It's just occurred to me that even though Wilks is merely a squadron leader in Spitfire Parade, he is already a Group Captain by the time Sergeant Bigglesworth, CID rolls round.
Does anyone else think this is strange? Sergeant Bigglesworth took place just after the war, so presumably whatever it was Wilks did to get his promotion, he did it during the war. But what exactly was it that Wilks did? Surely Biggles was the go-to man for crazy missions that would save the world?
There is a mention in one of the Biggles books where it says that everyone in 666 could have been promoted, but refused on the grounds that they didn't want to leave Biggles. Did this same sentiment not apply to Wilks and his men? I don't believe that Wilks was as ambitious as all that!
Another thing that irks me is the completely lack of boasting when Biggles meets Wilks again in Sergeant Bigglesworth. Considering how much they liked to get one over the other, wouldn't it have been normal for Wilks to crow a bit about his position, especially since Biggles was now a sergeant?
Could it be that there was some deep dark secret that resulted in Wilks' promotion and the truth of why was subsequently hushed up?
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Soppy, I agree with everything you said about this. Biggles,if I remember wasn't at all impressed when Wilks complained that it took him twenty years to get there. We also have to remember that to get to Group Captain Wilks would have had to be a Wingco first, even if it was only for a short time, so perhaps they were desperately short of bodies, 'cos everyone wanted to leave at the end of the war.
ReplyDeleteI always imagined that after the Battle of Britain, which was after all quite early on in the war, Wilks spent the rest of the war as a regular serviceman, and you would expect him to get promoted, not stay Squadron Leader. He would have no reason to refuse promotion.
ReplyDeleteHe would be a good officer but not of the magic calibre of Biggles. Biggles would have been such an fantastic person to serve under, and got so many interesting non-standard jobs that none of his squadron would want to go off somewhere else and be in some standard bombing or support squadron.
Anyway, it would have spoiled WEJ's stories!!!!
Maybe Wilks got involved with 'the big wing' people, the idea that you got lots of squadrons in the air at once to make a big impact.
But not everybody favoured the idea because they said it took too long to get everybody mobilised. I shouldn't think Biggles would like it. Being an individualist.
Sorry, just read my post properly and it looks as though they promoted Wilks because they were desperate. I didn't mean it like that. I should have thought more before I put pen to paper, so to speak. Because as SA pointed out the Battle of Britain was early in the war. In reality there was no real reason why he shouldn't have been promoted. I'm assuming he wasn't married and so was able to devote himself to his career (much like Biggles and Co).
ReplyDeleteI thought at first it was one of those situations like in WWI when people were dying so fast that you'd have 19 or 20 year olds getting to be squadron leaders and everything, but I don't know if that was the case in WWII?
ReplyDeleteAnd Wilks' comment that he took twenty years to get to Group Captain is surely nonsense? Assuming he ended the war as a Major like Biggles, he then left the RFC and went off to do his South America thing (and met Biggles and Algy in Flies Again). He came back for WWII and was still a major by the time of Spitfire Parade. That means he rose to Group Captain in just a couple of years from Major!
What did he do, save the entire planet???
Maybe he also had a doting Mama with friends in high places, prepared to pull a few strings....
ReplyDeleteBit old for his mama to be pulling strings though...he must have been like fifty by the time the war was over!
ReplyDeleteThe RAF equivalent of a Major is Squadron Leader so he went up two ranks. That's do-able depending on what he was doing and where he went. Maybe Khartoum where he met Bertie wasn't a popular posting so he got the promotion because he offered to go!
ReplyDeleteI always thought that the jump from Flt. Lt. to Major was fairly fast, but after that would go slower as most of the people who died during war would be the lower ranks and not the brass hats?
ReplyDeleteThere was no rank of Major in the RAF, that belonged to the old RFC. The equivalent is Squadron Leader which is the next step up from a Flt-Lt. Promotion would also depend on how many 'appointments' at Sqn Ldr were available. So it could be rapid promotion or not so rapid. During the war, of course, the lower ranks were killed off at a higher rate than the brass hats. sometines, Unfortunately, it was a case of waiting for 'dead men's shoes'. Look at Algy in 'Fails to Return' He would never have got to be a Sqn Ldr unless the brass hats thought Biggles was dead.
ReplyDeleteOr is there something I'm missing and I'm barking up the wrong tree, Major-wise?
ReplyDeleteI'd say there was plenty of time for Wilks to progress from Squadron Leader in 1941 to Wing Commander and Group Captain by the end of the war. Look at Group Captain Bader! And he spent quite a long time as a prisoner...
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that Wilks would just have to be doing the right sort of job - such as the Big Wings and the like.
It wouldn't mean that he was better than Biggles (well we know he isn't) just that Biggles was involved in different sort of work.
