BIGGLES IN BORNEO

By Captain W. E. Johns

II. PLOTS AND PLANS (Pages 14 - 23)

Taking Algy into his confidence, Biggles decides to use three Beaufighters (twin-engined two-seater heavily armed fighters) and one Consolidated Liberator with a range of 3000 miles to keep them in contact with Australia and supplied with petrol. Biggles will have all 10 men of his squadron and 6 really efficient mechanics under Smyth, his old flight sergeant. 14 days later, our heros are landing at Lucky Strike in Borneo, Biggles and Ginger are in the first Beaufighter, Algy and Tug Carrington in the second. Bertie and Tex O'Hara are in the third. They are painted with either one, two or three stripes. Flying the Liberator is Flight Lieutenant Angus Mackail, with Rex Larrymore sitting besides him andTaffy Hughes, Ferocity Ferris and Hency Harcourt manning the guns. Here they meet Suba, "one of the most magnificent savages Ginger had ever seen". At 6 foot four, he is an imposing figure, (he is, presumably, the character that features on the cover of the first edition of the book). Biggles makes his plans and decides that first thing tomorrow he will make reconnaissance flights and photograph the area.