BIGGLES OF THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE
Book First Published in September 1953 - 247 pages
The first edition appears to be in a number of versions, with red boards
and with blue boards and with and without a colour frontispiece and was printed
by Thames in their “Regent Classics” series
The A. P. Watt & Sons, stamped file copy, the one sent to Johns
literary agents in September 1953 after publication is in my possession. It was later sent on to their French agent
for translation.
That has blue boards, titles on the spine of the book and the front
of the book in gilt and no colour frontispiece.
You can read about how to determine when any Thames Biggles book was
published
HERE
The original first edition dust jacket – There was no price
printed on this dust jacket – Note the “Regent Classics” on the spine.
The later reprint dust jacket – There was a price of 3s 6d printed
on this dust jacket – Note the “Kingston Library” on both the spine and the
back of the book.
This version of the book also came with both blue boards and red
boards and with and without the colour frontispiece.
The Dean & Son edition dust jacket – There was no price
printed on this dust jacket – A similar scene was illustrated from the same
story as chosen for the first edition dust jacket
This is the dust jacket from the 1954 French first edition. “Huit Affaires Pour Biggles” translates as
“Eight Cases for Biggles”
(Which eight cases? Well,
it was the six Air Police stories from the original book, plus ‘The Mystery of
the Torn Parachute’ and ‘The Case of the Missing Constable’ from Biggles’ Chinese Puzzle)
This contains thirteen short stories, the first six of which are
'Special Air Police' stories. These 'Special Air Police' stories were
usually published in various annuals and periodicals,
however no original publication details
of these six stories are known. It is
possible that they were written purely for this collection.
The next six stories are Royal Flying Corps stories which were
originally published in the very first Biggles book THE CAMELS ARE COMING (1932)
The last story is a Royal Flying Corps story original published in
‘The Cockpit’ and later published in ‘The Raid’ (details below).
The stories are:-
THE CASE OF THE BLACK GAUNTLET (Pages 7 to 30)
Biggles is asked to do some stunt flying for a film but someone
has an old score to settle with him.
This
story was never published elsewhere
THE CASE OF THE MANDARIN'S TREASURE CHEST (Pages 31 to 54)
Biggles and Co. travel to China to recover a treasure chest. This
is the picture on the dust cover.
(The character of Wung Ling from this story
was to reappear in the 1952 Biggles book BIGGLES FOLLOWS ON)
This
story was never published elsewhere
THE CASE OF THE LOST SOULS (Pages 55 to 76)
A man complains of ghosts and Biggles suspects a smuggler is
responsible.
This story was never published elsewhere
THE CASE OF THE TOO SUCCESSFUL COMPANY
(Pages 77 to 96)
Biggles is suspicious of Air Mobility Enterprises Limited and soon
uncovers a smuggling racket.
This
story was never published elsewhere
THE CASE OF THE WHITE LION (Pages 97 to 124)
A trip to Africa is called for, to hunt down the animal of the
title, which is scaring local natives.
This
story was never published elsewhere
THE CASE OF THE REMARKABLE PERFUME
(Pages 125 to 145)
Orchids in the South American jungle are the objective in this
story, on account of their scent.
This
story was never published elsewhere
BIGGLES THEN AND NOW (a short essay by W. E. Johns)
(Pages 147 to 149)
THE NEXT SIX STORIES ARE REPRINTS OF THE FIRST EVER BIGGLES STORIES FROM
“THE CAMELS ARE COMING”
PUBLISHED IN 1932 SO I HAVE ADDED FAR MORE DETAIL
THE WHITE FOKKER
(Pages 151 to 165)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
The
first ever Biggles story introduces Biggles in the following way, "a
slight, fair haired, good looking lad still in his 'teens, but an acting
Flight-Commander". He has "deep-set hazel eyes" which hold a
"glint of yellow fire". His hands are "small and delicate as a
girl's". The story also introduces us to Major Mullen, the C.O. of
Biggles' Squadron and to MacLaren and Mahoney, two
other Flight-Commanders. The Fokker D.VII of the title shoots down Norman when
he is about to land. Various traps are set to get the Fokker and eventually
Biggles shoots it down. This is the first "kill" we read about for
Biggles although we are told in the story earlier that he has killed "six
men during the past month - or was it a year? - he had forgotten".
(Click to enlarge)
(This story was originally first
published in the April 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine – click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Biggles and the White
Fokker" in issue number 257 of "The Modern Boy" dated 7th January 1933
THE PACKET (Pages 166 to 181)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
In the
second ever story, Biggles, now promoted to Captain, meets Colonel (later to be
Air Commodore) Raymond for the first time. Raymond asks Biggles to recover a
secret packet of plans hidden by a spy in a rabbit hole in a field inside enemy
territory. Only a pilot of Biggles' skill would be able to land in and take off
from the small field. Two pilots have already died trying. Needless to say,
Biggles recovers the plans, with a little bit of help from MacLaren
and Mahoney.
