Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.

Sergeant Bigglesworth CID
Cover Art	Cover of the 1963 Armada paperback edition. It actually comes from the frontispiece of the 1st ed. by Leslie Stead. It depicts the arrival of the Toureg at the oasis. Not perhaps the most crucial scene in the story but probably the most picturesque. And it avoids hhaving to agonize over what a Renkell or a Spur might look like.
Author	W. E. Johns
Publisher	Hodder and Stoughton
First Published	1946
Period	Post World War 2, Air Police
Setting	Britain, Germany, North Africa
See all	List of Books by W. E. Johns

Sergeant Bigglesworth CID by W. E. Johns was first published in 1946 by Hodder and Stoughton. The events in the book take place just after World War 2 in Britain, Germany and North Africa.

A graphic novel adaptation of the novel was published in French in 1990 by Belgian publisher Emissions Lefrancq with the title Le cygne jaune with story and artwork by Francis Bergèse.

Synopsis

The war is over but Air Commodore Raymond is quick to approach Biggles and co. with a proposal. There is a gang which takes advantage of the speed and range of aircraft to effect spectacular and high profile robberies, often disposing of their loot before the crimes have even been discovered. Raymond needs Biggles to form an air police force to investigate and fight this new menace.

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

The Special Air Police

• Air Commodore Raymond
• Biggles
• Algy Lacey
• Ginger Hebblethwaite
• Bertie Lissie

Friends and allies

• Freddie Lavers
• Wing Commander Howath
• Wilks
• Flying Officer Collingwood
• Sergeant Mahmud
• Burradidi
• Saunders

Others

• Ludwig Renkell
• Kurt Baumer
• Julius Hans Gontermann
• Max Grindler
• Rudolf Preuss
• Carlos Scaroni
• Franz Schneider
• Hauptmann Rudolf von Zoyton
• Generaloberst Keller
• Erich von Stalhein - mentioned only. Gontermann apparently knew him.
• Rajah of Mysalore
• Touregs

Aircraft

• De Havilland Mosquito
• Spur
• Short Empire - Calpurnia
• Avro Lancaster
• De Havilland Tiger Moth
• Caproni bomber adapted as a passenger airliner. Probably a Caproni Ca.133
• Renkell Swan
• Renkell Wolf
• Renkell light bomber/transport

Ships

• Rajah

Places

Visited

• Rawlham
• Croydon Airport - the nascent air police was allocated a hangar here.
• Scotland Yard
• Augsburg
  • Augsburg-Haunstetten Airfield - this was probably where Biggles landed
  • Hotel Colon
• Malta - Algy and Bertie in transit to Bahrein
• Bahrein
• Tripoli
  • Castel Benito Airport
• El Zufra
• Alexandria - at this time, likely that the landplanes would have landed at Aboukir Airfield. The Calpurnia would have departed from the marine airport.
• Khartoum
• Cairo
  • Heliopolis - Algy and Bertie collect a Mosquito from here.
• Gibraltar - Biggles overnighted here on his way back from North Africa at the conclusion of the case.
• Benghazi

Mentioned

• Scenes of crime:
  • Basra to Bombay - the route of the Rajah
  • Alexander Bay to Cape Town - flight route of the diamond aircraft.
  • Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro - where the diamonds were disposed of.
• Cardiff to Montevideo - route of ship where someone became the first witness of the Renkell aircraft
  • Nairobi to Jaggersfontein Copper Mines, Northern Rhodesia - flight route of the payroll aircraft whose silver was robbed.
• Biggles mentions a number of actual Algerian places where there are landing grounds: Touggourt, Ouargla, Colomb Bechar, Beni Abbes.
• Poland, and
• Czechoslovakia - Gontermann is wanted for war crimes in these two countries
• Sollum - if one left El Zufra, this would be one of the nearer places to head for
• Addis Ababa

Cultural references

• R.N.V.R. - first witness of the Renkell aircraft was a plane spotter in the R.N.V.R. during WW2.
• Jaggersfontein Mining Concession, Liminted
• The Times
• Spanish Civil War, Condor Legion
• Luftwaffe First Air Fleet
• Knights Insignia of the Iron Cross
• The Boelcke staffel (WW1)
• Rommel and the North African campaign
• The American F.B.I.
• Robin Hood, and the Norman conquest
• Empire Conference
• Red Cross
• Sanseviera

Other research notes

Aerial Victories

(See here for details)

• Biggles: 1 - Renkell transport
• Bertie: 1 - Renkell Wolf

References to the past

• Von Zoyton

Injuries

• See The Sick List

Incongruities

• As Biggles flies over the wrecked Short Empire flying boat, there is this line: "Ginger had started to turn, to man the gun-turret...." One supposes that Johns thought of the Spur as a modern and updated Beaufighter, with a rear gun.
• When Bertie lands at Khartoum, the text says he had never met Wilks but knew him for years as a close friend of Biggles. This is, of course, not true. They had met in Spitfire Parade. Wilks had come over to visit 666 Squadron many times. On the other hand, the text confirms that Ginger knew Wilks.

Chronology

• Wilks says he has taken twenty years to rise to Group Captain. He must have retained his seniority. Somewhere in the middle of his service, he went off to run his airline in Biggles Flies North.

Editions

• Hodder and Stoughton, hbk. 1946 and subsequent impressions.
• Hodder and Stoughton, soft pictorial cover, 1954.
• included in The Biggles Air Detective Omnibus, Hodder and Stoughton, 1956 and subsequent impressions.
• Armada, 1963.
• Red Fox, 1994. As "Biggles Flying Detective".
• Canello, 2022.

• Random House Children's Books Tellastory, 1994. As "Biggles Flying Detective". Recorded by Tim Pigott-Smith.

International titles

• Swedish: Biggles rensar luften (Wahlströms 1947)
• French: Le cygne jaune (Presses de la Cité 1948)
• Norwegian: Biggles slär til (Forlaghuset 1948)
• Icelandic: Benni í Scotland Yard (Nordri 1951)
• Italian: Biggles e i predoni dell'aria (C.E.L.I. 1958)
• Malay: Sarjan Bigglesworth C.I.D. (Eastern Universities Press 1980)
• Czech: Biggles - létající detektiv (Riopress 1995)
• Sinhala: සාජන්ට් බිගල්ස් - Sergeant Biggles (Tharanga)