BIGGLES
FLIES EAST
by Captain W.
E. Johns
XIV. BIGGLES
FLIES A BOMBER (Pages
153 – 167)
Biggles arrives back at Zabala and is asked by von Stalhein if he burnt the
machine. He is also asked if he landed,
which Biggles denies. Biggles says the
reason he was longer than he expected was that he saw a new type of British
aircraft. “A very fast machine with no
dihedral on the top plane; they call it the Camel, I think, and it’s made at
the Sopwith works”. Biggles says that it
landed at what looks like a new aerodrome about twelve miles south-east of Kantara. After
lunch, Count von Faubourg summons Biggles and tells him that he wants him to
lead six German machines on a bombing raid on this new British aerodrome. He wants Biggles to lead the raid as he knows
exactly where it is, although Oberleutnant Kranz will still be in command in
Mayer’s absence. Biggles agrees to do so
and takes a camera to photograph the results.
Biggles leaves with mixed feelings.
“During the next two hours there was a strong possibility that he would
be shot down by his own countryman; and he did not overlook the fact that in
the event of his formation being attacked, he might find it difficult not to
put up some sort of fight, or pretence of fighting, yet he had no desire to be
responsible for the death of a British pilot”.
The squadron fly to the target and Biggles is impressed by the realism
of the dummy aerodrome. Bombs fall wide
but Biggles is able to score a direct hit.
Suddenly, “a tornado of archie burst around him” and it seems that every
anti-aircraft gun on the British front has opened fire at them. Biggles’ German gunner is a lad called Bronveld and he makes signals for Biggles to get out of the
vicinity as soon as possible. One German
plane loses its propeller and has to glide down, although it looks like it will
reach the German lines. Problems
increase when a squadron of eight British Sopwith Pups arrive, with a solitary
Sopwith Camel and from a different direction, six British Bristol
Fighters. Biggles guesses Algy is in the
Camel. Bronveld
crouches over his gun and is putting up a good show when the Camel
attacks. Biggles is alarmed. “Something like panic seized him as he
visualized the unthinkable picture of his gunner killing Algy, or conversely,
Algy’s feelings when he found he had shot down his best friend. Whatever else happened, that must be avoided
at all costs. Better to betray himself
and be shot by the Huns than that should happen”. Biggles fires a red flare to let the pilot
know that it is him, Biggles, in the German plane. The Camel continues to attack. All four of the other remaining Halberstadts bank round and close in on him, disconcerting
the British pilots and the Germans are able to get a lead and fly for
home. The Camel however, by reason of
its superior speed is able to continue its attack on Biggles’ plane and Bronveld shoots it down.
The Camel spins down and a wing breaks off. Biggles “turned back to his own cockpit feeling
as if he had turned into a block of stone.
Something seemed to have died inside him, leaving in its place only a
bitter hatred of the war and everything connected with it”. Biggles lands and the Germans are laughing
and talking over the battle. The Count
says that Kranz is full of praise for the way Biggles handled a nasty
situation. “Your firing of the red
signal to form circle when you did, he says, saved the whole formation. And that last bomb of yours, and the way you
left the formation to make sure of a hit, was brilliant. Your recommendation for the Iron Cross shall
go off to-day”. The Count says the Camel
fell in German lines and the body of the pilot is being sent to them for
burial. Biggles has a shoulder wound
caused by a bullet fired from the Camel, although it is little more than a
graze. Biggles goes to lay on his bed in
a daze. All he can think about is Algy’s
death. The body of the dead pilot
eventually arrives at their aerodrome and Biggles goes to look at the
body. The face is not Algy’s. “It was that of a middle-aged man in the
uniform of an infantry regiment, with pilot’s wings sewn on his tunic above the
white and violet ribbon of the Military Cross.
It was quite peaceful. A tiny
blue hole above the left eyebrow showed where life had fled, leaving a faint
smile of surprise on the countenance, so suddenly had the end come”. Biggles returns to his room and “flung
himself face downwards on his bed, laughing and sobbing in turn”. He does not see an orderly bringing tea and the
orderly quickly withdraws. In the camp
kitchen the orderly tells the cook that “Brunow’s
finished – nerve’s gone to bits”.