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Worrals #1
Worrals of the W.A.A.F.
A Girl Flyer!
Captain W.E. Johns whose "Biggles" books have received so enthusiastic a welcome from boys of all ages, has created in 'Worrals of the W.A.A.F.' a character which is at once the envy and delight of every girl.
Worrals and her friend Frecks are two capable and adventurous members of the W.A.A.F. An unexpected opportunity to ferry a plane begins a series of thrilling discoveries, and they find themselves on the trail of an enemy spy gang operating near their aerodrome. After capture, rescue, and exciting chases the spies are outwitted through the girls' heroism and quick wits.
Authentic air force detail makes this a fascinating and unusual tale, and Worrals should become as popular and well-loved as her brother adventurer Biggles..
Captain W.E. Johns whose "Biggles" books have received so enthusiastic a welcome from boys of all ages, has created in 'Worrals of the W.A.A.F.' a character which is at once the envy and delight of every girl.
Worrals and her friend Frecks are two capable and adventurous members of the W.A.A.F. An unexpected opportunity to ferry a plane begins a series of thrilling discoveries, and they find themselves on the trail of an enemy spy gang operating near their aerodrome. After capture, rescue, and exciting chases the spies are outwitted through the girls' heroism and quick wits.
Authentic air force detail makes this a fascinating and unusual tale, and Worrals should become as popular and well-loved as her brother adventurer Biggles..
220 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1941
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
W.E. Johns
613 books113 followersInvariably known as Captain W.E. Johns, William Earl Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. He had a younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, who was born on 24 October 1895.
He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.
In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.
On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.
With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.
He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.
He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended.
He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.
In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.
On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.
With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.
He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.
He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 9, 2014
I've heard a lot about Worrals over the years. It's a title I've sort of brushed into contact with, having read a lot of Girlsown, and so, when I received an email telling me that it was being reprinted by IndieBooks Limited and would I like to review a copy, my answer was a very positive yes.
The titular Worrals, Joan Worralson, is a pilot in the WAAF. Worrals and her best friend 'Frecks' are rather lovely creations. Vivid, hearty and hugely patriotic, they're a defiant joy. I don't think I've read much that teenage / children's fiction which acknowledges the role of fighting women during the second world war (Code Name Verity etc aside) so Worrals is a much welcome addition to the canon.
Worrals of the WAAF is the debut in the series and it features Worrals and Frecks solving Mysterious Goings On Involving The Enemy. I was really surprised at just how much is packed into this book - there's so much plot. Everything happens and then, just to make sure that you're paying attention, Johns throws a little more in to make sure that you won't even think about stopping reading. It is very good adventure writing and it's undoubtedly hooky.
However, there a few parts in Johns' work which don't translate superbly well to modern audiences. His sentences are quite complicated in parts and require some parsing: "Drop she dare not, for fear she should slip from the roof of the car and injure herself on the concrete floor". I'd recommend this for confident readers for that reason or for readers who won't be intimidated by such stylistic tics. One thing that is worthwhile noting is that this new edition is unabridged and that's something I hugely welcome. Johns' text is sporadically dense (as is this entire paragraph, ha!), but it's a stylistic that whilst it occasionally irritates, does not detract (and, to be honest, cannot detract) from this lovely, pacy, adventurous story.
The titular Worrals, Joan Worralson, is a pilot in the WAAF. Worrals and her best friend 'Frecks' are rather lovely creations. Vivid, hearty and hugely patriotic, they're a defiant joy. I don't think I've read much that teenage / children's fiction which acknowledges the role of fighting women during the second world war (Code Name Verity etc aside) so Worrals is a much welcome addition to the canon.
Worrals of the WAAF is the debut in the series and it features Worrals and Frecks solving Mysterious Goings On Involving The Enemy. I was really surprised at just how much is packed into this book - there's so much plot. Everything happens and then, just to make sure that you're paying attention, Johns throws a little more in to make sure that you won't even think about stopping reading. It is very good adventure writing and it's undoubtedly hooky.
However, there a few parts in Johns' work which don't translate superbly well to modern audiences. His sentences are quite complicated in parts and require some parsing: "Drop she dare not, for fear she should slip from the roof of the car and injure herself on the concrete floor". I'd recommend this for confident readers for that reason or for readers who won't be intimidated by such stylistic tics. One thing that is worthwhile noting is that this new edition is unabridged and that's something I hugely welcome. Johns' text is sporadically dense (as is this entire paragraph, ha!), but it's a stylistic that whilst it occasionally irritates, does not detract (and, to be honest, cannot detract) from this lovely, pacy, adventurous story.
February 26, 2023
Appealing characters and page-turning plot.
The antagonists are cartoonish villains. I wish W.E. Johns would give Worrals one of the three-dimensional antagonists that Biggles sometimes faces.
The antagonists are cartoonish villains. I wish W.E. Johns would give Worrals one of the three-dimensional antagonists that Biggles sometimes faces.
August 26, 2024
I do love the fact that each Biggles book takes him on a new adventure to a new country - that's what makes the 96-book series so brilliant. But it does mean we don't get to experience the war on home turf, there's no tackling villains and conspiracies in the English countryside. Worrals of the W.A.A.F. scratches that itch! This brilliant adventure shows a different part of the war - one that is no less perilous. Biggles and Algy, sorry I mean Worrals and Frecks, are great protagonists and bounce from scrape to scrape in this adventure. A brilliant opener for a series. 4 stars.
July 28, 2025
I was so involved haha. It is a really nice book and it is quick to read. I recommend!
