Biggles Foreign Legionnaire

Biggles #50

by W.E. Johns

Biggles and Ginger join the Foreign Legion as part of an undercover operation for the International Police Commission. Their brief is to expose the workings of a sinister organisation sabotaging all peaceful settlements achieved by war-faring nations. Biggles takes his life into his own hands by joining one of the most toughest military forces in the world when he realises the price of global peace is at stake.

Genres: Adventure, Aviation, Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

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

[Rosie]

there's a real joy to biggles telling von stalhein he doesn't like him to his face, knowing exactly how many times biggles has done his two page monologue about how great he is whenever algy opens his mouth on the subject

[Andy Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A traditional boys' own tale of chaps using daring do to get out of sticky situations with some nice settings and set pieces, particularly the early part in North Africa.

[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.”

[Ben Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found that many of the detective stories were getting a bit boring so when I got a copy of this and read it I thoroughly enjoyed it and it made up for the fact that some of the other post war stories of Biggles and Co were a little boring.

I thought that Van Stalhein in this was exceptional and just highlighted the difference between him and Biggles and their methods of doing things. Definitely worth a read. Out of the 98 Biggles books I have 52 in my collection and can safely say that I think there are only about four that I really want so I can safely say that this, out of all I have read, is one of the better ones.

BV

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

(First edition, 1954, £2. Thank you, Red Cross shop!)

A postwar outing for Biggles, who takes leave from the Air Police to follow up a lead privately. Someone is recruiting pilots from the Foreign Legion for a secret squadron designed to stir up trouble all over the world, making sure the market for armaments remains buoyant. To investigate, Biggles and Ginger must go undercover and don the famous white kepi. Not much flying but plenty of fighting, and an appearance by an old enemy.

[Daniel Bratell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book where Biggles sides with Nazis against Kurds because those are less than human win W.E. Johns words.