Bigges & Co by W. E. Johns was first serialized in 10 parts in The Modern Boy, issues 413 to 422 from 4 Jan 1936 to 7 Mar 1936 under the title The Gold Flyers. It was then published in book form by Oxford University Press in April 1936. Since then there have been at least 17 other editions in the English language.
The book is notable for the first post World War 1 appearances of Erich von Stalhein and Air Commodore Raymond. Both would become recurrent characters in the interwar and postwar era stories. This story is the first time that Biggles would meet either of them since leaving the end of World War 1.
Synopsis[]
Biggles is asked to start an airline for the specific purpose of transporting shipments of gold. As Biggles would say in other novels, where there is gold, there is trouble....
Plot[]
Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book
Characters[]
- Biggles
- Algy Lacey
- Ginger Hebblethwaite
- Mrs Symes
- Smyth
- Colonel Raymond
- Paul Cronfelt
- Stella Carstairs
- Carstairs
- Geoffrey Lyle
- Grant
- Sir Guy Brunswick
- Lindson
- Detective Boulanger
Aircraft[]
- Cormorant
- Bristol Bulldog
- Miles Falcon
- German fighter - "long rakish monoplane fighter"
- Handley Page H.P. 42 - Biggles spots one while flying to France
- dark green monoplane - single engine, multi seat with a cabin
Places[]
Visited[]
- Brooklands
- Hardwick
- Croydon
- Le Bourget
- Buc
- Aix-la-Chapelle
- Von Stalhein's castle in Germany
Mentioned[]
Research Notes[]
References to the past[]
- The events of Biggles Flies East and his encounter with Erich von Stalhein are mentioned.
Incongruities[]
- Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931 so the kind of gold shipments needed to maintain balance of payments equilibria seen in the book would be unlikely at the time it was written.
Chronology[]
- Probably April to May 1935. See article Miles Falcon for a discussion.
Editions[]
International titles[]
- Czech: Bigglesova letecká společnost (Toužimský & Moravec 1939)
- Danish: Biggles & Co (Steen Hasselbalchs Forlag 1939)
- Swedish: Biggles & Co (Bonniers 1941, Pojkarnas Flygbok 1949, Röda Ramen 1971, Junior Förlag 1981)
- Norwegian: Biggles & Co (N.W. Damm & Søn 1946)
- Norwegian: Biggles og gulltransporten (Hjemmets Bokforlag 1982, N.W. Damm & Søn 1986)
- French: Biggles et Cie (Presses de la Cité 1949)
- Icelandic: Benni og félagar hans (Nordri 1949)
- French (Belgium): Biggles et Cie (Lefrancq 1996, in Biggles 2 Omnibus 1997)
- Sinhala: රන් කොල්ලය - ran kollaya (Tharanga)