoons, landings in crater lakes, the enemy being foiled by their own weapons. Haven't I read this before? It seems like old Biggles books recycled.

Biggles, Bertie, Ginger and Algy... and special guest Marcel Brissac head down south to out of the way islands (again) this time to track down an illegal base of operations run by the Russkies.

The lack of action and reused ideas are probably why this one was never reprinted in paperback.

Set in the Crozet Islands

Biggles & the Pirate Treasure

* *

Short stories

Biggles in the Air Police.

One of my complaints about Biggles stories is the long introductions and scene setting before we get to the real drama. This is compounded still further with the short story, which means you have to slog through these openings with almost everyone you read and often you are left with only a small percentage of actual fun story to read. 

My favourites in this one were the title story (which was the longest) and "The Case of the Flying Clown"

with Ginger, Algy & Bertie

Biggles Foreign Legionnaire

* * * * * 

Great story with Biggles and Ginger going undercover in the Foreign Legion to help Marcel Brissac deal with an organization trying to cause conflicts so they can sell arms.

Biggles and Ginger cleverly manipulate the enemy in a case that takes them to Algeria, Egypt and then finally Iraq and they even get to form an alliance with Von Stalhein on the way! Kept me entertained all the way through.    

Algy & Bertie only make cameo appearances.

Biggles in Australia

*

Pretty slow going for most of it. I really had to wonder whether Australia was really like this even in 1955. The racism in this book also makes me wonder why it was ever reprinted. With references to the Australian Aborigine as "half civilized blacks", "savage inside" and "animal brains", it wouldn't be acceptable today.

With Bertie, Ginger, Algy & Von Stalhein

Biggles' Chinese Puzzle

*

Short Stories

Pretty formulaic and dull short stories. The most interesting is “The Case of the Secret Inquisitors” with the mad scientist, although it ended too quickly without any real drama.

Once again, I have a complaint about the long winded intros we get for most of John's short stories. Short stories need to get quickly to the action. Setting the scene should be done as quickly and as briefly as possible so as to avoid the reader losing interest. Johns seems to insist on long winded intros even in his short stories.  

For instance with “The Mystery of the Torn Parachute”, a piece of parachute is found in the top of a tree by a gamekeeper. Johns spends half a page describing a gamekeeper’s vendetta against a crow which results in him finding the piece of parachute in the tree when going to destroy the bird’s nest. All this description was totally unnecessary. All that was needed was a simple sentence like “A gamekeeper, trying to eradicate the nest of a nuisance crow, came across the piece of fabric”.  But oh no, Johns has to have his characters waffle on about the irrelevant stuff rather than just what’s necessary to set the scene.

With Ginger, Algy & Bertie. 

No Rest for Biggles

* * *

Planes are going missing in Senegal, Africa and Biggles finds that a secret weapon is being used to bring down planes and that the perpetrators are building up their own private army. As usual Von Stalhein is involved. What a small world Biggles lives in!

Fun to read, but kind of peters out nearer the end.

With Bertie, Algy & Ginger 

Biggles Takes Charge

* * * * 

Algy travels to France to La Sologne to drop off a key to an old acquaintance (Boris). Boris is missing and his nephew (Charles) turns up instead. And for some miraculous coincidence, so does Von Stalhein, after the jewels belonging to Boris.

This book is made up of two stories, each linked by Boris and Charles. The first one (the first 2/3s) has Algy trying to find Boris and outsmarting Von Stalhein in the process. Then Biggles comes along near the end to "Take Charge"

The second, more formulaic story, has Biggles and his team, along with Marcel Brissic, Boris and Charles, heading to Moldavia to collect Boris's jewels.

I really liked this book. I can only figure it never made it to paper back because the first story contained no flying and little action. Perhaps a slightly serious tone made it to be deemed less suitable for boys.

Also with Bertie & Ginger 

Biggles Makes Ends Meet

* * * * 

Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie head to Nicobar Islands near Sumatra to track down some modern day pirates, but ends up uncovering a smuggling operation instead. 

Any story where Biggles gets to match wits with criminals and gets to meet them face to face, telling them what he thinks of them is always entertaining. Even Bertie gets to interact with the criminals and fools them into thinking he's a complete and utter buffoon. If only we'd got to read about the reactions of the criminals when they found out he wasn't. 

