BIGGLES GOES TO WAR

by Captain W. E. Johns

IV. AN UNWELCOME RECEPTION (Pages 42 – 55)

“The night passed slowly, and not without anxiety, for more than once cars raced up and down the road, and there were other signs, such as distant calls, which suggested that a search was proceeding. At such times the airmen got into their cockpits, fingering their self-starters, ready to take the air the moment danger threatened”. None of them slept. Biggles decides to take off half an hour before dawn so as to escape in the dark but his plan is thwarted by the arrival of two soldiers in uniform. Biggles surprises them at gun point and sends them on their way. They immediately begin raising the alarm by shouting. Ginger takes off, followed by Algy and then Biggles. Just after dawn they reach the Danube. As they approach Maltovia from the west they are running along the southern frontier of Lovitzna and Biggles makes out a tiny speck in the air. A flash of the sun on wings tells him other planes are present. Biggles indicates to his comrades and points at the incoming aircraft. Then they head into the sun in an attempt to avoid any combat. Biggles is heading to Janovica, some fifty miles over the frontier of Maltovia, in the central plain of the state. The oncoming aircraft turn out to be five machines, all single-seater fighters and Biggles “made out the brown crosses of Lovitzna painted on the underside of their wings”. Whilst wishing to avoid any confrontation, the enemy planes being over Maltovia was itself an act of war. Biggles indicates to Ginger to continue to fly south and then he tests his guns. Biggles then dives to raise his air-speed to 300 (miles per hour). With Algy in support, Biggles waits for the enemy to fire the first shot and then turns on the leader of the attacking aircraft. Biggles himself is attacked but it is a returning Ginger who drives the enemy machine off his tail. In the ensuing battle two of the enemy aircraft are shot down and the other three flee. Flying on to the south of Janovica, they find the landing ground that has been prepared for them. Here they are met by Smyth and Carter. Biggles reprimands Ginger for disobeying his order to stay out of the dog-fight. Ginger says “I’ve got to start sometime, haven’t I?” Biggles smiled faintly. “Yes, I suppose you have,” he admitted reluctantly, “but in future you had better leave these decisions to me. Come on; come on, Algy, let’s go and see what’s happening here”. (The ending of this chapter in the ‘Modern Boy’ version is slightly different. “I’ll overlook your disobedience this time, but no more of it, mind. Air fighting’s risky enough, without the added danger of having a fellow in your flight who doesn’t do as he’s told”. “Well” he added, “those fellows over there look as if they’re getting impatient. Let’s go and make ourselves know to them, and tell them what we’ve done to the Lovitznians!”).