THE CAMELS ARE COMING
Book First Published on 7th September 1932 - 259 pages
The first three editions had 259 pages and
cost 7 shillings and 6 pence.� Later
editions only had 220 pages (but had a colour frontispiece) and cost 3
shillings and 6 pence.
This book was later reprinted (in part)
as BIGGLES PIONEER AIR FIGHTER � November 1954
� 216 pages
Seven of the stories were originally published in seven issues of
Popular Flying Magazine, from April
1932 until October 1932
These stories was later all published in seventeen parts, with
individual story titles, in The Modern Boy, the
first fifteen parts being in issues 257 to 271 inclusive,
dated 7th January 1933 to 15th
April 1933, and the last two stories being in issues 297 and 298, dated 14th
and 21st October 1933
This contains seventeen short stories and before each there is an
illustration drawn by W.E. Johns. As this is such a rare book I will give a
fairly full summary. The stories are:-
FORWARD (pages 7 to 15) (a short essay by W. E. Johns)
THE WHITE FOKKER (pages 17 to 31)
Click here to see story illustration
The
first ever Biggles story introduces Biggles in the following way, "a
slight, fair haired, good looking lad still in his 'teens, but an acting
Flight-Commander". He has "deep-set hazel eyes" which hold a
"glint of yellow fire". His hands are "small and delicate as a
girl's". The story also introduces us to Major Mullen, the C.O. of
Biggles' Squadron and to MacLaren and Mahoney, two other Flight-Commanders. The
Fokker D.VII of the title shoots down Norman when he is about to land. Various
traps are set to get the Fokker and eventually Biggles shoots it down. This is
the first "kill" we read about for Biggles although we are told in
the story earlier that he has killed "six men during the past month - or
was it a year? - he had forgotten".
(Click to enlarge)
(This story was originally first
published in the April 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Biggles and the White
Fokker" in issue number 257 of "The Modern Boy" dated 7th January 1933
THE PACKET (pages 33 to 47)
Click here to see story illustration
In the
second ever story, Biggles, now promoted to Captain, meets Colonel (later to be
Air Commodore) Raymond for the first time. Raymond asks Biggles to recover a
secret packet of plans hidden by a spy in a rabbit hole in a field inside enemy
territory. Only a pilot of Biggles' skill would be able to land in and take off
from the small field. Two pilots have already died trying. Needless to say,
Biggles recovers the plans, with a little bit of help from MacLaren and
Mahoney.
(This story was originally first
published in the May 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Peril Over
the Line" in issue number 258 of "The Modern Boy" dated 14th January 1933
J-9982 (pages 49 to 61)
Click here to see story illustration
A
German pilot is using a captured Sopworth Camel to
kill unsuspecting British pilots. The story title refers to the number of the
plane. Biggles, MacLaren and Mahoney hunt for the devious plane and eventually
Biggles finds it and shoots it down. Biggles also shoots down a Hanoverana
earlier on in this story and a Fokker just after he has got the rogue Camel.
(This story was originally first
published in the June 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Fighting Mad" in
issue number 259 of "The Modern Boy" dated 21st January 1933
THE BALLOONATICS (pages 63 to 79)
Click here to see story illustration
Air
Commodore Raymond is the first to get 12 bottles of pre-war whisky. However he
offers it to both Biggles and Captain Wilkinson of 287
squadron depending on the success of their attacks on an observation balloon at
Duneville. This is the first story to feature
'Wilks' of 287 squadron. This is also the first story
to name Biggles' squadron as 266. Biggles wins all 12 bottles of whisky by
actually capturing the German balloon. During the attempts he also shoots down
a Fokker Triplane. In later, 1950's reprints such as Biggles
of the Special Air Police, this story has the men risking their lives for bottles of lemonade
(!) as the stories were changed for a younger audience, rather than the adult
audience for which they were originally written. All references to swearing
were removed or changed, as were references to drinking, from all of the
stories that were republished. The changes to this particular story were the
most extreme.
(This story was originally first
published in the July 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "The Duneville
Sausage" in issue number 260 of "The Modern Boy" dated 28th January 1933
THE BLUE DEVIL (pages 81 to 89)
Click here to see story illustration
An all
blue German Albatross has built up a deadly reputation with a clever manoeuvre.
The blue Albatross can turn in an instant, almost pivoting on its wing tip and
shoot the plane that is on its tail. Biggles eventually fights the deadly
German and foils the manoeuvre by doing the unexpected. When the plane turns on
him, he tries to ram it rather than get out of the way and by taking the German
by surprise, he is able to shoot him down.
