BIGGLES
LEARNS TO FLY
by W. E. Johns
3.
BIGGLES THE SCOUT! (Pages 49 -
64)
(First published in the Modern Boy on
28th April 1934 – Issue 325)
(This
was ‘Plots and Plans’ (Chapter 5) & ‘Late for Dinner’ (Chapter 6) in the
original “Boy’s Friend Library” first edition and in the 1955 revised edition)
A week has passed since Biggles “first
never-to-be-forgotten flight over the Lines.
He had done at least one patrol every day since and was already
beginning to feel that he was an old hand at the game. He had picked up the art of war flying with
an aptitude that had amazed everyone”.
Biggles’ flight-commander, Mabs, tells Biggles
about a mission to report on any changes at the railway junction and siding at Vanfleur, some 40 miles over the Line. Littleton and Gormsby
and Blake and Anderson have both tried to do it but not returned. Now it is the turn of ‘A’ flight. Mabs has been
ordered not to go himself so it is either Biggles, Marriot or McAngus who has to go.
The three of them toss coins and the odd coin out will be the one to
go. It is Biggles. Mabs tells Biggles
that first thing in the morning will be best as “that’s the time these shows
are usually done”. Biggles says the
“Huns know that as well as we do” so he will go that afternoon. Biggles and Mark are briefed by the C.O. and
then take off at 2.00 pm. Biggles climbs
to 8,000 feet before going over the Lines but it is cloudy and he has to come
down to 2,000 feet when at the objective.
They come under immediate anti-aircraft fire (archie) whilst Biggles
flies around and Mark counts trucks and makes notes. The archie stops when the German planes arrive
from two sides and Biggles is forced to fly north-west to get away, dodging in
and out of the clouds. They shake off
their pursuers but find themselves well over the sea off the Belgian
coast. Two German Albatrosses attack
them but Biggles swerves out of the way and the two German planes collide (presumable these count as the first two
planes Biggles “shot down” or certainly the first two of his war-time ‘score’?). Biggles sees the fragments of the two German
scouts strike the water with a terrific splash.
As darkness falls, Biggles and Mark fly
back towards the coast but it becomes clear they are not going to reach it
(presumably due to lack of fuel). Mark
throws his guns overboard, to prevent the enemy getting them and to reduce
weight. He takes off his coat and flying
boots and throws those overboard as well, telling Biggles to do the same. Mark stores the precious written report in a
leather wallet. They are almost at the
beech when the plane flops into the water but they are able to make it ashore,
half drowned. It is very cold and they
hide in the dunes while German soldiers arrive and examine the wreckage. Waiting until it is really dark
they make their way to the back of the German Lines then swim out to sea to get
around the barbed wire. “How long they
swarm he did not know, but it seemed to be an eternity and he was just about to
call out that he could go no farther when Mark turned shorewards”. Arriving at the other side of the Lines, the
allied side, they are taken to a Belgian officer and given blankets and boiling
soup. An hour later, a British staff
officer arrives and Mark hands over his report, wet but still legible. The officer has a car and with borrowed
Belgian uniforms they arrive back at their mess hall whilst dinner is in
progress. They are greeted with laughter
and Mark knows “the laughter was simply the British way of expressing relief
after they had been given up for lost”.
They sit down for dinner before telling everyone all about it.