All posts by Fredleander

Hi, Andy - hope I haven't cluttered things too much for you. I just made a little insert on the Beaufighter and "...in Borneo". I was intrigued by your synopsis where you mention Mindanao in addition to Borneo. I haven't read that book since I was a boy, and only in Norwegian. I am in the process of acquiring English-language first editions. When I have it I need to look into that Mindanao thing as it is of great interest to me, I have studied the Philippine campaign 1941/42 quite extensively. It is my impression that it is not generally known that the Americans held Mindanao and most of the Visayas as long as the fighting on Bataan and Corregidor continued. Only when Corregidor Fortress surrendered in the beginning of May '42 did the Americans (and Filipinos) in the rest of the Philippines surrender and an underground resistance was established.

Action on Mindanao is therefore quite feasible.

Fred

In "Biggles' Second Case" he and his men fly a type called Tarpon - a fantasy plane. But the pictures in the first edition clearly show a Sikorsky S-43B. The "B" is important as this designates the twin-fin S-43 - the early production version had only one vertical tail-fin.

The S-43, an amphibian, was manufactured from right before WW2 and was flown by the Pan American Airways and several other airlines - also the US Army Air corps, US Navy and a Dutch East Indies airline. As such it participated in the war in the South-West Pacific.

It is not known to have carried weapons of any type. Apart from this it would have suited the mission well.

It was designed to carry 20+ passengers.

Fred