(This story was originally first
published in the August 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "The Blue Demon" in
issue number 261 of "The Modern Boy" dated 4th February 1933
CAMOUFLAGE (pages 91 to 97)
Click here to see story illustration
The
Germans have a cleverly disguised gun. It is disguised as a church, including a
graveyard and ivy on the walls. Biggles' suspicions are first raised when he
sees the church in a location it has never been in. Everybody denies there is a
church there and when he goes back to check, it has gone. Biggles then hunts
relentlessly for the church and gives the new co-ordinates to the artillery who
pound it out of existence.
This story was later republished as "The Mystery Gun" in
issue number 262 of "The Modern Boy" dated 11th February 1933
THE CARRIER (pages 99 to 109)
Click here to see story illustration
Biggles'
propeller kills a carrier pigeon but Biggles finds a message on the pigeon's
leg. Passing the message straight to Raymond at Intelligence, Biggles is
informed that his M.C. (Military Cross) has come through. Of more concern to
Biggles though, is the fact that the message, when decoded, turns out to be
from a British spy. The spy is trapped in a German field and is being hunted
down by dogs. Intelligence decide he will have to be
left to his fate. Biggles is having none of that and sets off to rescue him,
only to be brought down by 'archie' and crash in the German trenches! Luckily
they have just been taken by the Royal Scots.
This story was later republished as "Man Hunt in the Air"
in issue number 263 of "The Modern Boy" dated 18th February 1933
SPADS AND SPANDAUS (pages 111 to 122)
Click here to see story illustration
After
Biggles meets some over-confident American pilots, he suggests that 266 and 287
Squadron join together to offer some protection for the Americans when they fly
over the lines the following day. This is organised and results in a major air
battle with the Germans. Biggles shoots down an Albatross before his guns jam.
It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the story Wilkinson tells
the Americans "his name's Bigglesworth, officially, he's shot down twelve
Huns and five balloons, but to my certain knowledge he's got several
more".
This story was later republished as "The Flying Circus" in
issue number 264 of "The Modern Boy" dated 25th February 1933
THE ZONE CALL (pages 125 to 138)
Click here to see story illustration
Biggles
forces an unarmed Pfalz pilot to land and captures him. The man later gives
information whilst drunk to Air Intelligence, that
leads them to organise a raid on a new German Airfield. Biggles isn't so easily
fooled and finds a torn part of a secret order in the German's plane. Biggles
then searches in the opposite direction to the information given and finds the
German Army massing soldiers in a wood. He uses a helpful R.E. 8 pilot and
observer to send out a "zone call". This is a concentrated fire by
all British artillery in the area on one spot (and costs in the region of
�10,000 a minute in shells!). The wood is pounded and the German troops are
forced to withdraw so this foils the potential German attack.
This story was later republished as "Secret Orders" in
issue number 265 of "The Modern Boy" dated 4th March 1933
THE DECOY (pages 141 to 153)
Click here to see story illustration
Batson,
from Biggles' flight, is killed in a trap when he goes down to attack a lone
German Rumpler. The trap is that a number of German Albatross aircraft are
waiting high above and fall on the victim as he approaches the Rumpler. Biggles
takes over Batson's plane and goes all out to get the plane responsible. It
takes a while for him to find it. In the meantime, we are told "he fought
many battles and, although he hardly bothered to confirm his victories, his
score mounted rapidly". One morning, another pilot tips off Biggles as to
where the Rumpler is. Biggles flies higher than the waiting German Albatrosses
and dives straight through them, getting the Rumpler in one burst at the end of
the dive. Two Albatrosses collide and are also destroyed. The smashed aeroplane
propeller of the Rumpler is placed on "Batty's"
grave.
This story was later republished as "The Decoy" in issue
number 266 of "The Modern Boy" dated 11th March 1933
THE BOOB (pages 155 to 167)
Click here to see story illustration
Biggles
receives a letter from "an elderly female relative" to say that she
has pulled strings to get his cousin, whose Christian names are Algernon
Montgomery, into 266 Squadron. This is of course, the first appearance of Algy,
Biggles' long time friend who was to appear in many
stories over the years. Interestingly his surname is not given in the story.
Algy is described as having a face "which wore a permanent expression of
surprise" and "was a mass of freckles". Biggles initially gives
Algy the cold shoulder and insists on being called Captain Bigglesworth.
