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Biggles #89
Biggles and the Dark Intruder
Biggles investigates an unidentified aircraft that is persistently flying into the country under the radar curtain. The plane is always heading towards the Cornwall/Devon region, so Biggles concentrates enquiries there. Alerted by the murder of a police constable at Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie go there to make further enquiries. Aerial photographs of the Moor reveal a burnt strip of land and a fresh green strip parallel to it. This is next to an abandoned mine where there is located a mysterious shepherd with a fierce dog. When Ginger investigates the mine, he finds himself held at bay by the dog. Things start to move when 'Cracker' Lewis escapes from nearby Dartmoor prison. Investigating a suspicious Bentley car, Bertie finds out that Sir Humphrey Trethallan who lives at nearby Hallstone Towers owns it. Keeping watch on Hallstone Towers Biggles is shocked to see Sir Humphrey with Lewis. Biggles suspects the intruding aircraft is flying escaped criminals out of the country in return for part of their stolen loot and Sir Humphrey is behind the scheme. Bertie is assigned to observe Hallstone Towers and he sees Sir Humphrey leading Lewis out to Bodmin moor. Bertie then accidentally falls down an abandoned mine shaft and is knocked unconscious. Coming to, he is confronted by the shepherd and realises that the shaft he has fallen down must connect to the abandoned mine under suspicion. With Ginger's help, Bertie gets out of the mine. The intruding aeroplane arrives and Biggles, with the help of the local police move in to make arrests. Sir Humphrey escapes and is pursued back to Hallstone Towers. Here, he blows his own brains out with a gun, rather than be arrested. The cover of both the first edition paperback and later hardback show Biggles (presumably) with the Bentley car and the 'dark intruder' aircraft in the background.
Paperback
First published April 1, 1967
50 people want to read
About the author
W.E. Johns
570 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
March 20, 2014
I've waited fifty years to read one. It was pretty much as I expected which probably explains why I put it off for fifty years. I'll read another in another fifty years and so on through the set.
January 23, 2016
"Have a heart, old boy. I mean to say, dash it all, he's a gent. You can't suspect him of anything crooked."
Biggles and the Dark Intruder was published direct to paperback in 1967 late in Johns' life. The back cover blurb tells us the story is set in England today - it could happen today, i.e. in 1967. It could also have happened pretty much in 1937. There is nothing particularly "contemporary" about it - certainly no Beatles, no swinging sixties, no mini-skirts - in fact, no female characters at all apart for a disparaging reference to an off-stage house keeper. In other words it is standard Biggles. Having said that, if you have never read Biggles, I wouldn't start here. More exciting fare is to be found earlier in the series.
"What makes a man like Trethallan, born with a silver spoon in his mouth so to speak, make a complete mess of his life and then end it himself?"
Biggles answered: "There must have been a flaw somewhere in his make-up. It's likely that when he was a young man he had too much money. That tends to make a fellow think that he's smarter than he is. That wise King Solomon knew something when he said: 'Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.' But who are we to criticise? We all suffer from it, more or less." He drove on.
Biggles and the Dark Intruder was published direct to paperback in 1967 late in Johns' life. The back cover blurb tells us the story is set in England today - it could happen today, i.e. in 1967. It could also have happened pretty much in 1937. There is nothing particularly "contemporary" about it - certainly no Beatles, no swinging sixties, no mini-skirts - in fact, no female characters at all apart for a disparaging reference to an off-stage house keeper. In other words it is standard Biggles. Having said that, if you have never read Biggles, I wouldn't start here. More exciting fare is to be found earlier in the series.
"What makes a man like Trethallan, born with a silver spoon in his mouth so to speak, make a complete mess of his life and then end it himself?"
Biggles answered: "There must have been a flaw somewhere in his make-up. It's likely that when he was a young man he had too much money. That tends to make a fellow think that he's smarter than he is. That wise King Solomon knew something when he said: 'Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.' But who are we to criticise? We all suffer from it, more or less." He drove on.
August 26, 2021
First published in 1967, 'Biggles and the Dark Intruder' is a late entry in the lengthy series of Biggles stories, set against the background of his job in the Air Police. The plot involves illicit flights from the continent to the Cornwall/Devon area by a light aircraft and their connection with the death of a policeman in that area. With the aviation element clearly established, a routine if improbable plot follows and, to be fair, keeps going with a fine pace so that you ignore the plot holes. Great fun.
May 17, 2019
11/20.
November 1, 2021
The party splits up in this one, which makes it even better because more things happen at once
Read
August 16, 2024get well soon bertie!
December 22, 2025
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.”
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.”
June 28, 2016
Typisch Biggles verhaal. Niet een van de beste, maar zeker ook niet het slechtste verhaal dat ik ooit in de serie ben tegen gekomen. Allemaal vrij voorspelbaar. Standaard Biggles verhaal, dat 'nu' speelt (jaar van uitgave), maar nu (tijd van review) best wel gedateerd is. Toch moet ik er niet aan denken dat Biggles cs. opeens met mobieltjes en andere modernigheden gaan werken.
Kleinigheidje: Op een gegeven moment in dit verhaal zegt Biggles iets in de trant van: 'In de tijd voor ik bij de Yard kwam'. Maar... de tijd voor dat hij bij Scotland Yard werkte, was hij piloot bij de RAF gedurende de oorlog, en in ieder geval waren zijn kameraden er toen ook bij. Dus zo het nog voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog hebben moeten spelen.
Kleinigheidje: Op een gegeven moment in dit verhaal zegt Biggles iets in de trant van: 'In de tijd voor ik bij de Yard kwam'. Maar... de tijd voor dat hij bij Scotland Yard werkte, was hij piloot bij de RAF gedurende de oorlog, en in ieder geval waren zijn kameraden er toen ook bij. Dus zo het nog voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog hebben moeten spelen.
February 6, 2017
Nice setting (Bodmin Moor) but no flying.
September 26, 2012
Read this so many times I can imagine most of the lines. Literary prozac I dig out when feeling depressed.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews