Biggles - Air Commodore

Biggles #12

by W.E. Johns

1963. This Edition. 158 pages. Paperback book with pictorial cover. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Paper cover has mild edge-wear with light rubbing and creasing. Some light marking and tanning.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction, Historical

255 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1937

About the author

Invariably 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.

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a bunch of kids' books, Johns never shys away from depicting gory violence or the horrors of war. The villains in this stoy (the country is never named only hinted at) commit horendous atrocities which set them up as a formidable foe and a good match for Biggles and co. There are some great set pieces, locations, encounters with dangerous beasts (a trope that is becoming a mainstay) and a brilliant reveal at the end. I loved it - 5 stars.

[Sem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd planned to be more generous because I liked the setting but Ginger being chased across a rocky islet by two octopuses killed it for me. Apologies if that's a spoiler but anyone familiar with these books knows that Biggles should never leave Ginger alone. Attacked by man-eating cephalopods though.... That's a new one. If the antagonist had been [von Stalhein] other than shadowy I might have warmed to it in spite of the tentacles.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

B08 Love the encounter with the Octopus!
It is one of the first stories, where the author depict some of the responsibilities as a commanding officer. The burden when thing go not as planned, and lives are lost.

[Daniel Bratell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can octopuses chase humans over land? I don't think so, but W. E. Johns thought they could. This book, published 1937, takes place as world tension is increasing and someone is secretly sinking British ships east of India. Very little flying. Mostly walking around in jungles.

[Rosie]

in future i will definitely be reading the red fox 'and the secret mission' version of this text because i have to imagine it removes all the racial slurs and retains the shark and giant decapods and corpse nests

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic Biggles adventure with lots of action and excitement.

[Gareth Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book as always from W.E.Johns. Some real twists and turns through out. Great read!

[Brian Gormley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice easy read. An interesting view of the relationship between Japan and the British empire before the war. Comfort read material.

[Ian Laird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biggles stories often follow a formula, which goes like this.

Biggles and his comrades are idly passing the time of day when adventure beckons, usually at the behest of the ubiquitous Colonel Raymond, here ensconced in Scotland Yard, who presents Biggles’ crew with an urgent problem, of international importance, which can only be tackled by men of their particular talents and experience, whereupon which they find themselves in foreign climes duly equipped with suitable aircraft, immediately tangle with the enemy, trading blows, often being captured or trapped, and while gang members often end up facing separate perils they always manage to engineer a satisfying triumph often with a lot of noise.

This adventure follows the pattern, though it’s a little more cumbersome than usual.

While there are some references to the RFC and 266 Squadron, dating back to the Great War, it’s a little hard to tell exactly when the story is set, but the mid to late 1930s seem likely; war clouds are gathering. Biggles and his mates are flying a twin engined amphibian bi-plane, (such aircraft were still in service then), the aircraft constructed in such a way as to allow Ginger to grab a machine gun from the cabin and deploy it in the open air, in such a way that he can point the weapon at an attacking fighter and use it with deadly effect.

Biggles, Algy and Ginger find themselves in the Bay of Bengal searching for the villains who are sinking ships carrying British arms. Through clever deduction based on years of combat experience, plus logic and perceptiveness, which are also characteristic of our hero, Biggles concludes a submarine must be involved, it needs a base, remote and difficult to find, but close enough to be within range of the freighters it is targeting. Biggles isolates the only possible place for a submarine base and indeed he happens upon it – a big subterranean cave accessible only at low tide.

Conveniently, the cave also contains the means by which the enemy may be comprehensively destroyed. In the process Ginger manages to have a battle with a cantankerous giant octopus, a ‘decapod’ annoyed at having its territory invaded. A remarkable creature, of which I have never heard, it has designs on Ginger’s inflatable boat and later on Ginger himself. It manages to travel on land and like many creatures encountered in Biggles’ stories is a monster which must be hunted down, subdued or destroyed.

At no stage is the enemy identified by name. It could be China, perhaps Japan, or possibly some sort of mixed group, because they have a submarine and number among them renegade Germans unhappy with the result of World War One. This same story line is fully developed in one of my absolute favourite Biggles adventures, Biggles' Second Case; a renegade U-boat Commander, dissatisfied with the result of World War Two, sets up a base on a cold remote island in the South Indian Ocean, to go raiding.

The title of Air Commodore comes about because while Biggles is the ideal man for a mission requiring aviators to work with a British destroyer and a freighter as well as the RAF. He needs the rank to take command of the mission and indeed he is almost high-handed in his insistence on being given the authority to command.

The tale has elements I enjoy in Biggles books: daring do, an air battle, imperilment and a sea monster.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reviewing the series as a whole, rather than the books individually
The Biggles series is great adventure fiction: we get high stakes, aerial action (in most of the books), and a hero who is endlessly loyal, competent, and calm under pressure.

I love the dogfights, recon missions, and wartime scenarios.

Where the series falls short is character depth. Some attitudes and simplifications reflect the period in which the books were written. There are very definitely dated elements, but considering the era the books were written - overall the series performs well. More than a few of the stories defy plausibility, but who doesn't love to curl up with a good adventure book or 10?

“Never say die.”

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meerdere schepen zijn gezonken, allen vervoerden zij munitie of andere militaire voorraden. Wat de reden van het zinken is, blijft lange tijd ongewis, tot Biggles er achter komt dat iedere SOS van de schepen hetzelfde foutje bevat.

[Salome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another operation in the wilderness, where not only the gansters are after Biggles and his friends, but also the nature itself. And one very noisy corpse.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful foray into another exotic location, detailed with W.E. Johns own style. Some dark humor included for good measure!!

[Micah Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's nice to see Biggles in charge of a whole operation again, rather than just a private adventure.

[Piumie de Silva]

It's always great to read a Biggles story!