BIGGLES SEES IT THROUGH

by Captain W. E. Johns

First published August 1941

CONTENTS – Page 5

List of illustrations – Page 7 (Frontispiece by Howard Leigh and six illustrations by Alfred Sindall on pages 21, 81, 113, 191, 225 and 235)

I. AN EVENTFUL RECONNAISSANCE (Pages 9 – 25)

“From twenty thousand feet Squadron-Leader James Bigglesworth, D.S.O., better known to his friends as ‘Biggles’, looked down upon a world that revealed no more signs of occupation than the moon”. With him are Flight-Lieutenant the Hon. Algernon Lacey, D.F.C., and Flying Officer ‘Ginger’ Hebblethwaite and Flight-Sergeant Smyth and they are flying in a Bristol Blenheim near the Arctic Circle. The Air Ministry has allowed Biggles and his crew to accompany a party of volunteers to help the Finns in their struggle against Soviet aggression. They had been in Finland a week and were flying long-distance reconnaissance “raids” along the frontier. They see an enemy aircraft and prepare to attack (a manoeuvre during which Biggles sings “Roll out the barrel”). The aircraft is a Russian Polycarpov bomber. Ginger and Smyth, manning the guns, open fire and the plane is shot down. As Biggles turns away and begins to climb for height he sees a moving figure on the frozen surface of a lake. The figure is a staggering man and he collapses. Biggles decides to risk landing saying “We can’t leave the poor blighter to die”. They land and give the man brandy. Biggles tries the few words of Finnish he has learnt, then French, then English. The man speaks English and says he has been wounded by a bullet but he must die here. “It would be better if it were thought that I had died – without speaking”. He tells Biggles that he is a Pole, a scientist working for the government in Walsaw on important experiments with metal alloys for aircraft that might revolutionize metal aircraft construction. His papers are all in a portfolio. The Germans know all about him and his work and are pursuing him. He had flown towards Russia and then Finland, with a friendly pilot, but the plane had been shot at and then crashed in a blizzard, and the pilot killed. The man has hidden his portfolio under some rocks near the crashed plane and started walking westward hoping to meet some friendly Finns. He has seen no one and has been walking three days. The man says his name is Petolski and he tells Biggles that he must get his papers to England before the Russians or Germans find them. He gives Biggles instructions as to where the papers can be found then dies in Biggles’ arms. Alarm is caused by a German Messerschmitt flying towards them. (They heard the roar of an aero engine suddenly switched on – is the illustration on page 21). Biggles and his crew quickly take off and fly westward, only a few feet from the ground. The German pilot turns back and Biggles guesses he has seen the body on the ground. Biggles flies to Oskar and land and then goes to Helsinki to report to the British Consulate. A phone call is made to London, where Biggles speaks to Colonel Raymond, who knows of Petolski and his research. Biggles is told to spare no effort in getting the papers and at all costs prevent Germany getting hold of them. They resolve to get winter equipment, paint the top of their aeroplane white, and go and look for the crashed aircraft in order to recover the important papers.