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rachelmanija Nov. 30th, 2022 12:07 pm)
rachelmanija Nov. 30th, 2022 12:07 pm)"I'm no lover of a camel."
This WWII adventure has a remarkable introduction by the author in which he says that most of Biggles' exploits are based on real wartime incidents, and if anything have been toned down:
Again, I should blush to dress my hero, after he had been forced to land on the wrong side of the lines, in girls' clothes, and allow him to be pestered by the unwelcome attentions of German officers for weeks before making his escape. The officer who resorted to that romantic method of escape is now in business in London. In business as WHAT?
Biggles and his crew have been sent to the desert to figure out why British planes have been disappearing while flying over that area. Adventure ensues.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because there's a number of really fun twists and unexpected incidents. So above the cut, I will only say that there are fantastic aerial combat sequences (Johns hopefully suggests in the introduction that perhaps Biggles' combat techniques will be helpful to readers who end up in the cockpit of a fighting aeroplane), daring rescues, daring escapes, getting lost in the desert without water, and a camel chase. As always, Johns never fails to lean into his premise; this book has absolutely everything you could possibly want from a desert-set WWII adventure.
When I picked this book up I had thought it was the one where Biggles gets in a dogfight while he has malaria, but it's actually the one where he gets in a dogfight while he has a concussion and almost passes out in the middle of it. It's a great sequence.
There is an AMAZING sequence in which a captured Nazi perfidiously bashes one of the English pilots over the head and steals Ginger's plane. Meanwhile, Biggles and a bunch of the other pilots are stuck out in the desert, having been shot down. They see Ginger's plane fly in, they think to the rescue, only to watch helplessly as a German ace shoots it down! Not knowing a Nazi was flying it, they think Ginger is dead! Biggles then ends up stealing a German Messerschmidt and takes off in it, only for Ginger to assume he's a Nazi and shoot him down!
An anonymous friend sent me this with the following delightful dad joke:
Did you know that the propeller on a small plane is actually there to keep the pilot cool? Just watch, when it stops spinning the pilot will start sweating like crazy.
Thank you, anonymous friend!
This WWII adventure has a remarkable introduction by the author in which he says that most of Biggles' exploits are based on real wartime incidents, and if anything have been toned down:
Again, I should blush to dress my hero, after he had been forced to land on the wrong side of the lines, in girls' clothes, and allow him to be pestered by the unwelcome attentions of German officers for weeks before making his escape. The officer who resorted to that romantic method of escape is now in business in London. In business as WHAT?
Biggles and his crew have been sent to the desert to figure out why British planes have been disappearing while flying over that area. Adventure ensues.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because there's a number of really fun twists and unexpected incidents. So above the cut, I will only say that there are fantastic aerial combat sequences (Johns hopefully suggests in the introduction that perhaps Biggles' combat techniques will be helpful to readers who end up in the cockpit of a fighting aeroplane), daring rescues, daring escapes, getting lost in the desert without water, and a camel chase. As always, Johns never fails to lean into his premise; this book has absolutely everything you could possibly want from a desert-set WWII adventure.
When I picked this book up I had thought it was the one where Biggles gets in a dogfight while he has malaria, but it's actually the one where he gets in a dogfight while he has a concussion and almost passes out in the middle of it. It's a great sequence.
There is an AMAZING sequence in which a captured Nazi perfidiously bashes one of the English pilots over the head and steals Ginger's plane. Meanwhile, Biggles and a bunch of the other pilots are stuck out in the desert, having been shot down. They see Ginger's plane fly in, they think to the rescue, only to watch helplessly as a German ace shoots it down! Not knowing a Nazi was flying it, they think Ginger is dead! Biggles then ends up stealing a German Messerschmidt and takes off in it, only for Ginger to assume he's a Nazi and shoot him down!
An anonymous friend sent me this with the following delightful dad joke:
Did you know that the propeller on a small plane is actually there to keep the pilot cool? Just watch, when it stops spinning the pilot will start sweating like crazy.
Thank you, anonymous friend!
