 |
| Bertie from Biggles' Second Case Image from yabs.isambard.com.au/ |
The first time we meet Lord Bertie Lissie is in Spitfire Parade, where he more than lives up to Raymond's description of him as "mad as a hatter":
"...a tall, slim young man in Air Force uniform, bearing the badges of rank of a Flight Lieutenant on his sleeve. Over his left arm, in disarray, hung a bundle of flying kit. His jacket was undone, revealing a yellow suede hunting waistcoat with silver, crested buttons. In his hand he held a small brass hunting horn."
--Spitfire Parade
Looks like he's untidy enough to be a friend of Algy's!
We further learn that:
"Nobody, not even his best friend, would have called Lieutenant Lord Bertie Lissie handsome, or his face a strong face...his small aristocratic features had...once inspired an adaption of his name to 'Cissy'. But only once. Such decorations as his face boasted, a wisp of hay-colored moustache and a rimless eyeglass, did nothing to correct this impression, however. But his eyes were extraordinarily blue and curiously bright."
--Spitfire Parade
Somehow I find it hard to imagine Bertie with facial hair. I always thought of him as being a clean-shaven sort of chap. Also, since he's the same rank as Algy, doesn't that make him Captain Lord Bertie Lissie? Strange.
He greets Biggles with, as Johns informs us, "a slight lisp", a speech characteristic that he mercifully seems to have lost in later books.
Biggles' brief conversation with his new flight commander is not encouraging. After Bertie leaves, Biggles' immediate reaction is, "That fellow's off his rocker...if the rest of the officers they send along are anything like him...this won't be a squadron, it'll be a madhouse." And then, slightly later, as the reality of meeting Bertie finally sinks in, "'What have I done to deserve this?' [Biggles] whispered plaintively."
One feels compelled to point out that his initial reaction to Algy was similarly negative!
Actually, 'captain' was an RFC rank. These disappeared when the RAF was formed on 1 April 1918. A captain became a flight lieutenant, which was Algy's rank in WWII. And as you rightly say, it was the same as Bertie's rank.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether Johns knew Bertie was going to become the fourth permanent member at the time. Either way, I'm glad he introduced him 'cos he a great character!
ReplyDeleteSA, all these rank things are very confusing, especially as EVS WILL insist on calling Biggles "Major" Bigglesworth all the time. If Bertie is a Flight Lieutenant, what does that make Ginger? A Flight Sergeant? Surely Bertie would be a Flight Commander?
ReplyDeleteSS--that's actually the great Biggles mystery this week, that I'm posting on Thursday!
I think that Ginger may have been a Pilot Officer in WWII, at least to start with, because that is the lowest rank. But he probably got promotion to Flying Officer as the war progressed. I can't remember. I'm afraid I'm not a great Ginger fan so I tend not to notice things about him, unlike about Biggles and Algy.
ReplyDeleteEVS knew Biggles was promoted to the RFC rank of Major just before the end of WWI and that is perhaps why EVS went on using that title.
In terms of RAF ranks - Biggles should have become Squadron Leader. But he was called Major in the promotion. But that doesn't really fit because the RAF had already been in existence for more than seven months when Biggles was promoted.
Either WEJ forgot, or the RFC went on using the old titles for a while. Youn need somebody more knowledgeable than me!
I think it's very likely that Johns got mixed up and just forgot when he was recycling the stories for WWII.
ReplyDeleteWonder why EVS never got promoted? He must have done a lot of good Intelligence work during both wars. You'd think he'd have been promoted to the German rank of Major around the time Biggles was. (Also strange that EVS never got a team together...but that's a question for another day.)
In one of the books - forget which one now - EVS did confess that, inspired by Biggles success, he once tried to get a team together and run it along the lines of Biggles and Co. but that it failed because it lacked the comradeship which existed between Biggles and his pals. (In other words he couldn't find another Algy!:-) )
ReplyDeleteOf course he couldn't find another Algy--does he imagine that people like Algy grow on bushes? *big heart*
ReplyDeleteI think that was in Takes a Holiday though evs may have said it more than once.
ReplyDeleteOf course he couldn't find another Algy - Algy is unique. And he wouldn't have been crawling round the northern British moors with a busted ankle only to stumble on a ginger-haired hero-worshipper either :-)
I feel sorry for EVS sometimes. Every time he tries to do something, Biggles shows up, and then he knows he's going to lose. Poor chap.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Biggles' rank (this may have already been explained - if it has, just humour me :))
ReplyDeleteMajor is the army equivalent of Squadron Leader. I agree that wej doesn't appear to have acknowledged the newly formed RAF ranks in his WWI stories set in the latter months of 1918, when the RAF was now in existence. But Biggles' promotion to Major was equivalent to Squadron Leader both then, in WWII and now. EVS chose to keep referring to him as Major and Biggles never seemed to bother correcting him in their WWII and SAP encounters.
Ginger started WWII as a Pilot Officer (Biggles in the Baltic) but he is a Flying Officer in the later WWII stories. As I'm in the USA at the moment and quite separated from my Biggles' library, I can't check to see which book actually reflects the change.
Algy, Bertie and Angus are all Flight Lieutenants (the equivalent of Captain in the Army).
It was the "lieutenant" bit that confused me, as I believe that in the WWI books that would have been the RFC rank for pilot officer. Algy was a second lieutenant when he first arrived at 266.
ReplyDeleteTotally understandable, Sopwith. I only really sorted it all out when I joined the RAAF - then we were expected to know (and recognise!!) all the equivalent ranks across all three services. You might find this website helpful -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oocities.org/nickdg_westlea/ranks.html
Thanks! It was very informative :)
ReplyDelete"Master Technician" made me laugh. "Master Technician Smyth, could I have a word, please?" It sounds like a rank from a video game or something.