Biggles hits the target
QUESTION How many aircraft did Biggles shoot down in World War I?
I make it 49. James Bigglesworth, known as Biggles, is a fictional character created by the author Captain W. e. Johns.
He first appeared in Popular Flying magazine, edited by Johns, in april 1932. Initially he was a pilot in World War I, flying for ‘266 Squadron’.
He had exciting adventures with his faithful comrades algy and Ginger between the wars before returning as a Squadron Leader and Spitfire pilot for 666 Squadron in World War II. Later he was a flying policeman for Scotland Yard.
Johns wrote 101 books featuring Biggles. eighteen contained 191 short stories, so in addition to the 83 full-length books there are 274 Biggles stories. Two of the books and 63 of the short stories take place in World War I.
I have spent a long time going through every story and making a detailed note trying to work out how many aircraft Biggles shot down in World War I. The difficulty is what do you count? When two planes collide, have they been shot down or brought down by Biggles? Do they add to his score? In a mass dogfight, do they count for everyone?
Johns hits the nail on the head in Biggles’ Surprise Packet: ‘The huge dogfight lost height quickly ... It was impossible for any pilot to know exactly what was happening; each man picked an opponent and stuck to him as long as he could. If he lost him, he turned to find another.
‘...[I]t was utterly out of the question for him to see if he shot anyone down. If a machine at which he was shooting fell out of the fight, someone else was shooting at him before he could determine whether his Hun was really hit or merely shamming.’
I decided the best way to approach this was to list every story and note when Biggles is involved in the destruction of an enemy plane in some way and then reason it out as to whether it counts or not. I concluded that the total number of aircraft brought down by Biggles was as follows in the World War I books:
The Camels are Coming (16 planes and two balloons), Biggles Of The Camel Squadron (two planes and one submarine), Biggles Learns To Fly (12 planes, but five were shot down by the rear gunners, so seven for Biggles), Biggles In France (13 planes and one balloon), The ace Of Spades (one plane), Biggles: air ace (six planes), Biggles Flies east (two planes) and The Rescue Flight (two planes).
Biggles has a score of 49 aircraft, three balloons and one submarine. In Biggles In France, Johns had a court of inquiry deny Biggles credit for a plane he was certain he got. If that is added to his score then it would be a nice round 50.
With that score, Biggles would come just outside the top dozen World War I air aces after manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron (80); Rene Fonck (75); William Bishop (72); ernst Udet (62); edward mannock (61); Raymond Collishaw (60); James mcCudden (57); andrew Beauchamp-Proctor (54); erich Lowenhardt and Donal macLaren (54); Georges Guynemer (53 or 54); and William Barker (50 or 54).
Roger Harris, Hereford, www.biggles.com.
QUESTION Why was David Atchison U.S. President for a day?
UnTIL the ratification of the Twentieth amendment in 1933, the official day for presidential inaugurations was march 4. On march 4, 1849, the terms of office for James knox Polk, the 11th U.S. President, and his Vice-President George m. Dallas, had ended at 12 noon.
Zachary Taylor, a hero of the mexicanamerican War, and his vice-president, millard Fillmore, were scheduled to be sworn in. But it was a Sunday and Taylor refused to work on the Sabbath.
The third in line to the presidency is the Senate’s President Pro Tempore, who presides over Senate sessions in the vicepresident’s absence. This was the pro-slavery Democrat David R. atchison, a senator from missouri.
It was atchison who loved to joke he was ‘president for the day’ and that he led ‘the honestest administration this country ever had’. However, he subsequently said: ‘I made no pretence to the office.’
Constitutional scholars refute the claim atchison was President. His first term as senator ended on march 4 and he wasn’t sworn in again until march 5, so he wasn’t even a member of the Senate, let alone its President Pro Tempore, on that day.
When march 4 later fell on a Sunday in an election year, as it did in 1821, 1849, 1877 and 1917, the ceremonies were simply held over until the next day.
Despite this, in 1886 a statue of atchison was unveiled outside the Clinton County Courthouse in Plattsburg with a plaque that declared him ‘President of the United States for one day’. There is a similar inscription on his grave.
Olivia Crawley, Bray, Berks.
QUESTION What British idioms should you never use in the U.S.? And vice versa?
FURTHeR to the earlier answer, during World War II, east anglia welcomed thousands of U.S. army airmen. as they alighted from the train at norwich, they were greeted with a large sign: ‘Welcome to norwich, Gateway to the Broads.’
The Broads in norfolk are low-lying wetlands and waterways popular with holidaymakers. Broads in america is a slang term for young women.
Paul Watkin, Bungay, Suffolk.
WHen a colleague in the RaF was seconded to the USaF, he received a classified document from his boss who told him to ‘burn it’. So he incinerated it along with other documents. However, ‘burn it’ turned out to be the american slang for photocopying. Try explaining that to the base security officer!
Des Martin, Bristol.
I WaS visiting a U.S. weapons manufacturer to sort out a problem the RaF was having with a piece of weaponry. While booking in, the secretary made a small mistake. I told her in jest she would be getting the sack. Uproarious laughter followed from all the americans as the word sack is commonly used for a bed.
Chas Fox, Thetford, Suffolk.
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