Biggles of the Interpol

* *

Short Stories

As usual with Biggles short stories, the best story and the one that has had the most effort made on it, appears first and then it's all down hill from there. 

There are two stories involving drug dealing in this one. It seems that whenever drugs are even so much as mentioned in a Biggles story, it ends up doomed to never make it to paper back. This one seems to be an exception, most likely because they were 2 short stories amongst a bunch of them. 

with Algy, Bertie & Ginger.

Biggles on the Home Front

* * 

Biggles, Ginger, Algy and Bertie are recruited by Inspector Gaskin to track down a bunch of jewel thieves in England. In a story very similar to "Foreign Legionnaire", Biggles goes undercover as a jewel thief. The problem is this book is nowhere near as good as Foreign Legionnaire and in some parts is rather dull reading.

In this book, Biggles makes one of his biggest mistakes ever (but never really acknowledges it). He does make this comment though: "My big blunder, of course, was to assume that I wouldn't be sent for until a jewel robbery provided something to be flown across the Channel." No, Biggles your big blunder was thinking that your cover would be secure after Reverley recognized you. Did you not think that Laxter would do some investigating as to your true identity?? DUH! 

This book never made it to paperback. I'm guessing that was because of the lack of action and flying. It was mainly a talky.  

Biggles Presses On
*
Short Stories

Special Air Police. Mainly boring

Biggles on Mystery Island

* * * *

Biggles, Ginger, Bertie and Algy… as well as Marcel Brissic and another guy named Sven, head to the island of Oratovoa (in the Marquesas) to investigate the disappearance of some boats. 

This one is a bit of a rip off of “Biggles takes a Holiday”, with some bloodthirsty mutts and a volcanic island on the verge of eruption thrown in. Despite the unoriginality I thought it was a great read. 

Mystery Island, by the way, is not the tranquil Mystery Island of Vanuatu!

Biggles Buries a Hatchet

* * * * * 

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger team up with Von Stalhein’s nephew to rescue his uncle from a Soviet prison on the Russian Island of Sakhalin. Contains a similar character to Petroffsky from "Biggles Gets his Men" although this one (Miskoff) is not insane and perfectly sober.

Maybe it’s me, but I’m a sucker for stories where enemies become friends, because I loved this one. Not only does Johns paint a great picture of a bleak island full of hopelessness and despair, we get an entertaining jail break story with a satisfying ending. 

Biggles in Mexico

* * *

Biggles & Ginger head to Mexico to track down some jewel thieves. A bit of a talky, with no flying involved, but it did a good job in keeping my interest, putting us in a different environment than many other Biggles books. 

Von Stalhein makes a cameo appearance.

Biggles' Combined Operation

* * *

Slightly darker tone than most Biggles books, with Biggles, Ginger and Bertie forming a combined operation with the French and US Police to track down some drug runners.  Their travels take them from France and around the Mediterranean and eventually to the islands of Southern Greece. Bertie gets to take center stage in part of this one where he goes on a mission that really Biggles should never have let him go on and Biggles knew it. 

It seems any Biggles book that involved drugs in some ways was automatically shunned when it came to reprints. This one was a classic example.

Biggles at World's End

*

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger head to the bottom of South America to Tierra Del Fuego to track down some missing botonists and a stash of gold. They have to deal with an official named Gontermann who is determined to make life difficult for them. 

All talk and no action. The only interesting bits were when Gontermann was in it. Definitely no wonder it never made it to paperback

Biggles & the Leopards of Zinn

* * * * *

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger head to Uganda to investigate  claims of a killer leopard terrorizing a peace loving tribe of African natives; The Zinn. 

Great story. Such a pity it never had much in the way of reprints, because it was really good. Racism could be the reason. Biggles and his pals saw the Zinn as primitive, even like animals. Bertie even referred to one as a household pet. Otherwise it may have something to do with the cold blooded killings that were committed by both the bad and the good guys.

Biggles Goes Home

* *

Biggles (along with Bertie, Algy and Ginger) is sent back to where he was born, to India to rescue a Chinese named Shit... I mean Poo who is hiding from the Chinese Army. 

Very similar in ways to others, especially Biggles & the Pirate Treasure. Nothing new. Not much to it.

