BIGGLES OF THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE

by Captain W. E. Johns

XIV. THE ACE OF SPADES (Pages 229 – 247)

Biggles finishes his patrol and decides to drop in on his friend Captain Wilkinson at No. 287 Squadron. They get into an argument about which is the better aircraft, the new S.E.5s flown by Wilks’ squadron or the Sopwith Camels as flown by Biggles’ squadron. They decide to settle the matter with camera guns, the first to get six pictures of the other from an attacking position. They arrange to meet over Wilks aerodrome at ten thousand feet. Wilks doesn’t have any ammunition in his Vickers guns as they are just being overhauled, so Biggles has his ammunition taken out to even up the weight. Wilks and Biggles take off in their respective aircraft with Biggles flying north and Wilks south, to gain height before the planned rendezvous. Unexpectedly, Biggles is suddenly attacked by a German aircraft! An orange-and-black Fokker D.VIII, (at least it is in this version – in the original version published in “The Cockpit” it was a Fokker D.VII) with a large Ace of Spades painted on the side of its fuselage. Biggles turns and “automatically he sighted his guns and growled when his pressure on the Bowden lever produced no result. (In the original version published in “The Cockpit” Biggles didn’t growl – he “swore bitterly”). Of course, he has no ammunition! Biggles spins away with the German plane spinning after him. “All the time, at the back of his mind, was a fierce condemnation of his utter and inexcusable folly in flying without ammunition, and an equally fierce conviction that if he did succeed in reaching the ground alive he would never again be guilty of such madness. He spun for so long that he became giddy, and pulled out sluggishly. But the Hun was still with him, and he heard his bullets ripping through the spruce and canvas of his fuselage. For the first time in his life he nearly panicked”. Sideslipping into a field, Biggles does not notice a narrow ditch running diagonally across it and ends up tail in the air, nose down, prop in splinters. A car grinds to a halt and three officers come towards him. “My Gosh! (Originally “My God!”) Here’s a General come to sympathise with me. I couldn’t bear it,” muttered Biggles to himself. The General asks him severely, “How long have you been in France?” “About eleven months, sir,” answered Biggles (Biggles was sent to the front in October 1916 this would date this story around September 1917 and Biggles would be just aged 18 as he was born in August 1899). The General then remonstrates with Biggles. “Not once did you make the slightest attempt to return the German’s fire. In fact, to put the matter still more clearly, you ran away. Am I right?” “Quite right, sir,” answered Biggles frostily. Biggles gives his name and squadron and is told to report back to his unit. Biggles is furious at being effectively accused of cowardice without the General asking him why. He goes to find a telephone to ask for transport to fetch him and his wrecked Camel, home. When he reports to Major Mullen he is immediately told “You’ve let me down badly, Bigglesworth”. “Biggles drew a deep breath, and stiffened. This sort of talk from the General had merely irritated him, but that his own C.O. should doubt him put him in a cold fury”. “Biggles, who was about to explain the true facts of the case, shut up like an oyster”. “Brigadier-General Sir Hales-Morier, of Air Head-quarters, has just been on the phone to me. I will spare your feelings by not repeating what he said, but I gather he proposes to post you to Home Establishment; in the meantime, he wants a report tonight from me on the matter. It is to reach him by 6.30, so will you please make out your own report and let me have it by five o’clock”. Biggles borrows Algy’s Camel and goes to see Wilks at 287 Squadron to tell him what has occurred. “Wilks, who was about to pull Biggles’ leg in connection with his failure to turn up at the appointed place, whistled”. (Originally Wilks didn’t whistle, he “swore luridly”). Wilks wants to tell Mullen that he hadn’t any ammunition but Biggles tells him to mind his own blooming business. Flying in a bad mood, a close shot of white archie, that is from a British gun, alerts Biggles to the fact that there is an enemy plane in the vicinity. Biggles waits for it to come up on him and then does a lightning Immelmann turn and gets behind the German plane “so it was with something of a mild shock, swiftly followed by savage exultation, that he saw the well-remembered colours through his sights as he took the Hun broadside on and grabbed his Bowden lever”. It is the same orange-and-black machine from earlier in the day. The two planes dual and are well matched, Biggles goes into a similar spin as he did earlier in the day and then a very short spin which catches his opponent off guard. “Biggles thrust home his attack. He deliberately held his fire until it was impossible to miss, and then fired one of the longest bursts he had ever fired in his life”. The Hun spins down and Biggles follows to make sure it is not a ruse. The Fokker goes nose-first into the ground with its engine full on. Biggles lands nearby. “It was not his usual practice to look at unpleasant sights too closely, but on this occasion an idea had struck him, and he had a definite object in view”. At five o’clock Biggles reports to Major Mullen. The Major give Biggles a glowing report to read. “Biggles took the buff sheet and felt his face go red with shame as he read a eulogy of his conduct and exploits since he had joined the Squadron. The C.O., he knew, must have gone to considerable trouble in the matter, for he had looked up a large number of combat reports – not all his own – and pinned them to the document. Further, he had evidently been in communication with Major Paynter, for a lengthy report from his old C.O. was also attached”. The C.O. asks Biggles what on earth possessed him to behave the way he did that morning? Biggles explains about the camera guns and the fact that he had no ammunition. When asked why he didn’t tell the General, Biggles says “I find it hard to argue with people who form their own opinions before they know the facts”. Biggles is asked for his report. He produces from under his tunic a large sheet of orange fabric on which was painted a Maltese Cross and beside it an Ace of Spades. “That, sir, is the hide of the hound who made me bust my Camel this morning. I chanced to meet him again this afternoon and on that occasion I had lead in my guns. I think H.Q. will recognise that Ace of Spades, and perhaps it will speak plainer than words. I’m not much of a hand with a pen, anyway”.