THE BLACK PERIL
Book First Published by John Hamilton in March 1935 (The British
Library copy was acquired on 12th March 1935) - 222 pages
This story was first published, in ten parts, as WINGED MENACE in
The Modern Boy, issues
366 to 375, dated 9th February 1935 to 13th April 1935
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THE MUCH SOUGHT AFTER FIRST EDITION AND HOW TO IDENTIFY IT - BY CLICKING HERE
Republished by Thames Publishing Company (246 pages) and by Dean
& Son Ltd (184 pages) as BIGGLES AND THE BLACK PERIL with a number of significant
changes
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PAGE IN LINE BY LINE DETAIL
This dust jacket may be from a later
edition but I believe that it is identical to the first edition dust wrapper
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
VIII A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES
Whilst
flying in England, Biggles and Algy are forced to land by fog and find a mysterious
hidden landing ground. When an unknown plane lands, Biggles climbs aboard to
investigate and is accidentally trapped on board when the plane takes off. The
plane lands near Newcastle and Biggles escapes only to be pursued. He meets a
young lad who is travelling to London. This lad is
'Ginger' Habblethwaite who is to share many of
Biggles' adventures in the future. Ginger is sent to seek help, as Biggles has
injured an ankle but when he returns Biggles has gone. Ginger gets in contact
with Algy and puts him on the trail. Meanwhile, Biggles is being held captive
in a nearby house and it doesn't take Algy and Ginger long to find him. Ginger
sets fire to an outhouse as a diversion and Algy enters the house to rescue
Biggles. Reporting things to the Intelligence Branch of the Air Ministry, they
are surprised to be informed that there is no trace of any secret airfields.
Everything has been cleaned away. Following a clue from Algy, who had seen a
map, Biggles, Algy, Smyth and Ginger fly to Germany and arrive at a seaplane
base. Here they have an unexpected encounter with 'Blackbeard', one of Biggles'
captors. Flying away, they find their plane has been emptied of fuel and this
forces them down. Help from the British Consulate Office in Danzig gets them more
fuel. A chance encounter with the original mystery aircraft enables them to
follow it to its base in Russia. Here they find loads
of similar aircraft. Ginger and Biggles go to explore, leaving Algy and Smyth
with the aircraft. Biggles and Ginger are separated and Biggles gets into the
enemy camp. Biggles is captured, but saved by Ginger who shoots his captor in
self-defence. They return to their aircraft but find it has gone! Smyth is at
the scene and able to explain that Algy was forced to fly it to safety, due to
search parties. A meeting place has been arranged but Algy is unable to make
it, as the plane has become bogged down in its new landing ground. Ginger
steals one of the mysterious enemy planes and with this they all fly to find
Algy. Ginger has also stolen some apparently important documentation. Freeing
their own plane, our heroes try to fly to Sweden but a lack of fuel forces them
to ditch just off the coast. They are followed by Blackbeard who lands nearby
but cannot find them due to fog. Running aground on what they think is a sand
bar, Biggles and his colleagues haul their airplane up what turns out to be a
river. Escaping to the nearest Swedish town, Biggles, Algy and Smyth are
trapped in a restaurant by Blackbeard and his men. Ginger gets them out by
having them arrested. Meeting with the personal assistant to the British Consul
in Stockholm, Biggles explains what he has discovered and the police release
them all to return to England. Flying to England becomes a desperate chase as
Blackbeard's seaplane and three other planes try to shoot them down. They are
saved by RAF planes waiting to meet them. The plans Ginger had stolen were for
a raid by thirty flying boats on Great Britain but with advance notice the raid
is foiled. Biggles, Algy, Smyth and Ginger all receive money as a reward and
Ginger's money will be used to teach him to fly and learn engineering.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
The Black Peril
Subtitle - A "Biggles" Story
Publication Details - published by John Hamilton
Frontispiece
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