Biggles & the Poor Rich Boy

* * * 

Biggles, Ginger and Bertie head to Scotland to track down a rich kid who has been kidnapped by his uncle. They also have to deal with a couple of gangster who are also after them.

Biggles is on the track all the way but things seem to go wrong every time he gets within striking distance of getting to the kid. The story also takes them to Loch Ness. With Capt Johns fascination for giant sea creatures I'm surprised he didn't throw in an encounter with Nessie while they were there.

A good story, but perhaps with the lack of flying and action, it was never deemed good enough for reprints. 

Biggles Forms a Syndicate

* *

Bertie & Ginger go treasure hunting in Yemen but their aircraft is found abandoned, so Biggles & Algy head over there after them to find them.

Capt Johns manages to take what should have been a short story and stretched it into a 150 page novel. The first 60 pages are nothing but waffle and scene setting and it doesn't get interesting until Bertie and Dizzy get to the cave.

Biggles & the Missing Millionaire

* *

It seems that many of the later Biggles books took on a slightly more serious tone, moving away from the typical run ins with wild animals and things like that, to focus more on the threats of human enemies. This story was typical of that. 

Biggles, Ginger, Algy and Bertie head to the Bahamas to track down a missing millionaire and his luxury yacht. Starts off slow, does ok in the middle and ends flat. 

Biggles Goes Alone

* * *

Back when I was 13 years old, when I read this, it bored me to tears. That was because I expected plenty of action, but this one is a lot different to many other Biggles books in the series as it's a whodunnit, with little action at all. Which would explain why it was never reprinted.  

For some reason it stuck in my head, so years later I read it again and this time found it to be a good read. 

Orchids for Biggles

* * * * 

Biggles and Bertie are sent to Peru, in the Amazon, to track down a traitor who has stolen documents relating to nuclear research. I have to say, Johns shows his skill at descriptive writing and making it interesting. He uses Bertie’s ignorance so that Biggles can educate him and the reader of the place they are going to. He also uses the initial talk with Biggles’ client in a way to describe the environment too. It all gives us a vivid picture of the setting for the story.

My one annoyance with this one is when Biggles berates himself for not searching the house in the bush properly when he had the chance. What he should have done was burn the place to the ground straight away like he intended, instead of leaving it for the morning.  If he had then Bogosoff wouldn’t have been able to return to find the papers first.  

Biggles Sets a Trap

* * * * 

Starts of with an interesting tale of murder and a run down on the “queer” family history of the Landavilles. This sets the scene for a great murder mystery that Biggles and Bertie have to solve. 

This is a bit of a talkie, similar in ways to Biggles goes Alone, but it’s very absorbing and well written. The ending was a bit of an anti-climax though.

Perhaps, the fact there is no real action or flying, is why it never got to paperback.  

Set in England

Biggles Takes it Rough

* 

Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie head to an island off the coast of Scotland to investigate some dodgy goings on. There they spend a lot of time sitting around bored waiting for things to happen. That kind of sums up this whole story for me. Bored, waiting for things to happen. 

Biggles Takes a Hand

* * * 

Von Stalhein sends a message to Biggles warning him of professional assassins in the country. Biggles investigates, along with Ginger, Bertie and Algy and they find the assassins are after a German family who have fled to England with important papers. They must find them before the assassins do.

As with some of the Biggles stories around this time, there is little in the way of action and it’s a bit of a talky. Some conversations drag on a bit and are repetitive. Makes me think Johns was doing all he could do expand the story to make it the required length. Nevertheless, the story is kept interesting due to the assassins being around every corner. 

The story concludes in Germany. 

Biggles Special Case

* * * *

Biggles, Ginger and Bertie must transport a dodgy fellow to Turkey on behalf of the government. There they have to take aboard an even more dodgy official. 

This story really urges you to keep reading to find out what these two guys are really up to. Great stuff. 

Biggles & the Plane that Disappeared

* * * *

Biggles, Ginger and Bertie are tasked with tracking down a missing aircraft and its pilot. Bertie gets to take center stage dealing with a criminal who, when it comes down to it, is one incompetent idiot.

A really good story and I can’t see anything that would indicate why it only ever got one reprint.

