BIGGLES WORKS
IT OUT
A STORY OF AIR
DETECTIVE-INSPECTOR BIGGLESWORTH AND HIS COMRADES OF THE AIR POLICE
by Captain W.
E. Johns
First published
October 1951
TITLE PAGE – Page 1 – This page has a
small vignette of a pilot, presumably Biggles, sitting on down, with palm trees
in the background. Opposite this is the
frontispiece which is a portrait of Algy
CONTENTS – Page 3
List of illustrations – Page 5 (Frontispiece by Stead plus an illustration
of Biggles on the title page, then seven other colour plates between pages 32
& 33, 40 & 41, 56 & 57, 96 & 97, 128 & 129, 132 & 133
and 156 & 157. There are also small
pen and illustrations by the same artist at the beginning of chapters two, four
and five on pages 22, 42 and 54.
List of Other “Biggles” Books by
Captain W. E. Johns – Page 7 – featuring 12 books
I. BIGGLES
HAS SOMETHING TO SAY (Pages
9 – 21)
“A cold east wind blustered across the home
airport of the Special Air Police, bringing with it
ragged curtains of trailing nimbus cloud that dripped their contents in a
dreary drizzle on the shining concrete runways”. “Ginger” Hebblethwaite, Algy Lacey and Bertie
Lissie are all sitting around. Algy is
reading Flight magazine. Biggles
is sat at his desk going through newspaper clippings. Ginger asks him what is on his mind and
Biggles replies “Natural history”.
Biggles says that dangerous beasts have to retire before civilisation to
some inaccessible spot or submit to captivity.
Biggles continued “The example of the wild beasts has been followed by a
species of human being, and I don’t necessarily mean native races. Most of those have now been tamed, although
there are still a few that, having retired to a distance, by means of fast
horses or camels play a merry game of tip and run with their hard-working
brothers of the plains”. Biggles talks
of criminals who refuse to work like other fellows and try to live the easy way
by toting a cosh and raiding the property of respectable folk. “Gold, cash, and precious stones are the meat
he seeks”. They can travel far by
aeroplane. By dawn, a crook can be five
thousand miles away. The snag for the
criminal is when they make a raid, they have to park their aircraft near the
scene of the operation. Bertie says
“It’s one thing to be a cop on the old home beat, but a nag of a different
colour when you have the whole bally world to cover”. Biggles said if they were crooks with plenty
of money, he would find a remote abandoned airstrip as a hideout. There are loads on every continent following
the war. An aircraft with extra tanks
could outfly anything the police had.
Biggles reads a newspaper clipping about a raid on the gold mining
operation at Barula Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia. A convoy of gold on its way to Port Darwin
was attacked and five men killed. “Black
trackers were bought in. They found some
foot-marks – but nothing else”. Ginger
asks about the International Police Commission.
Biggles says every country should have its air police and all should
constantly be in touch to exchange views and information. Ginger sees a French aircraft arrive – a
military Morane and the pilot comes and knocks at their door. “Good morning, sirs” he says cheerfully. Biggles invites him to take a seat and offers
him a cigarette.