BIGGLES FLIES SOUTH
Book First Published in May 1938 - 255 pages
This story was first published, in eight parts, as BIGGLES ON THE
TREASURE TRAIL in Modern Boy,
issues 1 to 8, dated 19th February 1938 to 9th April 1938
The first edition dust jacket – This
shows the original price of 3/6 net
This is an original second edition dust
jacket (note ‘Biggles Flies North’ on the back) - It has a price sticker of 4/-
“including extra war costs” over the original price of 3/6 net. Seems strange to not have any writing on the
front flap!
This 1943 reprint dust jacket shows the
increased price of 4/- net – note the text on the front flap is completely
different from the text on the front flap of the first edition!
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
IV – A DISCONCERTING DISCOVERY
XV – CONDEMNED TO THE CROCODILE
Biggles,
Algy and Ginger are flying down to Capetown in South
Africa for a 266 Squadron Reunion Dinner organised by Major Mullen, Biggles old
C.O. Stopping over in Cairo, with plenty of time to spare, they are approached
by a young Egyptian called Kadar Alloui Bay. He wants
to buy their aeroplane to help in his search for the remains of a lost Persian
Army. Lead by a General called Cambyses, the army was consumed by the desert in
the year 525 B.C. Kadar also searches for a lost oasis called Zenzura and believes that aviators may have recently
discovered it. (In the third chapter of the book, W. E. Johns has Ginger say that he
read about the lost oasis in “Popular
Flying” and Kadar reads from the
article in the August 1932
edition!). Intrigued by Kadar's
story, Biggles agrees to an expedition financed by Kadar's father. However,
there is a man determined to stop Kadar. He is called Fuad Zarwan
and he is quite willing to resort to murder in order to do so. Flying to an
Oasis at Semphis in order to meet a camel caravan of
supplies, including precious petrol to refuel them, Biggles finds that his fuel
tank has been deliberately holed. When the caravan doesn't arrive, Biggles uses
what petrol he has left to look for it and finds them all massacred in the
desert and all the supplies gone. Trying to return to Semphis,
Biggles' plane is caught in a haboob (a severe sandstorm) and blown off course.
Forced to land by lack of petrol, our heroes find themselves in strange
mountains and leaving Algy to guard the plane, they find a hidden oasis. After
a frightening trip through some tombs, Biggles, Algy and Kadar are captured by Zarwan and his Tuareg Arabs. They stake their captives out
in the sun and cover them with honey in an attempt to feed them to the ants.
Saved by Algy, a desperate fight begins and ends with both sides being captured
by the strange race who dwell at the oasis, who are believed to be the
survivors of Cambyses' army. Their captors sacrifice Zarwan
to the crocodile that lives in the oasis. Then comes Biggles' turn to be
sacrificed. However, Biggles has a surprise in store for both the crocodile and
his captors and he manages to escape, taking with him some petrol, which was
being carried by Zarwan's Arabs after they attacked
the camel caravan. This petrol enables Biggles to fly to the oasis and scare
off the locals before Algy, Ginger and Kadar are buried alive. Filling the
tanks of the plane with the remaining petrol, our heroes fly to the Oasis of Siwah and escape.
Click here to see the story illustrations from the original HARDBACK first edition of this book
Biggles Flies South
Publication Details - published by Oxford University Press
The spine and cover illustrations from the original Oxford first
edition
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail
The “Hampton Library” reprint – click on the above picture to
find out more details