BIGGLES FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE

by Captain W. E. Johns

XV. ALGY AND THE DRAGON (Pages 170 – 177)

“As a matter of fact Algy was flying the Dragon”. (The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon was a successful small commercial aircraft, first flown in 1932, that was designed and built by the de Havilland company. It was a six-seater aircraft and examples still fly today – indeed, I have been a passenger in one flying alongside a Spitfire in 2022! - RH). “And when he turned away he was quite sure that if Biggles and Ginger were in the Valley of Tartars they were no longer alive. There was never any doubt in his mind about that. He knew from R.A.F. pilots who had served in Iraq the methods of the Kurdish hillmen with their captives. What had happened was this. In accordance with Biggles’s final instructions in Alexandria Algy had gone to the airport and Bertie had gone to the docks. At the airport the Beechcraft stood in plain view, and Algy was watching Biggles and Ginger to make sure they got safely away when a Rolls pulled up near him and, to his consternation, he saw von Stalhein step out”. In due course, a Douglas D.C. is pulled out and has its tanks filled. Algy finds out from airport employees the men with von Stalhein are Pantenelli and Festwolder. He realises they are going to follow Biggles so he gets a taxi to go and meet Bertie and both them return to the airport. Bertie says they need to get their own machine and go as well, but “not for love or money would anyone allow them to borrow or hire an aircraft”. Whilst at the airport, an Air France liner arrives with Marcel on board. They brief him on the situation and Marcel says he will do the best he can to get them an aircraft, but he is not successful. Whilst he tries, Algy and Bertie cable Air Commodore Raymond back in London requesting authority to requisition an aircraft. They are still at the airport when a Dragon aircraft arrives and too their astonishment Air-Commodore Raymond gets out! The Air-Commodore is angry when he speaks to Algy and Bertie. “What do you fellows thing you’re doing,” he raps out. “I thought you came out here to stop wars, not start them”. Raymond says Lindsay has been to see him and Raymond asks “Where’s Bigglesworth?” Algy replies “He’s somewhere in Iraq, or Persia – to tell the truth, sir, I’m not quite sure where he is. But wherever he is it’s doubtful if he’s still alive. Hebblethwaite (correct spelling by Johns here) was with him”. Raymond says that after seeing Lindsay “I decided it was time I took a hand”. He got a seat on a Comet to South Africa that stopped at Cairo, where he chartered this Dragon aircraft intending to look for them. Algy asks to have the Dragon aircraft and explains why. Raymond says “We must do something about Bigglesworth. He must have been out of his mind to go to this Valley place”. “You know how he is, sir,” protested Algy. “He won’t accept hearsay evidence. To complete his case he wanted to see things for himself”. Raymond says he will ring the company that owns the Dragon to tell them what he is doing and he will also have a word with Sir George Graham, the British Charge d’Affaires in Cairo. “That was how it came about that a rather ancient Dragon arrived, later in the day, over the smouldering ruins of the secret squadron in the Valley of the Tartars. And it may be said here that Algy had some difficulty in finding the place. Indeed, it is unlikely that he would have found it had it not been for the tell-tale smoke”. Seeing what has happened, Raymond says “I think we can abandon hope of seeing any of them alive. Queer that after all these years Bigglesworth and von Stalhein should go out together. All right, Lacey. Head for Mosul”. Algy wants to land but is told “Don’t be ridiculous. What do you think we can do against that mob?”