Set mainly in England, but a small part takes place in France. 

Biggles Flies to Work

*

Short Stories.

They mainly involve Biggles and Ginger. Algy and Bertie only make cameo appearances.

With some of these stories, more time is spent with setting the scene; background info and discussion, than the actual story itself. It makes for dull reading. There is a fair bit of repetition. One, "The Case of the Early Boy", even repeats a premise from the short story in Biggles Chinese Puzzle: "The Mystery of the Torn Parachute". Once again, someone climbs a tree to get to a bird’s nests and once again something is found in the tree that needs the involvement of the Special Air Police. What are the chances?? None of the stories have any real surprises or twists in them. It makes me think not a lot of effort was put into them and it was just a matter of getting more Biggles stories written quickly to meet demands. 

There are only two stories that I found enjoyable: 1) "The Mystery on the Moor" where Ginger is doing a routine patrol. Mystery and intrigue starts from the beginning. 2) "The Two Bright Boys" which brings us a light-hearted story about two teenagers who build a dodgy aircraft. We see an almost fatherly figure in Biggles.  

Biggles & the Lost Sovereigns

* * * * *

Also known as “Biggles and the Lost Treasure”.

Biggles, along with Ginger and Bertie head to Burma (Now Myanmar) to track down a long lost shipment of gold sovereigns.  It takes them into crocodile and shark infested waters and to a run-in with a corrupt official named Yomas. 

A fun adventure on jungle clad Burmese islands is surely one any boy would love to read. My only disappointment is that Biggles didn’t have one last showdown with Yomas. 

Biggles & the Black Mask

* * * * 

Biggles finds out a dodgy ex-RAF officer has a new tour operating business to Nice, France and suspects it’s a front for a smuggling operation. He, along with Ginger and Bertie decide to investigate. If you’re onto it, you’ll figure out what they’re smuggling before Biggles does as there are clues.

This is a great story but we get an anti-climax after the operation is exposed, where events are summarized without Biggles and co being directly involved. Instead, Marcel Brissac and his men get to have all the fun. The reason is that they are in France so it has to be the French police who mop things up. Never seems to stop Biggles anywhere else in the world. So because of that we are robbed of a lot of drama.

The final act involves the exposing of the mastermind behind the entire operation; the Black Mask, possibly one of the most gentlemanly villains ever in a Biggles book… maybe in literary history! Then we get a further tale; the Black Mask’s own tragic story. This and his ultimate fate, makes you feel sorry for him.  

An odd and sad way to end a very good Biggles story. 

Biggles Investigates

* * *

Short Stories

 
The last of WE Johns' Biggles Special Air Police Short stories.

Some good ones in this one. Good mystery and intrigue. No long-winded intros.  

With Bertie and Ginger. Algy is only in one story.

Biggles Looks Back

* * * 

Not sure why this was never given reprints. Sure it may be about Biggles trying to rescue his only ever love who turned out to be a German spy, the one that caused boy readers to claim he was going soft. But this is not a soppy romance. In fact, the opposite.

Gets off to a great start with Biggles meeting with Eric Von Stalhein. They talk about Marie Janis. It sets the scene nicely and creates a great expectation of a reunion between Biggles and Marie.

Von Stalhein travels to Czechoslovakia to track down Marie so that Biggles and her can be reunited. However things go wrong so Biggles and Bertie have to go here to find him. They soon find out that Marie is there, a prisoner, in a castle so for the first time ever, Biggles and Von Stalhein work together in a mission – to rescue Marie.     

The reunion between Biggles and Marie turns out to be a major let down, as apart from a kiss to her hand there is no emotional moment between them at all.  It’s almost as if Biggles has just rescued one of his friends. “Boy am I glad to see you, Biggles. Now let me tell you what happened”. As an adult reader I want to see some emotion going on between them. Yes, Captain Johns was pandering to young male readers, but Boo to him anyway. 

At the end of the story, Biggles asks for a meeting with Marie because there is something he wants to tell her. But we don’t see that meeting. We can only hope that, now they are safe and sound, they finally had their emotional reunion they didn't have earlier.  We can also hope that the regular visits Biggles goes on to have with her later are romantic ones. Unfortunately, we will never know for sure.  

