Biggles of the Camel Squadron

Biggles of the Camel Squadron
Cover Art	Cover from the Swedish version of "Biggles of the Camel Squadron" 7th edition published in 1948.
Author	W. E. Johns
Publisher	John Hamilton
First Published	1934
Other Editions	14 English
Period	World War I
Setting	France
See all	List of Books by W. E. Johns

Biggles of the Camel Squadron was first published in March 1934 by John Hamilton. It was the third ever Biggles book, although by this time Johns had also published two other books: Mossyface in 1922 and The Spy Flyers (1933). After 3 John Hamilton editions Camel Squadron was brought out again in 1938 by the Boys' Friend Library with the potentially confusing title of Biggles Goes to War, around the same time as when OUP was bringing out the actual Biggles Goes to War!

The Thames and Dean and Son editions of the 1950s - 1980s restored the original title. Red Fox published a new edition of the book in 1992 under the title Biggles of the Fighter Squadron. The motivation behind this change is unknown but it was perhaps to avoid unwary readers thinking it was about a cavalry officer in the Camel Corps?

Synopsis

The book comprises 13 short stories, all of which had first been published in either Popular Flying or Modern Boy or both.

• The Professor
• The Joy Ride
• The Bridge Party
• The Bottle Party
• The Trap
• The Funk
• The Professor Comes Back
• The Thought Reader
• The Great Arena
• Biggles Finds His Feet
• The Dragon's Lair
• Biggles' Day Off
• Scotland for Ever!

Like Biggles in France, the stories in the book went through the same musical chairs routine when it came to republication in the 1950s. Two stories, The Thought Reader and Biggles Finds His Feet had found their way into Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter which comprised mainly stories from The Camels are Coming. As a result, when it came to reissuing Camel Squadron in 1954, these two stories were omitted.

Research Notes

Chronology

The short stories in the collection are not necessarily in chronological order. The earliest would be The Funk, set roughly six weeks after Algy's arrival in France (September-October 1917). Many stories are set in the winter of early 1918. The last few stories mention the German Spring Offensive which was March 1918. In the middle are a few stories such as The Thought Reader where summer is clearly mentioned.

International titles

• Swedish: Biggles, stridsflygaren (Wahlströms 1940)
• Czech: Biggles učí létat (3 stories only) (Polnice 1947)
• Czech: Biggles návrat velbloudích stíhaček (Toužimsky & Moravec 1992)
• French: Biggles en France (Presses de la Cité 1952)
• Malay: Biggles dan skuadron 'Camel' (Eastern Universities Press 1980)
• Norwegian: Biggles bak tyske linjer (Mørtensen 1992)
• French (Belgium): Biggles du squadron "Camel" (Ananké in Biggles l'Intégrale 1 omnibus 2001)