Biggles tells Algy all the important things he needs to know about flying over
the Western Front and takes him for his first ever trip over the lines. Algy
chases after some German planes against orders and soon Biggles loses him.
Biggles returns to base believing Algy must have been killed but Algy returns
and claims to have got lucky and shot down a German! Checking, Biggles finds a
charred wreck at the corner of Mossyface Wood (an
interesting choice of name there by the author, as 'Mossyface' was his first ever book). On their next trip over the lines,
Biggles and Algy have an encounter with some Fokkers and Algy flies at the
Germans like a mad dog, without firing any bullets. Biggles later finds out
that Algy's gun had jammed, yet he stuck it out and
didn't flee. "You'll do, kid" says Biggles, "and you can call me
Biggles".
(This story was originally first
published in the September 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "The Boob" in issue
number 267 of "The Modern Boy" dated 18th March 1933
This story was then later re-written as "Bertie the Boob"
with Algy changed to �Bertram Montgomery� and published in the �Modern Boy�s Annual 1940�
THE BATTLE OF FLOWERS (pages 169 to 177)
Click here to see story illustration
266 Squadron
are attacked and bombed at their own aerodrome, by a
German Hannoverana bomber, and Algy's carefully
prepared garden, containing Sunflowers, is destroyed. At 3.30 am the following
morning, Algy sets off alone to take revenge by bombing Aerodrome 29 where, it
is believed, the German plane came from. Biggles immediately takes two pilots
with him and flies over to save Algy. Biggles shoots up a German aeroplane
trying to take off and causes it to crash and they manage to extract Algy from
the scene. It turns out that Algy wasn't bombing the German hangers, but just
their flower beds!
(This story was originally first
published in the October 1932 edition of Popular Flying Magazine � click here for more details)
This story was later republished as "Battle of Flowers" in
issue number 268 of "The Modern Boy" dated 25th March 1933
THE BOMBER (pages 179 to 190)
Click here to see story illustration
Biggles
attacks a heavily defended new German bomber and finds that it has no blind
spots. He is shot at from every approach angle and one bullet cuts his ignition
lead, causing his Bentley Rotary engine to cut out. Biggles is able to glide
down and make a landing at 287 Squadron's aerodrome. Wilks tells Biggles the
plane is a Friedrichshafen and two pilots have been killed already, trying to
attack it. Biggles decides to attack the German plane under the nacelle using a
Lewis gun, which fires directly upwards, through his centre section. After an
initial failed attempt, Biggles shoots the German pilot and the German observer
has to try to land the bomber but the plane crashes during the forced landing.
This story was later republished as "The Flying Arsenal"
in issue number 269 of "The Modern Boy" dated 1st April 1933
ON LEAVE (pages 193 to 208)
Click here to see story illustration
Biggles
is astonished to see that he is to be posted to "Home Establishment".
In order to have the order withdrawn he agrees to take leave and in fact, the
posting was a trick to force Biggles to take leave. Flying back to the UK in a
Camel, we are told that Biggles arrives home only to discover the house closed
and a friend of the family tells him that his father and brother, his only living
relations, were in the Army and "somewhere in France". After meeting
with Dick Harboard, his father's greatest friend and
associate, Biggles is invited to Dick's house in the country. Attending the
house in "mufti" (civilian clothes), Biggles is treated
disrespectfully by other guests. When Biggles hears of two German Seaplanes
bombing Ramsgate, Biggles immediately goes to Lympne
to get his Camel and shoots them both down. He is able to return to the house
before the other guests return from a shooting trip. When Dick Harboard tells Biggles he shouldn't be surprised if he got
the D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order) for his actions, the other guests
realise that Biggles is not the coward they thought he was. (Interestingly,
Johns refers to Dick Harboard by the name of Harcourt
later in the story).
This story was later republished as "The White Feather" in
issue number 270 of "The Modern Boy" dated 8th April 1933
FOG! (pages 211 to 224)
Click here to see story illustration
On his
way back to 266 Squadron in France, flying from England, Biggles gets lost in
fog and has to land to find out where he is. Biggles is shocked to discover he
has landed by a secret camouflaged German gas supply dump. Here he accidentally
meets a spy who refers to himself only by the number "2742". Biggles
returns to his Camel and flies away as the fog lifts. He then has to survive
heavy 'archie' fire before shooting down a Fokker triplane and returning to his
Squadron in Maranique. Biggles makes out a report to
Headquarters to report the whereabouts of the Gas dump and credits the find to
the spy - although in an unfortunate error in the book, he credits it to
"2792"!
