BIGGLES ON THE HOME FRONT

‘An adventure of Biggles and his Air Police in and around London’

Inspector Gaskin of the C.I.D., worried by a crop of jewel robberies in London, knew very well what difficulties crooks were up against when it came to disposing of stolen gems. Yet those who might have pulled these recent jobs were certainly getting big money for their loot. “They’re spending it like it dropped from heaven,” he told Biggles. “Where are they getting it from?”

by Captain W. E. Johns

First published August 1969

COLOUR FRONTISPIECE – “Algy waited until the constable had collected his bicycle – See page 115”

TITLE PAGE – Page 3 (features a small drawing by Leslie Stead of Biggles in hat and tie – Biggles face is actually based on Stead’s own face)

CONTENTS – Page 5

ILLUSTRATIONS – Page 7 – (Six illustrations by Stead – the frontispiece, then facing pages 30, 65, 96, 129 and 160)

I. INSPECTOR GASKIN CALLS (Pages 9 – 24)

“As the door of the Air Police Operations Room opened Biggles glanced up from the map which, with his police pilots, he was studying in connection with some recently published aircraft endurance ranges. It is Inspector Gaskin, of the Criminal Investigations Department, New Scotland Yard. “What’s on your mind?” inquired Biggles. “You look like a man who’s lost half a crown and found a penny”. (Half a crown was a coin worth 2 shillings and 6 pence. There were 20 shillings to the pound and 12 pennies to a shilling, so a pound was worth 240 pennies and half a crown was worth 30 pennies). Gaskin tells Biggles that he is concerned about a number of jewel robberies. “Big stuff. Fifteen thousand quids worth from one house; ten thousand from another; five thousand from a block of flats in Mayfair, and a tray of rings worth a couple of thousand from a shop in Bond Street. Close on a hundred thousand pounds’ worth altogether, and we haven’t a clue as to where it’s gone, much less recovered any of it”. The method of theft is “Smash and grab, using stolen cars, and climbers*” (a footnote tells us that is *slang for cat burglars). Biggles asks “But what’s gone wrong? I thought you could identify these specialists by their methods”. Gaskin answers “So we can, more or less, but lately they’ve been particularly fly, ("Fly" used this way means "sharp/aware/stylish/". It came into use sometime in the early 1900s. It was referring to the insect "fly", because they are very aware of their surroundings and hard to catch unaware) as if someone has been given them a tip or two. It’s no use suspecting if you can’t lay hands on evidence to prove”. Biggles remarks that Gaskin is a professional sleuth. “You’ve been at it for what – thirty years?” “Thirty-two” corrects Gaskin. (This book was published in August 1957. Assuming Johns wrote it that year, Gaskin has been with the police since 1925). Gaskin has a hunch that there is a new “fence”, a man who receives stolen goods, who is paying fairer prices. Gaskin says “Forget what you’ve heard about honour among thieves. There isn’t any. One crook will put in a whisper about another, or one gang will double-cross another gang if they think it’s to their advantage. Or may be out of revenge. But’s it’s almost an unwritten law that a crook must never shop a fence”. If they do “They’d be cutting their own throats. How would they dispose of their swag?”. Gaskin adds “It may surprise you to know that a crook is lucky to get even a quarter of the value of the stuff he pinches. Ten per cent is more usual. Which means that for a thousand quids’ worth of sparklers he gets a hundred. And even out of that he may have codgers, and other people, to pay”. “That’s a lovely word – codger,” put in Bertie Lissie. “What’s a codger?” “The underworld name for a watcher. The curse of that is, a crook tries to get youngsters to do it because they’re less likely to arouse suspicion. These silly kids stick their necks out for a quid or two and so take the first step to Dartmoor”. Gaskin says “The crooks I know who might have pulled these recent jobs have all got money. They’re spending it like it dropped from heaven. Where are they getting it from?” (This quote is used on the very first page of the book – page 1). Biggles asks “How can this new fence, assuming there is one, afford to pay more than the old hands?” Gaskin says “I can see only one answer to that. He’s got a safer and quicker way of unloading the stuff. I’m as certain as I sit here that it’s going to the Continent, or some of it would have been traced by now. And if you ask me how, I’ll tell you”. “How?” “It’s being flown out”. This is why Gaskin has come to see Biggles and the Air Police. Biggles agrees that “Air smuggling goes on all the time in Europe, where it’s only a few minutes’ job to slip a load of contraband across a frontier. A privately-owned machine in the hands of a capable pilot can cock a snoot at official airports”. “And are you telling me there’s no way of stopping that?” asks Gaskin. “If there is, no one has yet thought