Sadly, this is the final appearance of Eric Von Stalhein in a Biggles story. He is now cemented as a good friend. 

Biggles & the Plot that Failed

* *

Biggles, Bertie and Algy fly to Libya to track down a missing man who has disappeared somewhere in the desert on an archaeological expedition. Is he still alive? Was the dodgy fellow he partnered with responsible for his disappearance? 

Pretty slow-moving story in parts with an unsatisfying ending. 

Biggles & the Blue Moon

* * * *  

Biggles and Algy head to Malaysia, not far from Kuala Lumpur to help a Chinese man, Lin Seng escape, along with his pearls, (including the Blue Moon pearl) from his villa in the forest. The forest is under siege by bandits after the pearls.

They can’t fly a plane in there so go by car only to find their way back out blocked by bandits. They decide to clear an old golf course to make a runway.

Then comes the thrilling climax. Time is running out, an invasion of the villa is eminent, so Biggles decides to run the gauntlet to get back to Kuala Lumpur to get the aircraft. Sadly, the ending is ruined when government troops arrive to clean up all the bandits. The whole plan of clearing the runway becomes redundant. Algy and Lin Sing can leave along with the troops. No aircraft is needed. 

Yet another Biggles story where outside forces save the day, rather than Biggles and Co finding a way out on their own. It misses out on 5 stars because of this. 

Biggles Scores a Bull

*

More like “Biggles Scores a Miss”

You know you’re in for a dull time when the plot revolves around the theft of prized bulls. Is this story a pile of bull? I’ll leave that to you to decide but it’s the most boring Biggles story I’ve read, which probably explains why it got so few reprints and didn’t get to paperback. There is even a chapter entitled “Ginger Reports”, which really doesn’t give you much incentive to keep reading.

Even Bertie can’t make this story entertaining.

Set in England. 

Biggles in the Terai

* * *

Biggles and Bertie fly to India to track down Algy who has gone missing somewhere in the Terai; the jungle on the border of India and Nepal.

Very good story, but I would have preferred Biggles to be the one to ultimately confront the villains and teach them a lesson. However that privilege went to Indian officials and all we got was a summary. Very unsatisfying.  

Biggles & the Gun Runners

* * * * 

Biggles retires temporarily from the Special Air Police in a scheme to get employed by a gun running operation. Putting an ad in the personal columns gets him a job offer from the very people he is after. How’s that for a fantastic piece of luck? Sure, maybe there weren’t too many qualified pilots around back then, so people like Biggles were in big demand. But what planet was Biggles living on thinking criminals would knowingly employ the services of a former police detective with a big reputation? Of course, we find out in the end, the guy employing him was not a criminal and thought he was transporting farm equipment, so had no problem employing a guy like Biggles, but Biggles wasn't to know that.

Despite my reservations, it's still a great story. It starts off strong in the first chapter when Biggles and the gun runners are forced down into the Sudd, a huge area of swamp in South Sudan. We then get close to 50 pages of back story before we get back to the Sudd. That backstory was ok but could have been trimmed. Once back in the Sudd, things continue as they started. Good stuff. 

Algy and Ginger make a cameo appearance. 

Biggles Sorts it out

*

Previously it was pearls, this time it’s rubies. However the rubies have already been stolen and the owner’s daughter might be involved. Biggles and Bertie head to the Kalahari Desert to track down the most likely suspect, but not until after 60 humdrum pages of Biggles investigating and talking to people.   

It finally gets a little more interesting when they get to the fort and there is an twist in the end, but certainly not one of John’s best Biggles books.  

Biggles and the Dark Intruder

**

Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie are sent to Cornwall to find out about a mysterious aircraft which is coming and going. When they’re not sitting around making plans, they’re driving or walking around Bodmin Moor at night trying to avoid a so-called shepherd and his dangerous mutt. 

At least it climaxed ok and had a dramatic ending.  

Biggles and the Penitent Thief

**

Starts off with a tale of thief, Tommy, who got involved with the wrong crowd. It took me around 15 minutes to read that but apparently it took four hours in “Biggles’ time” for Tommy’s father to relay the story. I’m sure glad we got the shortened version!

It isn’t until 50 pages in when Biggles, Ginger and Bertie head off to Canada, along with Tommy, where a lot more time is spent interviewing people and figuring out what to do next. It isn’t until chapter 10 until it finally gets interesting.  

