BIGGLES
TAKES THE CASE
by Captain W.
E. Johns
IX. THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE (Pages 175 – 189)
This story was originally a First World War story published in THE
NEW BOOK OF THE AIR in 1935 where it ran from page 19 to page 30. It was later re-written as a Second World War
story and published in EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL in 1950 by Juvenile Productions Ltd,
where it was subtitled “An incident from the Battle of Britain records of No.
666 (Fighter) Squadron, R.A.F., sometimes known as “Biggles” Squadron”. It ran from pages 16 to 25 in that book. This summary points out differences between
the original version of the re-written story in EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL and the
version in Biggles Takes the Case.
It then points out the differences between the First World War version
of the story and the Second World War version of the story. I don’t know when this re-write was done but
Johns’ literary agent received the story from him on 8th February
1950. The setting of Rawlham in Kent is
a fictional location.
“Squadron Leader Bigglesworth landed on
his home airfield at Rawlham, in Kent” (in Every Boy’s Annual, this reads
“Squadron Leader Bigglesworth, more often known as “Biggles”,
landed on his home airfield at Rawlham, in Kent”). Flight-Sergeant Smyth tells Biggles that
everyone is back, but most of the officers have gone to Tonbridge. As Biggles walks to the mess, he hears a
Chopin nocturne being played on the piano and he walks in to find a new officer
called Daby, “a slight pale youth with fair hair”, who has just been posted to
the squadron. Daby asks Biggles if he
got a Messerschmitt. Biggles smiled
faintly. “No. But one nearly got me”. Biggles asks Daby to continue playing and
Biggles relaxes for half an hour. To his
annoyance, he is disturbed by a “heavily built young man who carried the slim
ring of a pilot officer on his sleeve” and a squadron-leader. The pilot officer says he has come over to
see “Baby” referring to Daby. “We called
him Baby at the Depot”. Biggles reprimands
the man. “I’m not concerned with what
you called him at the Depot, but Pilot Officer Daby happens to have been posted
to this squadron, so, in my hearing, at any rate, you’ll remember his name. Do you understand?”. “Here, go easy Biggles” says the squadron
leader who is Biggles old friend Wilks, or Squadron Leader Wilkinson of number
187 (Hurricane) Squadron. Wilks
introduces his new man, Taggart. Biggles
says he doesn’t like his manners. Wilks
says he chose Taggart in preference to Daby.
“Naturally I took the best man”.
“What gave you the idea you’ve got the best man?” asks Biggles. Wilks says he is willing to bet that his man
“knocks down more enemy aircraft than yours during the next month”. Biggles doesn’t think it is a nice thing to
bet on, but he does agree to buy dinner for Wilks at any place he cares to name
if Taggart gets more Huns than Daby within a month from today. Wilks and Taggart leave. Three days later, Biggles watches Daby in a
Spitfire, diving and machine gunning a petrol can. Daby lands and Biggles tells him there are
seven holes in the can. Daby says he
fired ten bursts of about ten rounds each.
Biggles says it is not bad. Wilks
lands in his Hurricane and tells Biggles that Taggart has got his first
Messerschmitt over Calais this morning.
Wilks is surprised to hear that Daby hasn’t been over the Channel
yet. Biggles says Daby wasn’t
ready. Wilks says Taggart is going over
twice a day. “I don’t send my lambs to
the slaughter” says Biggles. Wilks gets
in his plane and leaves. Biggles asks
Daby how much flying time he has logged.
The answer is about eighteen hours.
“I’ve done a fair bit with the camera-gun, too, practising on our own
machines, and some Hurricanes, as you suggested”. Biggles says he will look at the shots
sometime and says he is going to take Daby over the Channel. “You stick close to my tail”. They take off
in two Spitfires, and soon face anti-aircraft batteries. When Biggles heads towards a dogfight, he
finds that Daby has gone. Biggles sees
him racing for the English coast.
Biggles returns to base and asks Daby “Why did you beat it for home as I
headed for that scramble?” Daby replies
with his own question. “Do you think I
ran away?” “It looks mightily like it,
didn’t it?” replies Biggles. “Yes, I
suppose it did” says Daby and he walks away.