This story was later republished as "Lost in the Sky" in
issue number 271 of "The Modern Boy" dated 15th April 1933
AFFAIRE DE COEUR (pages 227 to 243)
Click here to see story illustration
This
is one of the most well known of Biggles' stories,
where he meets the love of his life, Marie Janis. When his magneto shorts out,
after picking up a new Camel from the Aircraft Park, Biggles makes a forced
landing near Clarmes. At a nearby house he meets "a vision of blonde
loveliness wrapped up in blue silk, smiling at him". "You were
looking for me, perhaps?" she asks him, to which he replies,
"Mademoiselle, I've been looking for you all my life". Over the next
week, their romance blossoms and Marie explains that her father is over the
other side of the German lines and she has not been able to contact him to tell
him that his wife, her mother, is dead. Biggles offers to drop a message and
this is what he does, at a place called Chateau Boreau.
Unbeknown to Biggles however, Air Intelligence is watching his every move and
they substitute the letter for another. Biggles drops in at 287 Squadron and
then drives out to Marie Janis' house. German bombers fly over and bomb the
house. Biggles is stopped from going into the house and told that the message
he was to deliver for Marie contained a detailed map setting out how to bomb
266 Squadron aerodrome. Air Intelligence staff had
swapped the map for one of the house so that the Germans had bombed the wrong
target. Marie Janis was a spy! Biggles returns to his aerodrome, desolate, but
finds a letter from Marie inviting him to a meeting at the time that 266 was to have been bombed. Marie had wanted to save him.
Another letter arrives, explaining that she loves him, but as he now knows she
is a spy they must part. "We shall meet again" she says
........ and they do, in the 1965 book BIGGLES
LOOKS BACK
This story was later republished as "Biggles Falls in
Love!" in issue number 297 of "The Modern Boy" dated 14th October 1933
THE LAST SHOW (pages 245 to 259)
Click here to see story illustration
Following
his affair with Marie Janis, Biggles begins to drink heavily. He's drinking
half a bottle of whisky in the morning, before daylight, and flying with such
disregard of the consequences that it is clear he will soon be killed. Major
Mullen, the C.O., decides Biggles has to be sent home and finds a reason to do
so when a new officer is required to form a new Squadron of Snipes back in
England, before bringing them over to France. The C.O. speaks to both Mahoney
and McLaren, the other flight leaders, who are more senior to Biggles, for
their views and they both agree that Biggles should have the post. The C.O.
explains that he will be going to Wing Command shortly and one of them will
have to take over his job in any event. Meanwhile, Biggles flies over Chateau Boreau, where he dropped Marie's message and thinks he sees
her in the grounds. Orders are posted. Captain Bigglesworth M.C. is promoted to
Major from 10th November 1918 and sent to command 319 Squadron from 11th
November 1918. Biggles asks to do one final "show" with 266 Squadron.
It turns out to be escorting bombers on two raids. The morning target will be Aerodrome
27 and the afternoon target will be Chateau Boreau!
The morning raid results in a massive dogfight and an attack by up to 30 German
planes. Biggles shoots down a Fokker, his last "kill" of the war,
before he himself is shot down in a hail of lead. A wounded Biggles crashes and
escapes from his Camel before it bursts into flames.
Biggles is captured and after some initial rough treatment, a German Officer
tells him an Armistice was signed half an hour ago, the war is over. The
afternoon raid will never take place.
This story was later republished as "Biggles' Last Fight!"
in issue number 298 of "The Modern Boy" dated 21st October 1933
The dust cover of the book shows three Sopwith Camels and was
painted by Howard Leigh (who was effectively W. E. Johns� brother-in-law)
W.E. Johns did all the internal pen and ink illustrations himself
CLICK
HERE TO SEE FULL DETAILS ABOUT THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS BOOK
The Camels are Coming
Publication Details - published by John Hamilton
Dustjacket
Titlepage of the first
edition. �The first edition did not have a frontispiece
Frontispiece of the fourth edition onwards - NB - The first three
editions did NOT have a frontispiece.�
The colour frontispiece first appeared in the fourth edition
(The colour frontispiece illustrates a scene from the story �The
Bomber�.� The scene is on page 181 of the
FIRST edition but page 158 of the FOURTH edition (which was the first edition
to have the colour frontispiece).
Click on the above to see them in more detail