Can you see Biggles accepting promotion when offered so he could take charge of and organise several squadrons? Not a bit of it - not his style. I expect he was offered promotion lots of times and turned it down, saying plain Squadron Leader was good enough for him :-)
By the way, FB, I don't think it would be true to say Algy would have never got to be a Squadron Leader unless Biggles was dead. It would be true that he wouldn't in 666 Squadron, but with his experience and ability, Algy must have been entitled to his own squadron. He just wouldn't want it. As Biggles suggested when war broke out, he, Algy and Ginger wanted to stay together, and he hoped they'd be allowed to.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, SA. Sorry. I was forgetting that. I was merely thinking along the lines of a Sqn Ldr 'not returning' for another one to be able to take his place. Far be it from me to run Algy's abilities down!
ReplyDeleteI think that bother Algy and Bertie could have been promoted to lead their own squadrons but didn't leave because they wanted to stay with Biggles.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that it would have been interesting to see the dynamic between Biggles and Algy once they were on equal rank, as Algy had always been of lower rank (but then again he never treated Biggles with any sort of respect so maybe it wouldn't have made that much of a difference).
I would think that Spitfire Parade took place much later than 1941, which is why I was surprised at Wilks' rapid promotion. But you could be right; maybe he just had different ambitions. Biggles has never made any secret of his dislike of messing with brass hats and paperwork.
Actually, for the Battle of Britain, I should have said 1940, not 1941. Mea culpa
ReplyDeleteI have always assumed Spitfire Parade must have taken place during the Battle of Britain because of the nature of the stories.
After that was over and 666 had done it's patriotic bit defending Britain, Biggles and 666 spent the rest of the war being sent all over the place to have exciting WEJ-style war adventures :-)
This is an interesting thread, Soppy. Biggles' lack of promotion past SL has been exercising my brain for a while now and I've succumbed to beginning a new fic about why this might have been. I think the deep, dark secret lies with Biggles, not Wilks' promotion. It would not have been at all uncommon for someone to rise from SL in 1940 to Grouper by late 1945 (provided one survived). There are many, many precedents in both RAF and RAAF WWII histories of this happening. Biggles, is in fact, the anomaly - being an SL in 1940 and remaining so throughout the war. Methinks there was something wej never told us - and I'm exploring the possibilities :)
ReplyDeleteOr, perish the thought, he was deliberately being kept back by Raymond (or Higher Command) because it would be more difficult to remove him from his job as Group Captain than it would be as a Squadron Leader when they wanted something done or, indeed, for them to deploy the whole squadron on 'secret' missions. Biggles squadron was unique and would not have functioned as well as under Biggles . (Don't hatchet me, Soppy, no disrespect to Algy intended.) In times of war, of course, one man's welfare and promotion didn't amount to a can of beans. Or, how do we know Biggles wasn't offered promotion but refused it because it would probably have meant more deskwork than flying? But it will be interesting, RSG, to see your fic on this. A very naughty Biggles perhaps?
ReplyDeleteNaughty??? The mind boggles!!!! (sorry no misspelled pun intended...)
ReplyDeleteHe couldn't have been very naughty - Raymond wouldn't have asked him to be a policeman! Anyway, he was too honourable to be naughty. And Algy wouldn't have allowed it either.
I have always thought the special mission thing was the reason, or just that he refused, as FB says, so as not to get caught in an administrative role. He is after all strictly an action man who leads from the front, not from a desk.
Raymond would want him and his squadron to be available, 24/7 as we say these days.
well, by naughty I mean not keeping his nose clean to the Higher Command#s standards.All Biggles has to do to upset somebody is do the honourable thing as he sees it. But RSG has already sown the seeds in her fic.
ReplyDeleteHasn't she just !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAll is going to be explained :-)
Ah--a new fic. How lovely.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Algy would be a very good SL, by the way. He's more flexible than Biggles and not so rigid where rules and things are concerned.
I think you'd be surprised, Soppy. Once Algy had command he'd have the same expectations of those under his command as Biggles had. It's funny how being given the responsibility of command (whether military or in civilian life) can make even the most irrepressibly flexible of us rethink our expectations and our operations. Oh golly - there's a thought for another one!! "The Honourable Algernon Lacey, Squadron Leader, Commanding 666 (RAF) Squadron".... Now if Biggles had been promoted to Wingco and had to be CO of the Wing, and Algy inherited Biggles' command of 666, I wonder how passive Biggles would be.....
ReplyDelete*Golly, I desperately want that Twisted Evil icon....*
If Biggles got one of those brass hats positions that required him to fly a desk it would be Algy who got to do the legwork and then we would have the Algy books instead of the Biggles books
ReplyDeleteI can dream, can't I?
Carrying on from what RSG said about when Algy had command he'd have the same expectations as Biggles, you can see that in some of the Air Police books. There are times when Algy is in charge and when he is in charge he behaves EXACTLY like Biggles.
ReplyDeleteThe one like the other, either way round :-)))
I have to wonder how much of that is because of Algy's personality being like Biggles', and how much of it is Algy knowing that at some point he'll have to report back to Biggles so he has to figure out what it is Biggles would probably do.
ReplyDeleteIf Algy had gotten his war experience independently of Biggles I don't think they would have similar command styles. Biggles' personality tends to be more intense, while Algy is more easygoing.