Biggles and the Rescue Flight (Biggles)

by W E Johns

'We shall have to wait until they come out,' breathed Biggles. 'Jump out when I do and be ready to shoot like lightning. If they drop their rifles and put their hands up, all right, but any move by one of the to raise his rifle, let him have it. It's the only way. It's either they or we for it, and they won't hesitate to shoot us. Ssh! Here they come.'A sixteen-year-old boy learns that his beloved elder brother has gone missing from his squadron and decides to rescue him. With his friend, he runs away from school and they sign up in the RFC, lying about their age. They meet up with Biggles at 266 Squadron and join his flight - but will Biggles find them out?

• ISBN13: 9780099938606
• Publish Date: 1 July 2004
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 3 December 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Red Fox
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 208
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

A Biggles book where you can see how he's going to get drawn into Major Raymond's end of things. This story is about a schoolboy who pretends to be in the RAF to rescue his brother. His mentor in 266 squadron is Biggles, and Algy also features.

The interesting part for me as an adult is the descriptions of what it was like.

"...Looking down he saw an expanse of brown earth, perhaps a mile in width, gradually merging into dull green on either side. Through the brown expanse that coiled like a mighty serpent across the landscape from west to east ran tiny zigzag lines, hundreds of them, making a cobweb-like pattern. His breath suddenly came faster as he realized that he was looking at the actual lines where two mighty armies were entrenched, grappling in a stupendous life and death struggle. From time to time tiny white puffs appeared, and drifted sluggishly across the brown expanse. They looked harmless enough, but he knew that they must be the smoke of bursting shells."

Any story where one of the heroes falls asleep during the debrief has a fair bit of realism involved.