September 14, 2023
What a cracker of a story! I'm finding I really love these Worrals books. They are slightly subversive for the time frame they were written, when it was clearly believed by all that "girls" couldn't do the work of "boys". Worrals, and her sidekick "Frecks" not only get undermined by this antiquated societal belief, but occasionally they have self-doubts which makes them rather endearing and human. Biggles/Ginger/Bertie and Algie are practically machines, and seem to rarely feel any type of fear, but Worrals and Fecks are ordinary human beings and prone to fear and doubt now than them. I think this makes them more relatable.
Worrals is a particularly brave youth, and ploughs her way through the dangers that await them at every turn of the page. She drags a sometimes reluctant Fecks through the jaws of eminent danger, and by hook or by crook they brainstorm their way out of near scrapes.
I think it is rather a brilliant book and that it sent a strong message to girls back in wartimes.
Johns certainly knew how to tell a good yarn!
Worrals is a particularly brave youth, and ploughs her way through the dangers that await them at every turn of the page. She drags a sometimes reluctant Fecks through the jaws of eminent danger, and by hook or by crook they brainstorm their way out of near scrapes.
I think it is rather a brilliant book and that it sent a strong message to girls back in wartimes.
Johns certainly knew how to tell a good yarn!
August 19, 2018
Its possible my low expectations have resulted in this high mark but i'm not sure. Its a very solid spy-thriller. With a few touches of women vs male authority. I actually would have preferred if Worrals was a little older as being 18 lends an extra YA element to proceedings too, which was unnecessary.
These kind of spy adventures can be very convoluted and messy like the awful Thirty-Nine Steps. But this one is very solid and logical. Even when things go wrong, its never because of bad decisions, or at least not because of stupid decisions.
Its fast paced and short tale with very likable characters. There is one bit near the end where i felt it introduced too many new elements and we had a bit of an information dump but it did lead to some nice dramatic scenes.
Far better than the one biggles book i read as a kid :) .
These kind of spy adventures can be very convoluted and messy like the awful Thirty-Nine Steps. But this one is very solid and logical. Even when things go wrong, its never because of bad decisions, or at least not because of stupid decisions.
Its fast paced and short tale with very likable characters. There is one bit near the end where i felt it introduced too many new elements and we had a bit of an information dump but it did lead to some nice dramatic scenes.
Far better than the one biggles book i read as a kid :) .
November 13, 2016
I should re-read Worrals more often. She is simply the very, very best ever. The plot in this one is fairly cracking too.
April 15, 2022
Plucky girls fly airplanes, discover spies, save the day! I understand these were written as recruitment works for the WAAF -- great fun to read, if not great literature.
February 8, 2025
Flight Officer Joan Worralson, Worrals to her friends, sat on an oil drum at her air force station and remarked to her friend Betty Lovell, known as Frecks, and declared 'The fact is, there is a limit to the number of times one can take up a lightplane and fly it to the same place without getting bored.' At just turned 18 years old, she had been taking Tiger Moths back to the makers for reconditioning four or five times a week for three months; 'It's about as exciting as pedalling a pushbike along an arterial road,' she stated.
But things were about to change when Squadron Leader MacNavish was in difficulties getting an airman to fly a much larger Reliant to the repair shop, he, rather reluctantly because of her young age and experience, turned to Worrals to make the 10-minute flight. Worrals readily agreed providing that she could take Freckles along as a co-pilot. This was agreed and off they set on what was supposed to be a routine short flight.
However, on the way a call went out to all aircraft when what seemed to be an enemy plane had been spotted;;;;;;. And the message was 'This aircraft must be stopped at all costs.' Worrals had just spotted a mysterious aircraft in the clouds so she set out to investigate and when she spotted the plane again she carried out the orders to the letter. But she could find no trace of a downed aircraft when she searched.
So on return to her base she decided that on her weekend off the following day she would spend her time searching. And that is when she got inveigled into investigating an issue that involved enemy agents spying on British aircraft bases and other targets. She and Freckles set about trying to discover what was going on but they got heavily involved in the whole network of spies that resulted in some harrowing moments, incarceration and death threats.
But, despite their narrow escapes they managed to survive and eventually uncover the nest of spies and the activities they were involved in before returning to base to be available for other such services at a later date.
But things were about to change when Squadron Leader MacNavish was in difficulties getting an airman to fly a much larger Reliant to the repair shop, he, rather reluctantly because of her young age and experience, turned to Worrals to make the 10-minute flight. Worrals readily agreed providing that she could take Freckles along as a co-pilot. This was agreed and off they set on what was supposed to be a routine short flight.
However, on the way a call went out to all aircraft when what seemed to be an enemy plane had been spotted;;;;;;. And the message was 'This aircraft must be stopped at all costs.' Worrals had just spotted a mysterious aircraft in the clouds so she set out to investigate and when she spotted the plane again she carried out the orders to the letter. But she could find no trace of a downed aircraft when she searched.
So on return to her base she decided that on her weekend off the following day she would spend her time searching. And that is when she got inveigled into investigating an issue that involved enemy agents spying on British aircraft bases and other targets. She and Freckles set about trying to discover what was going on but they got heavily involved in the whole network of spies that resulted in some harrowing moments, incarceration and death threats.
But, despite their narrow escapes they managed to survive and eventually uncover the nest of spies and the activities they were involved in before returning to base to be available for other such services at a later date.
January 7, 2026
An adult Enid Blyton-esque book
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews