Spitfire Parade by W. E. Johns is an anthology of short stories which was first published in 1941 by Oxford University Press. Most of the stories were reworkings of R.F.C. era short stories which had first appeared elsewhere, for example in The Camels are Coming and Biggles in France. The title page includes the subtitle: "Stories of Biggles in War-time."
The last edition to be published was by Brockhampton Press in 1960. In the 1990s, the stories were adapted and republished in graphic novel form in French by the Belgian publisher Lefrancq in two volumes: Le Bal des Spitfire. (1992) and Squadron Biggles (1994). The story and artwork was done by Francis Bergèse in both cases. Red Fox subsequently published an English translation of Le Bal des Spitfire. Squadron Biggles remained untranslated until Euro Books (India), an Indian publisher, put out a translation in English in 2007.
Synopsis[]
Spitfire Parade comprises 13 short stories describing the exploits of BIggles and his 666 Squadron during the Battle of Britain in 1940:
Editions[]
International titles[]
- Swedish: Biggles i fält (Bonniers 1943, Röda Ramen 1973, Junior Förlag 1981)
- Swedish: Med Biggles över Kanalen (Pojkarnas Flygbok 1947, Pojkarnas Julbok)
- French: Biggles dans Le bal des Spitfires ((Presses de la Cité 1949)
- Dutch: Biggles en zijn makkers (Spectrum 1959 and others)
- Dutch: Biggles en zijn vrienden (W&L 1984, Verba 1996)
- Norwegian: Biggles i felten (N.W. Damm & Søn 1949)
- Czech: Biggles a bitva o Anglii (Riopress 1994)