Biggles flies at bedtime!

The "Biggles" (christened James Bigglesworth) series of books were published by Captain WE Johns between 1932 and 1970 (two years after his death). These were my staple literary diet between ages about 11-13 (until displaced following the impact of reading Lord of the Rings); so I have considerable affection for them. 

Biggles was an aviator, and later an 'air police' adventurer, and I followed him from his beginnings in the First World War as a Sopwith Camel pilot, through the Second World War (when he flew Spitfires). 

Indeed, I believe Biggles was the only fighter pilot who saw active service in both wars [not actually true - see comments below], a fact which was helped by the fact he never got any older. I then continued on with his later (Indiana Jones-type) international missions, of a more crime-fighting nature. 

Of course, I not not read all the Biggles books, nor even half of them - because there were apparently nearly 100 novels! - but I did read the first (The Camels are Coming, 1932) and very nearly the last (Biggles and the Little Green God, 1969)... essentially I read everything I could find in the library, borrow from friends, afford to buy, or got as presents.  

Recently, I bought a trio of Biggles's earliest WWI novels at a bargain price, from a secondhand bookshop, because my wife said she would not mind trying one as our bedtime reading-aloud book. 

This may sound a strange choice for a married couple; but we have found that childrens' books tend to read aloud better, and their short chapters fit with the relatively short timescale before sleep supervenes. 

Also my wife has become interested-in, and knowledgeable-about, the history of the two world wars over the past several years - albeit remaining shockingly ignorant of what I regard as their most interesting aspect: the aeroplanes! 

(As an extreme example: she once mixed-up the identifications of a Spitfire and a Lancaster on a jigsaw puzzle. Yes, I know...!)

We started with The Camels are Coming. This derives from a series of short stories published in childrens' magazines of the mid-war era. 

WE Johns was himself a WWI pilot; and he describes in the introduction that he is using Biggles and his friends as the fictional protagonists of what were real incidents and adventures. Some of which happened to him; but most of were taken from accounts of other pilots he knew - or from gossip among the pilots.  

Consequently, the book has considerable documentary interest. For instance, as well has having a lot about the 'machines' (aircraft); it is written using uncompromising RFC (Royal Flying Corps) slang. For instance, anti-aircraft fire is 'archie', observation balloons are 'sausages', the Fokker Triplanes are called 'tripehounds', and of course the Germans are usually 'Huns'. 

This, either on the assumption that their boy readers would already know this - or that they would be astute enough to learn as they read. My modern edition has numerous footnotes to explain these terms; but as a kid, I simply picked-up their meanings from context. 

I found myself becoming fascinated all over again by the extraordinary world of the pilots of that era; and my wife too got engaged by all this. Thus we moved-on to read Biggles Learns to Fly covering our hero's early years, and are currently working-through Biggles of the Camel Squadron which covers the end of the war

Indeed I got so interested that I read several real pilot's memoirs - both from the first and the second wars; and indeed, these kinds of books had also formed a staple of my early teen reading: I recall reading the accounts of or by Douglas Bader, Ginger Lacey, and 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham the night fighter pilot.

(...Whose exploits British propaganda explained as due to eating plenty of carrots, which they said helped Cunningham to see in the dark. In truth; his success was made possible by secret on-board radar. But carrots were not rationed and could be grown anywhere - so the government wanted to encourage their consumption.) 

People die in these books, and quite frequently. This was a war, of course, and the RFC pilots had a staggering high mortality rate - especially in their first weeks; mostly due to very unreliable 'machines' and the gross lack of training. 

But in addition, at some points, almost half the pilots were killed in training - even before going to The Front. They would be sent into battle after only a few hours of solo flying - which is rather like someone who has just passed their driving test participating in a Formula One Grand Prix. 

Experienced pilots lived much longer; but even so most of the best WWI 'aces' of both sides (with many 'kills' to their credit) were sooner or later shot-down, or died from a machine malfunction. For instance even 'The Red Baron' von Richthofen - with 80 victories - was killed. This happened during a dogfight with Canadian airmen (but who actually fired the fatal bullet that penetrated his chest is unsure). 

Part of it was that the WWI aircraft were slow especially the two-men machines from early in the war that c. 70 mph was common (albeit this had been doubled in the best fighters from 1918). So they were very vulnerable to machine-gun fire - or, when flying low, even to rifle fire from ground troops. 

The pilots had no parachutes - and very little effort was made to develop suitable parachutes. 

Indeed, (as happened again with Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe in WWII) the authorities took a shockingly long time to learn that good pilots were a precious and rate-limiting 'commodity'; and cost far more than aircraft.    

So, our Biggles experiment has proved a major success! I can now see that the books are of a modest literary quality; and that Biggles himself is a rather unappealing character - because he tends to be very irritable and - under stress - violently bad tempered. He is also prone to making sarcastic and derogatory comments. 

But Biggles is surrounded by rather more genial chaps (and they certainly are 'chaps' - officers from the upper classes) such as his cousin and wing-man, Algy and his frenemy 'Wilks' Wilkinson. 

I liked Henry 'The Professor' and maths expert - but he seems, at this point, to have 'bought it' and 'gone West' - i.e. died.

But of course Biggles is brave and loyal, and a top-notch pilot who shoots down vast numbers of enemy 'machines'; so none of that really matters!