BIGGLES' SECOND CASE
Book First Published in March? 1948 - 191 pages
(The W. E. Johns biography says this book was published in
August 1948, second editions refer to the first printing as being April 1948,
but I have a first edition of this book presented to an original owner on 13th
March 1948.
Correspondence in my collection shows that Johns was sent
the proofs on 5th December 1947 to approve. I suspect that publication was March 1948, if
not earlier. It was certainly earlier
than August 1948)
This story was first published, in eight monthly parts, as
BIGGLES SECOND CASE in the Boys Own
Paper Volume 68, issues 5 to 12,
dated February 1946 to September 1946
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 6
shillings
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
II BIGGLES ASKS SOME QUESTIONS
III VON SCHONBECK STRIKES FIRST
XII GINGERS STARTS SOMETHING
XIII VON SCHONBECK TRIES AGAIN
XV THE CLOCK THAT TICKED AGAIN
Air Commodore Raymond asks
Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie to help in the hunt for a German submarine,
U-517, believed to have a hoard of gold stolen from various allied ships during
the war. Now the war is over the ruthless Captain of the U-boat, called Von Schonbeck, plans to keep the gold. Setting up a base at
Kerguelen Island down towards the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere, our heroes
have to find the Sub and then try to locate and recover the gold. Based in the
middle of nowhere, with nothing between them and the South Pole, they are first
alerted to the presence of the U-boat when it sinks their supply ship. Whilst
trying to depth charge the submarine, Biggles and Ginger are shot down and
later taken prisoner. Ginger saves Biggles from a firing squad before they
manage to escape. With the help of some Norwegian sailors, the submarine is
eventually trapped in its own secret harbour and its crew takes to the island.
Biggles and his allies have to fight it out with them before Von Schonbeck meets a nasty fate in a bog. The dust cover of
the book shows Biggles' seaplane flying over the submarine.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Biggles' Second Case
Subtitle - A Biggles Adventure
Publication Details - published by Hodder & Stoughton
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail
Original artwork for the title page of the book
Original artwork of Ginger from the book
Original artwork of Bertie from the book