(This story was originally first
published in the May 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine – click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Peril Over the Line"
in issue number 258 of "The Modern Boy" dated 14th January 1933
J-9982 (Pages 182 to 194)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
A
German pilot is using a captured Sopworth Camel to
kill unsuspecting British pilots. The story title refers to the number of the
plane. Biggles, MacLaren and Mahoney hunt for the
devious plane and eventually Biggles finds it and shoots it down. Biggles also
shoots down a Hanoverana earlier on in this story and
a Fokker just after he has got the rogue Camel.
(This story was originally first
published in the June 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine – click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Fighting Mad" in
issue number 259 of "The Modern Boy" dated 21st January 1933
THE BALLOONATICS
(Pages 195 to 211)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
Air
Commodore Raymond is the first to get 12 bottles of pre-war whisky. However he
offers it to both Biggles and Captain Wilkinson of 287 squadron depending on
the success of their attacks on an observation balloon at Duneville.
This is the first story to feature 'Wilks' of 287 squadron. This is also the
first story to name Biggles' squadron as 266. Biggles wins all 12 bottles of
whisky by actually capturing the German balloon. During the attempts he also
shoots down a Fokker Triplane. In later, 1950's reprints such as Biggles of the Special Air Police, this story has the men risking their
lives for bottles of lemonade (!) as the stories were changed for a younger
audience, rather than the adult audience for which they were originally
written. All references to swearing were removed or changed, as were references
to drinking, from all of the stories that were republished. The changes to this
particular story were the most extreme.
(This story was originally first
published in the July 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine – click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "The Duneville
Sausage" in issue number 260 of "The Modern Boy" dated 28th January 1933
THE BLUE DEVIL
(Pages 212 to 220)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
An all
blue German Albatross has built up a deadly reputation with a clever manoeuvre.
The blue Albatross can turn in an instant, almost pivoting on its wing tip and
shoot the plane that is on its tail. Biggles eventually fights the deadly
German and foils the manoeuvre by doing the unexpected. When the plane turns on
him, he tries to ram it rather than get out of the way and by taking the German
by surprise, he is able to shoot him down.
(This story was originally first
published in the August 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine – click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "The Blue Demon" in
issue number 261 of "The Modern Boy" dated 4th February 1933
CAMOUFLAGE (Pages 221 to 228)
Click here to see the original story illustration from THE CAMELS ARE COMING
The
Germans have a cleverly disguised gun. It is disguised as a church, including a
graveyard and ivy on the walls. Biggles' suspicions are first raised when he
sees the church in a location it has never been in. Everybody denies there is a
church there and when he goes back to check, it has gone. Biggles then hunts
relentlessly for the church and gives the new co-ordinates to the artillery who
pound it out of existence.
This story was later republished as "The Mystery Gun" in
issue number 262 of "The Modern Boy" dated 11th February 1933
THE ACE OF SPADES (Pages 229 to 247)
Biggles
is accused of incompetence by a General and has to clear his name. Biggles
flies without ammunition during a camera duel with Wilks and is attacked and
forced down by an orange coloured German plane with a distinctive Ace of Spades
on the side. A General sees this one-sided dual and reprimands Biggles for not
firing a shot. Rather than writing a report to explain what happened, Biggles
borrows Algy's Sopworth Camel and subsequently shoots
the German down. The fabric showing the Ace of Spades is sent to the General as
his report. This story was
originally published in THE COCKPIT in August 1934 and then later
re-published in THE RAID in April 1935. It is interesting to note the differences
between the original adult version as printed in those books and the subsequent
children’s version in this reprint. For example, the phrase "He swore, tersely
but effectively", relating to Biggles, is not in the reprint and
expressions like "My God!" become "My Gosh!" They also changed the aircraft in this
version to a Fokker D.VIII instead of the original Fokker D.VII.
With the exception of the frontispiece, there are no story
illustrations in this book.
Biggles of the Special Air Police
Publication Details - published by the Thames Publishing Co.
Frontispiece of an original September 1953 first edition
(NB – You won’t find this scene in BIGGLES OF THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE
though! “Algy shot straight underneath
the hostile machine” is in fact an illustration from the first (large) Thames
edition of
THE BLACK PERIL - illustrating an incident in Chapter 11 entitled
‘What Happened to Algy’ where the actual line is ‘the amphibian shot straight
underneath its escort’ - and the illustration was just being re-used!)