BIGGLES
DEFIES THE SWASTIKA
by Captain W.
E. Johns
II. ALARMING
DEVELOPMENTS (Pages
23 – 35)
“Actually, only two or three shots were
fired, and they whistled harmlessly past”.
The Nazi emblems on the bike help Biggles on his journey and at sixty
miles an hour it takes him less than half an hour to reach his aerodrome. However, he finds men in the grey uniform of
the German Air Force there. One welcomes
him saying “Why didn’t you tell us you were one of us?”. Biggles recognises the man as Kristen, a
member of the flying club. Biggles
bluffs it out saying he is not officially in the German service yet. He has borrowed this motor-bike and headed
for the aerodrome in the hope of being able to do something. Kristen says that he can recommend Biggles as
a pilot, having seen him fly. Kristen
introduces Biggles to the Commandant, Hauptmann Baron von Leffers. The Baron asks who Biggles is and Kristen
tells him “He is one of us, but as yet his appointment has not been
confirmed”. Kristen says Biggles is
entirely in sympathy with the Nazis and wants to fly for them. Asked if he has had any experience, Biggles
says that he was a test pilot for a while in America. “In making this statement Biggles was telling
the truth; for once, in America, he had tested some machines for the British
Government with a view to purchase”.
Biggles is told the Germans will have to take his aircraft. “You will be paid for it, of course – after
the war”. Biggles makes his way to the
hangar, hoping to fly away in his aircraft, but the hangar is full of Germans
and they have already dismantled all light aeroplanes to make room for their
fighters. Biggles goes to the
club-house, now the German officer’s mess, and meets with Kristen again, who
gives him a red armlet bearing a black swastika within a white circle. “It will show that you are not an ordinary
civilian and may save you trouble with the guards”. They dine together. “Biggles smiled faintly as he wondered what
his comrades would think could they see him, swastika on sleeve, calmly eating
in a German mess”. The Commandant sends for Biggles and after close
interrogation, supported by his Norwegian papers of nationality, Biggles is
admitted into the German Air Force on probation with the rank of ‘Leutnant’. Biggles still hopes to get away and asks to
put in some practice with a Messerschmitt, but he is told that none are
available. Rounding a corner Biggles suddenly comes face to face with the
German officer whose motor-cycle he had borrowed. The man has just stepped out of a large
touring car “in which sat three men wearing the uniform of the dreaded
Gestapo”.