Customer Reviews

BIGGLES FLIES WEST

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Biggles is a hero of the golden age of flight. Typical English Schoolboy reading material, his many adventures are set in the war years or just after and give a sense of simpler times when the good guys were really good and the bad guys always lost.

Biggles Flies West stands out amongst these books because it is set on a desert island where Biggles wrecks his seaplane and maroons himself in true Robinson Crusoe style. There are jungles and pirates and even a gold dubloon or two.

If you like uncomplicted adventure and like ripping yarns, you'll love Biggles.

I've read maybe 20 or so out of the 80 or so, and different people, or the same person at different times, may react differently to the same book, but this book had a very rare effect on me: I could read it more than once as if it was the first time. (The only other books I recall doing that to me were Treasure Island and Jonathan Livingston Seagull). That's why I say it may be the best. The plot here, by the way, is like Treasure Island, and the characters remark on the resemblance. As the 4-star reviewer said, you have to suspend disbelief.

7 Dec A.D. 2010

Just to be clear, I'm not so much reviewing these Biggles books as providing a synopsis of the story, which Amazon completely lacks. Hope this helps you decide whether you want this particular Biggles book or not. For myself, I classify pretty much all the WW1 Biggles stories as 5 star as these are by far the most authentic and well written, the WW2 stories as 4 star and the remaining non-WW1/WW2 Biggles adventures as either 4 star or 3 star depending on the story. Hope it helps.

BIGGLES FLIES WEST was first Published in September 1937 - 255 pages. This one's a pretty far-fetched Biggles adventure - pirates, spanish dubloons and tropical islands. Suspend disbelief and, like many of the other Biggles adventures, it's quite entertaining.

Biggles, Algy and Ginger are walking through a street in Wapping, London when a young lad of 15 runs into them. He is being pursued by a mysterious stranger who is trying to rob him. The lad is Dick Denver and he has recently received word of the death of his father, who was a sailor. Dick's father sent him a letter before he died. The letter contained a gold doubloon and a map. Although they don't yet know it, the doubloon has been cursed and brings bad fortune to all that touch it. Dick's father claims in his letter, to have discovered an old pirate ship where he believes there is a vast haul of doubloons. However, a treacherous shipmate of Dick's father, who was the one who stabbed him, is now after Dick, knowing that a letter has been sent to him and suspecting it to contain details of where the treasure is.

Biggles agrees with Dick that he will finance an expedition to try to recover the doubloons. After deduction of expenses, Dick will take half of any profit and Biggles, Algy and Ginger, the other half. However, the mysterious stranger has overheard their plans. Flying in a Sikorsky amphibian to Marabina, Biggles, Algy Ginger and Dick are arrested by a corrupt official called Mallichore. The mysterious stranger, whose name is Deutch, and three other villains called Harvey, 'Frisco Jack and Pedro Martinez, then proceed to steal Biggles' plane. Biggles buys another from the Pan-American Company and attempts to follow after them but they are caught in a hurricane and crash just as they reach the island they are looking for. In the confusion Biggles and Dick are separated from Ginger and Algy. Ginger and Algy are then captured by the baddies. Dick attempts to rescue them but is chased by Pedro Martinez who is going to cut his throat with a razor.

Biggles shoots Pedro just in time. Biggles kicks the cursed doubloon into a nearby hole as he realises that it brings nothing but back luck to whomever has it. Biggles and Dick return to rescue Ginger and Algy and Biggles then takes them to an old pirate fort that he has found on a small islet. It still has old cannons, muskets and even clothing, which everybody uses as they have lost all of their supplies when their first aircraft was stolen and their second aircraft crashed. On a trip to the main island to look for the pirate ship, Biggles loses his balance and falls through the rotten moss covered deck into the ship itself. Here is found the skeleton of Louis Dakeyne, the pirate captain, still at his desk where he died, violently. Back at the old pirate fort, Dick is on watch at night when he decides to go back and get the unlucky doubloon from the hole where Biggles kicked it. This he does, only to discover a whole hoard of doubloons in the hole - the treasure!

He also hears Deutch kill 'Frisco Jack. The following day, Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Dick move the gold to the pirate fort and stock up on supplies. Deutch has now obtained soldiers from Marabina and attacks the pirate fort in strength. Using all the old pirate weapons, together with gunpowder taken from the pirate ship, our heroes fight them off in true pirate style. Deutch and Harvey are both killed. Winning the battle, Biggles sees a Royal Navy destroyer arrive, attracted by all the noise. With the help of the Navy, Biggles is able to recover his original plane and see the matter to a successful conclusion.