Biggles & the Deep Blue Sea

* * * 

Biggles and Algy fly to an island in the Bay of Bengal, which had been used as an airstrip in WW2 by the British. They wish to investigate reports of a mysterious aircraft making unauthorised use of it. It’s been a while since Biggles has had to deal with menacing sea creatures, so we get a couple here. But of course they aren’t the most dangerous obstacles.

It's quite a good story, although seems to be similar in ways to his previous story, Biggles and the Penitent Thief.

It seems that once again the whole topic of drugs is what prevents a Biggles book from getting reprints. This one even goes into some details on hemp growing.    

Biggles in the Underworld

**

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger are tasked with tracking down a dangerous escaped convict. I felt like I was reading Biggles and the Dark Intruder again with Biggles and his team wandering around farmland at night and having to deal with dogs. Just too similar to previous Biggles stories. 

Set in England

Biggles and the Little Green God

*

Biggles and Algy must go to Chile to track down a missing idol which is going to cost the British government 100k insurance money if not recovered.

The first 60 pages is a slog and we finally get to something interesting when Biggles receives a threatening note to leave the country. Of course, as always with Biggles, a threat is simply going to get him to do the opposite. After that it’s back to talking again for another 20 pages until finally they get to the adventurous parts. 

A truly unsatisfying ending where it turns out the whole expedition was a waste of time apart from the unscheduled rescue of three people.  Some questions are left unanswered and on top of that the perpetrators of the real serious crimes are never brought to justice.

Biggles & the Noble Lord

**

Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger are tasked with tracking down a criminal organisation responsible for some major thefts. Once again they find themselves snooping around mansions in the English countryside in the dark, but this time they are dealing with animals in a wildlife park rather than just simple watchdogs.

They ultimately end up at a Chateau in France where a couple of the team find themselves kept prisoner by a gentleman. I’m getting a sense of de ja vu about that too!

It seems that Captain Johns was fast running out of new ideas and not only that, the stories seem to take place more in England than in other countries. Maybe Biggles was getting too old to travel the globe? I'm still wondering how old Air Commodore Raymond must be by this point!

Biggles Sees too Much

*

The final complete Biggles story.

While on holiday at a Cornwall port, Biggles sees some suspicious goings on and manages to convince the Air Commodore that they should launch an investigation. He, Algy, Bertie and Ginger head back there to find out what’s going on.

The story is very slow going. There are events that once again seem similar to other later Biggles stories. I just never got into it and it rounded off rather anti-climactically in the Channel Islands.

In the end, Biggles expressed dissatisfaction at the outcome of the case. This pretty sums up the entire Biggles series in my mind. An unsatisfying ending. 

Biggles Does Some Homework

* * *

This unfinished novel was in the process of being written when Capt Johns took a tea break and suffered a fatal heart attack. It has Biggles planning retirement and he takes on a new member of his team to train up as his successor. 

One of the criticisms of the Biggles series of novels is that there were a lot of racist slurs made by Biggles and his companions, which lead many people to believe that Capt Johns, himself was racist. He attempts to dispel those rumours by making Biggles’ successor; Minnie, part Native American. This would have been fine if Biggles and his team hadn't got so hung up over it. Saying things like “weren’t there any white girls around”? in reference to his ancestor marrying a squaw. And “He can do some of his Indian tricks” don’t really help. We can excuse Biggles and his team because that’s the way they were back in the day, but it doesn’t help Capt John’s cause. Admittedly Biggles did say to Minnie that he should be proud of his heritage. So that’s something!

The story itself has its issues and it seems rather repetitive in parts, especially when it comes to Biggles’ dealings with the criminals. But who knows what it could have become if Johns had the chance to complete it? And who knows where Biggles would have gone next? Would he have continued in further stories with the Air Police, training up Minnie? Or would he have retired. Perhaps he would have gone on to new adventures travelling the globe with his friends, getting involved in adventures wherever he went. We will never know.

The rare publication of this book also has an added chapter at the end, written by a different author, about how it might have concluded for Biggles and his team. A poignant moment is included talking about Marie Janis and Erich Von Stalhein. Including an implication that Biggles could have indeed finally made things work with Marie.