BIGGLES
IN FRANCE
by W. E. Johns
9.
BIGGLES’ PAPERCHASE! (Pages 131 -
150)
(First published in the Modern Boy on 5th
January 1935 – Issue 361)
(This
is ‘A Sporting Offer’ (Chapter 18) & ‘Getting a Gramophone’ (Chapter 19) in
the book and the story became “THE PRIZE” in “Biggles of 266”).
Algy enters the billiard-room looking
for Biggles. “Hi!” cried Algy, “I’ve got
some news that will shake you!” “You may
have news, but I doubt it will shake me,” rejoined
Biggles. “I’ve been in this perishing
war too long for anything to occasion me either surprise or consternation. What is it?
Has Fishface decided to stand us a
dinner?” Fishface
was the popular name for Brigadier-General Tishlace, general
officer commanding the wing in which Squadron No. 266 was brigaded. The answer is no. They have been detailed for a week’s
propaganda work, “dropping leaflets over the other side of the Line telling the
Huns that they’re losing the war”. It’s
dangerous as it you get caught “It’s either a firing-party at dawn, up against
a brick wall, or the salt mines in Siberia!”
As a result people tend not to go far over the
lines. Wilkinson – better known as
‘Wilks’ of the neighbouring S.E. 5 Squadron – arrives. He has heard they have been detailed for
“this paperchase” and says they have been doing it for three days. Wilks says he dropped some over Lille
yesterday, some ten miles over. When the
distance is criticised, he says that it is farther than “you Camel merchants
are likely to go”. Biggles says he will
drop leaflets over Tournai and take a camera to prove it. Tournai is thirty
miles over. Major Mullen and Major
Raymond (he is a Major in this story, not
a Colonel) come into the mess and hear the rivalry. Raymond says “I’ll present a new gramophone
to the squadron that takes a packet of those leaflets Farthest East during the
next two days. Time expires – shall we
say – at twelve noon the day after tomorrow?”
The next day, Biggles drops leaflets over Tournai and takes a picture
with his camera. Flying back, Biggles
sees a formation of six British bombers, D.H. 4’s, being hotly attacked on all
sides by some fifteen to twenty Albatross scouts – German ‘planes”. The D.H.’s seemed to be holding their own,
however, and held on their way, flying in a tight V-formation”. (Johns,
of course, was a D.H.4 bomber pilot himself). “The affair was nothing to do with Biggles;
in any case, he could not hope to serve any good purpose by butting in,
although he wondered why no escort had been provided for the bombers, so he
gave them as wide as berth as possible, hoping to pass unobserved. But it was not to be”. The Albatrosses see Biggles and come after
him. “The nearest Albatross was less
than a quarter of a mile away. Once it
caught him he would be compelled to stay and fight,
for to fly straight on would mean being shot down like a sparrow”. Biggles flies for home until the first
Albatross is in range and then he spins to near the ground. Biggles pretends to be hit and makes an
awkward landing, then sags in the cockpit.
One German lands nearby and the others go to land at a nearby
aerodrome. When the one German pilot
walks towards him, Biggles salutes and then speeds across the turf and takes
off again. This ruse gives him a clear
lead of two miles and he is able to get back to Maranique safely. Waiting for Biggles is a letter from Wilks
containing a photograph of leaflets being dropped over Gontrude
– 12 miles further over the lines than Tournai.
Biggles mutters “There’s another day left yet!” Later in the day, Biggles tells Algy, “I’ve
been exercising my mental equipment on this crazy long-distance stunt, and the
points that stick out most clearly in my mind are these: First of all, if it goes on, somebody’s going
to get killed; it’s asking for trouble.
Secondly, we can’t let Wilks and his crowd get away with it”. Biggles has a plan and he tells Algy what it
is as he needs Algy to help him out. “At
eleven-thirty the following morning, the aerodrome at Maranique presented an
animated appearance, for rumours of the contest had leaked out, and pilots had
come from nearby squadrons to see the conclusion”. “Certain other officers had aspired to win
the prize in the earlier stages of the contest, they had soon abandoned their
ideas before the suicidal achievements of the two chief participants, Biggles
and Wilks”. Wilks comes in to land in
his S.E.5 and hands Major Raymond a photograph of Mons – fifty to sixty miles
inside German occupied territory. “Well,
that will take some beating,” admitted the Major, amid renewed cheers”. The Major wonders where Biggles is. Biggles has reached his objective with
ridiculous ease and is on the way back, but knows this is the hardest part as
“his passage would have been noted by hostile air units, who would climb to the
limit of their height to await his return”.
Seeing German planes in the distance, Biggles spins down from eighteen
thousand feet to six thousand feet. Then
he sideslips down to less than one hundred feet. Lower and lower he flies until his wheels are
just skimming above the ground. For
fifteen minutes he gets away with it and then he is spotted and the German
planes dive down at him. Biggles has
five miles to go. Biggles makes a
dramatic landing back at Maranique, with his plane in a mess and his engine
choking and his propeller stopping.
Biggles gets out and hands his camera over to have his photograph
developed. He has fourteen minutes to
spare. Ten minutes later,
Flight-Sergeant (I am never sure if this
rank should have capital letters or not.
The Normal Wright version does but in the original Boys’ Friend Library
version this was “Flight-sergeant”) Smyth arrives with a photo of –
Brussels! Wilks says he couldn’t carry
enough petrol to get to Brussels and back.
Biggles says he flew over with Algy and landed in a field about forty
miles over the Lines where Algy refuelled him and then he flew on whilst Algy
returned. Biggles gets the
gramophone. “Wilks’ face broke into a
smile, and he extended his hand. “Good
show, Biggles!” he said, “You deserve it!”
Biggles invites Wilks and his chaps over to dinner that evening, but he
suspects trouble. Wilks arrives with
only half of his fellow pilots. Wilks
notices that Algy is missing and when there is a commotion in the ante-room it
is because the other half of the S.E.5 pilots are after the gramophone and Algy
is fending them off. “Two-sixty-six to
the rescue!” yelled Biggles, dashing into the fray”. Biggles says to Wilks “It’s no good, my lad, if
you want a new gramophone you’ll have to buy one. We won this, and we’re jolly well keeping
it!”