BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK

Some unusual cases of Biggles and his Air Police

by Captain W. E. Johns

2. THE CASE OF THE OLD MASTERS (Pages 26 – 46)

“Biggles, at his desk at Air Police Headquarters, replaced the intercom telephone receiver and turned questioning eyes to his assistant pilots who were in the office. “Any of you been in mischief?” he inquired seriously. There was a chorus of denials. “That was the Air Commodore speaking,” explained Biggles. “The Chief Commissioner is with him and wants to see me. That’s never happened before. I wondered if he’d come to rap my knuckles. See you presently”. He left the room. At Raymond’s office, the Chief Commissioner wants to ask Biggles a question. Referring to the increasing number of thefts of valuable works of art the Chief says there was another case last night when three priceless paintings disappeared from a private exhibition in London. “From the way these raids are carried out it’s almost certain they’re the work of one specialized gang, and behind them is a man not only with brains but with a considerable knowledge of pictures”. The Chief asks Biggles “Where are these pictures going?” Biggles speculates that they are going to the same receiver. “But no ordinary receiver would buy an object that could so easily be recognised. Gold can be melted down. Gems can be reset. But there is nothing you can do with a picture except leave it as it is, for only in its original condition has it any value,” says the Chief. “They must be going abroad, sir” says Biggles. The Chief asks if it would be easy to fly them out and Biggles says candidly that it would be comparatively easy with a private plane. “Then what are the air police for? Have you done anything about last night’s robbery?”. Biggles says “No, sir. As the theft took place in London and there was no suggestion of aviation being involved I took it to be a job for ‘C’ Division. We’re doing our best to prevent illegal air operations but the difficulties are enormous. My colleagues on the Continent tell me that smuggling by private aircraft goes on all the time and there’s little they can do to prevent it”. Biggles explains why and says there are some two-thousand miles of coastline to be covered. They rely on radar but planes can fly under radar. Even if he intercepts an intruder, he can hardly shoot it down as it may be an innocent pilot whose equipment was out of order. Biggles says the paintings may be going behind the Iron Curtain, where visitors are not welcome and there is little chance of the paintings being recognised as stolen property, although it’s all conjecture. The Chief nodded. “I appreciate that. However, do the best you can”. Biggles returned to his office, “where he found the others waiting with some anxiety”. He tells his comrades about the art thefts and looks at the morning papers. The three paintings taken were the most valuable. “They were a self portrait of Remrandt, a work call the Boy in Black by El Greco, and the third, Donna Lucia, by Frans Hals”. (The artists are all real, but not the paintings. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, known as Rembrandt (1606-1669) created nearly 100 self-portraits, with about 80 of them being distinct works including roughly 40 paintings, 31 etchings, and 7 drawings, making him the most prolific self-portraitist among his contemporaries. Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541 to 1614) was a Greek artist known as El Greco (The Greek). El Greco never had a work called “The Boy in Black” There was a painting by Gainsborough called “The Blue Boy” and the fictional title may be based on that. Frans Halls (1582-1666) most famous work is probably “The Laughing Cavalier”. He never had a work called “Donna Lucia”). Biggles says the thief knew exactly what he was after and “if we don’t do something the Big Chief will conclude we’re a dead loss”. Biggles says if the Chief is “right in believing these pictures are being flown oversea – and there I agree with him – it’s safe to assume that while they’re still in this country, waiting for an aircraft to collect them, they’ll be parked at the nearest available place to their final destination. What I mean is, the pilot of the aircraft won’t want to do more flying over this country than is absolutely necessary. That indicates a landing ground near the east coast”. Biggles says they won’t be going North, they won’t be going South as paintings are being stolen in France and they won’t go East as “the cost of an aircraft capable of flying a load non-stop across the Atlantic would be greater than the value of the pictures”. Working on the basis that the pictures are stolen by a picture expert, Biggles sends Algy to the Bond Street gallery where they were stolen to find out to whom invitations for the exhibition were sent. “Note the names of any foreign art dealers or collectors … and, if possible, the addresses”. Bertie is sent with him. Biggles takes Ginger with him to fly over the coast of East Anglia. “From the air, there’s just a chance we may see something that hooks up with what Algy learns in Bond Street”. They fly over the Essex marches and Biggles says “There must be a road for a car to bring the pictures to the rendezvous. Even cut out of their frames and rolled they’d make a bulky parcel and weigh quite a bit. The landing ground must be well away from houses, even the odd farm, or someone might spot what was going on. We needn’t consider anything else so that narrows our search”. Ginger spots unknown “white things” on a creek by a biggish house on rising ground and Biggles thinks it is paper. Ginger consults his map and tells him the village is Frantham (a fictional village). They return to their base and find Algy and Bertie waiting for them back at the office. They have the details of the foreigners, only one of which resides on the east coast. His name is Baron Wolfner, a celebrated Hungarian art critic. “He has a place in Suffolk called Frantham Old Hall”. Biggles frowned. “That’s an odd coincidence – or is it? We had a second look at Frantham not two hours ago”. Biggles remembers that a long time ago in the Lake District they used the lakes for training seaplane pilots. As it is not easy to judge the surface of dead calm water, to make it easier for beginners it was the practice to strew sheets of newspaper on it. That makes Biggles suspect that someone is using the creek they saw for aviation. “The fact that a picture expert lives practically on the bank may be coincidence. That’s something I’m going to settle right away”. Biggles decides they will drive to the location that night and be there by nightfall in case a plane is due to arrive. He says he will tell the Air Commodore his plans in case he calls.

It was nine o’clock when the police car stopped as close to the creek as it could get without using the drive that gave access to the Old Hall, which stood nearly a mile from the village of Frantham. “It was nearly dark, but the weather was fair, with no wind, and a moon nearly full provided conditions that was near perfect for night flying. There was no traffic on the road. The only light that showed was from a front window of the Hall”. Parking up, they set off on foot across marshy ground frequented with puddles. Biggles wades in and gets some dripping material and identifies it as a foreign newspaper, or rather a magazine. “Glossy, high-class stuff”. They hide in some tall rushes and wait until a little after one o’clock when a car arrives. Biggles hopes it is someone bringing pictures. Two figures appear silhouetted. One tall and slim, the other short and stout. The thin man carries a burden on his shoulder. Biggles rises up and informs them they are police officers. The man with the parcel drops it and runs. Biggles pursues him. The man turns and “a gun cracked, streaming sparks over Biggles’ shoulder”. Biggles dives at his legs and overpowers him. Algy and Ginger hold the short man, who confirms he is Baron Wolfner. He confirms that the parcel is pictures and an aircraft should be there in any moment. Algy is told to take the two handcuffed men away. A plane does glide in, a small flying boat, and it lands. A touch of throttle brought it closer to the shore. A man jumps out. He is arrested and handcuffed. Suddenly a new voice asks “Want any help?” It is Inspector Gaskin, with two uniformed officers. Air Commodore Raymond asked him to go along. Biggles hands over the three prisoners to Gaskin and says he will takes steps to immobilize the aircraft. Biggles unrolls the parcel and a light reveals “a painting of a boy in a black velvet suit”. He gives them to Gaskin asking him to take them with him. Gaskin tells Biggles how lucky he was. Biggles smiles and said experience helped him, that when he saw something, he knew what he was looking at. “Somebody left some newspaper scattered about where you’d never have seen it. It was as simple as that”. “I don’t get it” says Gaskin. Biggles grinned. “You’d have got your feet wet if you had. I’m going home to get my socks off. See you later”.