The Case of the Visiting Sultan is the second short story in the anthology Biggles Air Detective which was first published in May, 1950. By this time, Biggles was already a Detective Air-Inspector. His promotion took place in Another Job for Biggles which was serialised as Biggles in Arabia from February 1950, predating the Air Detective by 3 months. In the anthology, this story is preceded by The Case of the Black Sheep and followed by The Case of the Unregistered Operator.
In the 1953, the story was adapted as The Case of the Visiting Sultan in issue #1 of the Australian Adventures of Biggles comic series comics series. In July 1967, French publisher Aredit published an comic strip adaptation entitled Biggles - La visite du Sultan in Issue 106 of its war comic series Temeraire.
Synopsis[]
The Sultan of Lashanti is scheduled to visit London. There is disturbing intelligence that a hardened American master criminal is planning to ambush the Sultan's aircraft and rob him of his crown jewels. Biggles must protect the Sultan but without the Sultan knowing about it.
Plot[]
See article under Rocky Cordova for a summary of the plot.
Characters[]
The Special Air Police[]
- Air Commodore Raymond
- Biggles
- Ginger Hebblethwaite
- Flight Sergeant Smyth
Others[]
- Oba I'Mobi, Sultan of Lashanti
- Sir Milton Chambers - Governor of the Lashanti colony
- Rocky Cordova
- Juan Laroula
Aircraft[]
Ships[]
Places[]
Visited[]
- London
- Gatwick - Air Police Operations Room. Inferred. Biggles had just stepped out of an Auster. Smyth tells him Raymond is waiting for him in the Ops Room.
- Lashanti
- Rio de Oro
- Gibraltar - Biggles refuels on the way home
Mentioned[]
- Morocco
Other points of interest[]
Cars[]
- Air Commodore Raymond drives the Governor's car while in Lashanti!
Newspapers/magazines/books[]
- Newspapers announced the forthcoming visit of the Sultan of Lashanti and also later his arrival.
Firearms and other weapons[]
Brands/products[]
- Diamonds - in the Sultan's regalia
Hobbies/activities[]
Food and Drinks[]
- Cigarettes are much in evidence. Biggles has at least two while discussing the case with Raymond.
Organisations[]
- The Colonial Conference in London
- The Sultan obtained a B licence while studying in the UK
- The FBI
Research Notes[]
- Fresh from domestic police duties in the previous story, The Case of the Black Sheep, the Air Police returns in this story to its international and long range focus.