Biggles then discovers that there is a big hole in Daby’s Spitfire and
the floor is swimming with petrol. He
had been hit by flak and was lucky not to catch fire. Biggles goes to see Daby and asks him why he
didn’t tell him. “I hate making excuses,
sir,” returned Daby stiffly. Biggles
then sees a signal from Wilkinson saying that Taggart has “got another Hun”. By the end of a fortnight, Taggart has got
three enemy aircraft. Daby has still not
fired a shot at a hostile machine, even though he had been over France several
times. Biggles “had more than once been
ragged by members of the Hurricane squadron about his backward pupil”. He takes Daby aside and tells him “Listen,
laddie, you’ll soon have to be doing something about it”. Biggles offers to go over to France with Daby
that afternoon. Five minutes later,
Biggles sees Daby’s Spitfire take off on his own and head south. Biggles goes after him and Algy goes with
him. In due course, Biggles sees a loan
Spitfire in the distance attacked by a big formation of Messerschmitt 109’s and
be shot down. “There he goes,” muttered
Biggles grimly. Sick at heart he turned
for home. Back at base, Biggles is told
there is a signal from Group. “The old
man wants to see you”. Biggles has to
leave and doesn’t return until nearly midnight.
He is then astonished to hear the Chopin melody on the piano again. Sitting at the piano is Daby! Daby wasn’t shot down. His Spitfire has been badly shot up and he
has had to leave it at Dover, he says.
Biggles asks if Daby got a Hun.
Daby replies “I got three, sir, to be precise. I think I forced another to land, but I’m not
sure”. Biggles asks why he went off
without him. The response is that
Taggart had rang Daby that morning and invited Daby to go to Amiens with him
“to see him put down some Messerschmitts”.
Daby says he could hardly refuse.
“I felt that the honour of the squadron was at stake, as well as my
own”. It was Taggart’s Spitfire that
Biggles saw shot down. Squadron Leader
Wilkinson arrives and announces that “Taggart’s had it”. Biggles says he knows, he saw it. Wilkinson says it must have been Biggles that
“shot down those three Messers”. Biggles
says it wasn’t him, it was Daby. He says
Daby went without his permission but was fit to go. “I don’t believe it” says Wilks. Biggles says he can prove it. He takes some photographs out of an envelope,
taken with a camera gun of a Hurricane.
“I think you will agree that if Daby had been a Hun the pilot of that
Hurricane would never have known what killed him” says Biggles. Wilkinson says the photograph is of Taggart’s
machine and Taggart was a beginner. Daby
wouldn’t have been able to do that to an old hand. Biggles has another photo to show Wilkinson,
who says “I know that machine”. “You
ought to,” Biggles told him grimly, “You were flying it”.
This story was originally a 12 page story – with illustrations –
from THE NEW BOOK OF THE AIR published in 1935 by the Oxford University
Press. It is rather strange that the
story should be collected in “Biggles Takes the Case” (1952) as it is
somewhat out of place with the air-police stories. It would obviously have been better if the
story had been updated and collected in “Spitfire Parade” (1941) but
it may very well be the case that Johns did not do the re-write until
1950. The differences in the original
story are these. Firstly, the original
story was a First World War story rather than a Second World War story. It starts at 266 Squadron, R.F.C. at Maranique,
in France. The aircraft are Sopwith
Camels and not Spitfires. Biggles lands
and speaks with “Smyth, his fitter”. The
officers have gone to Amiens rather than Tonbridge. On hearing the same Chopin music, the
newcomer is not called Daby but Lissy.
The annoying new arrival is still called Taggart and he says he has come
to see “Sissy”. Taggart is with Captain
Wilkinson of 187 Squadron, which is a squadron equipped with S.E.5
aircraft. The bet between Biggles and
Wilks is for the loser to stand dinner for the winner at the Hotel de Ville in
Amiens – with wine. Wilks flies a S.E.5
rather than a Hurricane. The discussions
are about going over “the lines” (the two opposing trenches) rather than the
Channel. Taggart gets his first Hun over
Douai. When Lissy apparently flees and
returns to his home aerodrome, in this story, Wilkinson follows him home and
tells him he better buy a hot-water bottle – for his feet (implying he had
“cold feet”- slang for a loss of, or a lack of, courage or confidence). Lissy says nothing, but his aircraft has a
great, jagged hole caused by “archie” and is swimming with petrol. Biggles asks him why he didn’t tell Wilks and
he says he doesn’t make excuses. When
Lissy goes off on his own, Biggles and Algy follow. “If he keeps on that course he’ll find
himself over Douai before he knows where he is, and barge into the middle of
the Richthofen crowd”. Biggles goes off
to Amiens after Lissy is apparently shot down and when he returns it is nearly
midnight. He hears the music playing and
Lissy tells him he had to leave his aircraft at Chateau Rondeau (rather than
Dover). Lissy was invited to Douai by
Taggart. He felt Biggles’ honour was at
stake (rather than the squadrons) as well as his own. The story has the same ending, with Lissy
having photographed Wilks S.E.5 rather than a Hurricane. It would appear that Johns changed the name
“Lissy” because he already had the character of Bertie Lissie serving at 666
Squadron in the Second World War stories.