Hey! I always wanted to ask around about fictional WW1 ace Captain James Bigglesworth, R.F.C a.k.a "Biggles"
The books on him are great, especially the early ones on combat flying.It was written by Capt W.E. Johns based on his experiences in WW1. There's even an incident where Biggles 266 sqdn dogfights with Jagdstaffel-1 a.k.a. the 'Red Baron's Circus' .
I had originally read them in my school library & loved them so much I brought some really old copies from a second hand market and a few new edition ones as well.
has anyone read these stories? If so please do share how you felt and liked it...And if you have not, it's a great series to read!

I just loved these stories.I've read three books.One was during WW II and one was about the fight for rubber during the war.They were SUPERB!!Don't remember what the third one was about.But this was 8 years ago.

I read one at the BCL(British Council Library) and was hooked.But couldn't find anymore .Very well written books.

Hi Focke Wulf
Biggles was my hero. Thank God for Capt. W.E. Johns! I have owned and read every Biggles book ever written (and Gimlet). I owe this pleasure to a friend of my father's who presented me with a copy of "Sgt. Bigglesworth C.I.D." and I was hooked. The publishers were Armada Books and they were priced at Rs. 2/- each! I have flown innumerable dogfights with Biggles Algy Ginger and Bertie and I really have no words to express how much joy I got out of it. I learnt all about throttles rudder bars and joysticks from them...executed immaculate Immelman turns to get on the tail of the "Hun"...and performed victory rolls over the 266 Squadron field. So FW...I am an old hand at this!
By the way it was this same gentleman who introduced me to aeromodelling with a copy of a basic book on the subject.

i used to read them when i was in school. when he was air detectiv e biggleworth in the scotland yard.
saw a few titles a year ago at Landmark or odesssey bookstore. Now my son is also hooked.
There used to be a lot of titles, but only a few have been reprinted.
Av ijit

I was waiting for someone to post about The Biggles stories
read them frequently at my school library also my favorite ones are the comics with a lot of pictures!!!(i am not ashamed to say that being a 9th class student and i believe that even 50 year old aeromodellers would like to see pictures of ww planes)

Very nostalgic ....

used to spend hours reading Biggles books and dreaming.

Its strange that no movies or TV serials have been made .... or have they ?

yes there have been tv series on him
(extract from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles )

Television
Main article: Biggles (TV series)
Biggles appeared in a TV series based on the books with Neville Whiting playing the title role. There were 44 B&W untitled episodes of 30 minutes, which were made by Granada and ran from 1 April till 9 September 1960. Biggles was a Detective Air Inspector attached to Scotland Yard. Helping him was Ginger (John Leyton) and Bertie (David Drummond) and they fought against villains like Von Stalhein (Carl Duering).

and even a movie

Films
Main article: Biggles: Adventures in Time
He was also featured in a 1986 feature film called Biggles: Adventures in Time, directed by John Hough with Neil Dickson in the title role. The film attempted to add appeal to the character by adding a science fiction element, but it was a commercial and critical failure. Dickson reprised the character in all but name, in the Pet Shop Boys' feature film, It Couldn't Happen Here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles:_Adventures_in_Time

It's so nice to find people who had read stories about Biggles! I have read 8-10 books of the series.But my favorites were the -'The Camels are coming','Biggles learns to fly','The cruise of the Condor'&'Biggles of 266 squadron'.I first read the last one listed when I was in standard VII.
Learned how to barrel roll,Immelmann,side-slip,zoom &loop and most importantly 'dive out of the sun' from Biggles .I still smile when I see the pictures of the Sopwith Camel,Fokker D-VII,Albatross,LVG ,Gothas and The Fokker triplane when I flip over my pages of my 'Complete guide of Fighters and bombers of the world'.
It's a different thing to see an aircraft and know about it, as opposed to read accounts about its characteristics, its exploits,and the human connection of the pilots to it. Ah! adds a personality to each plane itself....

but sadly

Continuity

The film is notably unfaithful to the original works.[1] In addition to the introduction of a science-fiction plot, the continuity of the Biggles universe was largely ignored: for example, even within the film's chronology Peter Cushing's character would have been almost 100 years old in the 1980s (he appears much younger), while Biggles in the film was somewhat older (in the books, he was only a teenager in 1917), and the characters Ginger and Bertie, who feature in this film, did not actually join Biggles until later, although the presence of Biggles' friend Algy, adversary Erich Von Stahlein and love interest Marie are faithful to the earlier books in the series.
[edit]

Reply#8

By the way Biggles was supposed to be born and brought up in India!

Really?

yes! found it in wikipedia I was pleasantly surprised!

Same here....

I have to admit though, If I would join the Airforce I will be one of those who will 'fly with their hearts',as mentioned in Augustinev's thread on publishing one's article-
http://indianairforce.nic.in/fsmagazines/Jan11.pdf -very different from Biggles .

There is another gr8 writer called Neville shute , read almost all of his books . Mostly written post ww II . Another gr8 read. Used to read when I was a small boy. Another good book by Quentin Reynolds called ' they fought for the sky' . If you can find it, gr8

One of Neville Shute's finest books is "On The Beach". It is not about aviation but a scenario of "after World War III". The book is brilliant in its concept and was also made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, as far as I remember.

Wow! This has been a great topic. I wonder how many more Biggles fans are still out there.

Nuclear holocaust. I have this movie, original DVD. Gr8 book good movie "on the beach" . My favorites are , round the bend, trustee from the toolroom 'marazan' , got most of'em in PDF format.

Yes me too. Great fan of Biggles as a boy and then read practically all Nevil shute ('Norway' is his last name). The book that haunts me is 'An Old Captivity' which is based on reincarnation. His autobiography is 'Slide Rule' in which he describes his career in aviation including designing and flying an Airship. Most of his books were made into movies as my Dad tells me.

Verma sir, good you are taking time out of your busy schedule. You are the first one I am coming across in the iaf who read thecaptain and Shute. I remeber one part from Slide rule bet distinctly and that is crystallization of alloys in cyclic stress conditions, it came true after he wrote the book. A town like Alice was another masterpiece. His books are part of p hd studies, did you know that? He bordered on clairvoyance on issues he discussedin his books.
PS
All you you guys must read these books

Yes! That was awesome, when the book about the person who believed in cyclic stress was released and it was followed by the mysterious crash (es) of the  'Comet'.

Sorry Gusty, I am a little irregular and also changing service provider. Busy? You bet!