But what if Raymond hadn’t come along to
offer Biggles a job? Would Biggles have been happy doing some sort of civil
flying gig, sort of modern day Charter
Pilot? Would he be doing some of those aerial display shows? Is there such
a thing as professional plane racing?
(Oddly, it’s just occurred to me to wonder
what Biggles was doing post-WWI when all those trans-Atlantic flights were
going on? Being a pilot and with Algy at his side, surely he would have at
least attempted such a flight? *new fic idea lightbulb*)
What do you think Biggles and the others
would have done post-WWII if they hadn’t become policemen?
Biggles never seemed very keen on record-breaking flights - he probably thought they were boring or pointless. Except that in "Bob's Box" Biggles Flies Again he made a remark about record-breaking (the Vandal had been swept along rather suer-fast by a tropical typhoon at the time). But even then the way he said it he made it sound as if it was not his sort of thing unless unavoidable because of being swept along in a tropical storm!
ReplyDeleteI can't imaging what he and Algy would have done had Raymond not turned up with his offer. They were both getting a bit old for crazy things, and the world must have been a very different place post-WWII to what it had been in the 1930s. More legislation, more air control, less fun...
I'm sure he would never have taken part in flying displays or the like, nor would Algy. Much too far beneath them. Maybe they'd have gone abroad, or joined the intelligence people (rather than the police).
WEJ liked detective stories - he must have decided it was the perfect outlet for his favourite hero.
Sorry - I didn't mean to be negative about your fic idea :-)
ReplyDeleteI expect Ginger would have LOVED to do a record-breaking flight, and he'd have expected Biggles and Algy to organise it AND win. And we know Bertie is keen on racing :-)
But were there so many post WWII? I always think of them as between-the-wars things but I expect that is just my ignorance because I have only come across them in the 1930s Biggles books!
MIND YOU... who is going to be left after your current fic. If you don't put Biggles and Algy back together HAPPILY, you may not live long enough to write any more fics... No bunker will be deep enough. And I am arranging to get some bouncing bombs, in case...
Sorry Soppy - you did mean record flights post WWI - too much staring at the computer, too much working today, trying to catch up before another lot gets plonked on the publisher's website...
ReplyDeleteApologies for careless reading :-(
An interesting question, Soppy.I can't see them doing anything other than what they'd done in between the wars, but of course, as SA pointed out, things were different after WWII. Probably working for Raymond again on an Ad-hoc basis. There was, after all, quite a few things going on during the Cold Wat,the crisis of the Berlin Airlift, Korea, the Mau-Mau rising, Suez crisis etc. Lots of things for them to get their teeth into.
ReplyDeleteWell -
ReplyDeleteGinger might have married Jeanette,moved into a London flat (a wedding present from Biggles and Algy)had ten kids and been forever more short of cash trying to raise them.
Biggles might have married Jane,be forced to move to America, to give up smoking and to be forever more at Jane's beck and call.
Bertie might have returned to his estate, having nothing more exciting to do, but as all stately homes were at that time hard pressed, he might be forced to open the house to the public and turn the grounds into a safari park to make ends meet.He would no longer need to hunt big game - it would be living in his own garden...He might not like becoming a tour guide but he would be an attraction in his own right...
And Algy,with no ties and no telephones to guard would be free to take up round the world yachting, privately funded adventures and crazy aeronautical challenges....he'd probably become quite well known for his feats and they'd end up making television documentaries about his exploits...
he'd probably become something of a national treasure and wouldn't be able to go out without getting mobbed...
All in all maybe it was for the best Raymond came calling that day....
Oh no, I think your scenario is much better, JJ - especially the television documentaries:-)))
ReplyDeleteEven though that leaves Biggles in America still married to the Dreadful Jane?
ReplyDeleteI think I might cope with that in exchange for Algy documentaries :-)
ReplyDeleteMaybe Biggles and Jane might occasionally feature in them? or just Biggles?
Anyway, Jane will have bene killed off by then, WON'T SHE, SOPPY?????
I always thought it was kind of weird that someone like Biggles, who hates red tape, would work as a policeman. There are many times in the books where he wants to do something but is told he can't--Follows On would be one example of that, where he threatened to resign if they didn't let him go after the lad he sent in.
ReplyDeleteHe and Algy would be much better off doing their saving the world thing as vigilantes.
As alternate universes go, I like yours, JJ :-)
ReplyDeleteA fic from JJ?
ReplyDeleteBelieve me - I don't think anyone would want a fic from JJ!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure our boys would be safe in my hands. I might be able to get them in to trouble alright, but I'm not so convinced I'd be able to get them all back out of it again by the end....
I'm happy to leave that sort of thing to the Masters in the field - Sopwith and Co.
Judging from the comments on my fics, I don't think I'm too much of a master! I'm just a coward who enjoys getting the boys into trouble, and then caves to public pressure to get them out again...
ReplyDelete