Biggles: The Camels Are Coming

This was an adventure story for my youth more than half a century ago. It’s interesting technically as the author flew in World War One but to enjoy it you need to accept the limitations and anachronisms. Not for everyone but a good read for those who can enjoy period literature.

Bin noch am Lesen. Die Biggles Bücher sind fantastisch, ich liebe jedes Kapitel, aber man muss Englisch gut verstehen können. Versuche die Bücher in halbwegs chronologischer Order zu lesen und hatte deswegen mit “Biggles learns to fly” angefangen und danach “Biggles of the fighter squadron”. Musste jedoch feststellen dass dieser Titel irgendwann nach “The Camels are coming” spielt da Biggles in “Fighter Squadron” bereits den Rang des Captain besaß. Diesen Rang erhielt er erst hier, in “The Camels are coming”. Warum wurde er zum Captain befördert? Einfach lesen und herausfinden! An jeden der Interesse an Luftkämpfe ausm ersten Weltkrieg hat kann ich “Biggles” nur empfehlen. Cheerio, laddies!

Very good book. Excellent stories about Biggles adventures in the Royal Flying Corps.

As a French man who used to live in England, I heard several mentions of these Biggles, in works from Rowan Atkinson and war documentaries, and wanted to know what it was about. I see their value for an Englishman, but also understand why no one else seems to know about them. I found it tedious and lacking of depth. There is a glint into the gentleman’s war aspect of the raf, but I can’t pretend that it impressed me in any way. By Jove, it wasn’t for me, but will be a jolly good read for others...

The early books by WE Johns are by far the best, since it was the war he knew best and had exposure to the stories of other people. Biggles and his friends complete many missions in this story and there is a realism to these ones missing in the later ones. I prefer to keep the stories in sequence since they make better sense than if read out of sequence. Biggles core group of friends are introduced at different times in the wars and if you are looking for particular characters to always be there, they won't. (Neither Ginger nor Bertie are in this novel)