of it” says Biggles, adding “I can’t watch the coast, east and west, day and night, from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. I’ve neither the staff nor the machines to do it, and if I had I wouldn’t guarantee to stop such a racket, should one start”. Biggles suggests that Gaskin watches the thieves and they will lead him to the fence. Gaskin tells him “They know me. The old lags know everyone in my Department by their Christian names. That’s all part of their business. They can spot a cop as quick as a teenage girl can spot a film star. When I show my face in the Barnstaple Arms, (a fictional pub) commonly known as the Barn, in Soho, where a lot of ‘em hang out – and I often look in to see who’s around – they gather round me like I was a rich uncle and argue as to who’s going to buy me a drink”. Gaskin says that the crooks wouldn’t know Biggles. “Neither would I know them,” Biggles pointed out “And I’m not pining to know ‘em. These dirty birds are your pigeons, and as far as I’m concerned you can keep them”. “You’d soon get to know ‘em if you had a look at their mugs in our Rogues Gallery,” argued the Inspector. “We’ve photos of all of ‘em, ugly, plain and handsome”. Biggles thought for a moment. “I get the drift of your idea,” he said, stubbing his cigarette. “But this is outside the range of my official duties”. “It could be inside if aviation came into it,” contended the detective. Gaskin suggests that Biggles drifts into the Barn once in a while and listens to conversations. Biggles tells him “I can’t imagine any crook being so daft as to talk in a public bar”. “Maybe I can think of something more likely than that to produce results,” said Biggles. Biggles and his team go to view the photographs of criminals. They all follow Inspector Gaskin to the photographic department of the Criminal Record Office where are kept for reference the portraits of all criminals known to the police. “The next hour was spent studying the face, full-face view and profile, of jewel thieves, particularly those known to frequent the Barn and those who Gaskin suspected to have been concerned with the recent robberies. He gave the nicknames by which they were known in the underworld as well as their real names. “They’ve all done time, Darkie Brown, Sid the Sailor and Bruiser Lee. Darkie Brown is the driver – and can he drive! Mind you, it’s always a stolen car, so he doesn’t care if he smashes it, or any other car for that matter. They’re all experts in their way, up to every trick. And here’s the bright boy who gets ‘em the car. Toni the Needle. Italian by birth. Gets his name I believe from a nasty habit of carrying a stiletto”. The team are shown another page. “This lout with the dead-pan expression is Dusty Brace,” he went on. “He used to carry knuckle-dusters, and still may for all I know. A dangerous type. His department is picking pockets”. Gaskin points out another. “Here’s one who used to carry a gun, Mike Sullivan. (There is a picture of Mike Sullivan between pages 30 and 31). “He’ll kill somebody one day”. “What’s his line?” asks Biggles. “Burglary. Cheap stuff, mostly. Robs his own class. He hob-nobs with Dusty Brace. You’ll see ‘em both at the Barn”. Gaskin turns to another photograph. “Now here’s a very different type,” he continued. “They call him Swell Noble so you can guess how he got his name”. ("Swell" meant something was excellent, first-rate, or great.  The slang term fell out of favour and became outdated by the latter half of the 20th century, with "cool" eventually taking its place). “He was at Oxford, supposed to be studying law, when he first took a fancy to diamonds. Don’t ask me why. He’s a cat-burglar, and a fair masterpiece at it. He’d climb the face of a blank wall to get to a window. He once told me he’d climbed every college tower in Oxford, for fun”. “Here’s another who went to one of the expensive public schools. Augustus Norman. Gus for short. Good-looking chap. He and another feller named Stony Stoneways, who went to the same school, used to work together”. Gaskin tells Biggles that Stony is in Pentonville at the moment with another two years to serve. “I take it these crooks know each other?” “More or less. They drift naturally into cliques, according to class and the sort of jobs they do. They get to know each other in gaol, no doubt, if not before”. The Inspector goes on to show them some portraits of receivers, past and present. Most of them were serving prison sentences. “I think that’s about enough to go on with,” said Biggles at last. “Let’s go. This place depresses me”. “Let me know what you decide to do and how you get on” says Gaskin. Back at their own quarters, Biggles tells his team they should be flatters that Gaskin has asked them to lend a hand and there is just a chance that aviation comes into it. “If you asked my opinion, old boy,” put in Bertie, “I’d say that whole disgusting business stinks”. “Crime in any form stinks,” said Biggles, evenly, as he went back to his desk.