Biggles and the Plot That Failed by W. E. Johns was first published in 1965 by Brockhampton. There have been 6 subsequent editions in the English language, with the most recent being the 1986 edition by Swift books. The events in the book take place in the mid 1960s in North Africa.
Algy does not feature in this book until the last page when Biggles leaves it to Ginger and Bertie to tell him about what happened in North Africa.
Synopsis
Plot
Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book
Characters
The Special Air Police
- Air Commodore Raymond
- Biggles
- Algy Lacey
- Ginger Hebblethwaite
- Bertie Lissie
Others
Aircraft
Places
Visited
- El Arig
Mentioned
Other Research Notes
References to the past
- Biggles and co. are, of course, no strangers to this part of North Africa but none of their earlier adventures are mentioned.
- Chapter 1 mentions the army of Cambyses which disappeared after leaving Khargar Oasis (sic - in Chapter 2 this would be spelt "Khargah") on its way to Siwa. But the events of Biggles Flies South which involves this legend, is not mentioned.
- In Chapter 2 Biggles briefly mentions Sir Robert Clayton and his discovery by aerial photography of a fertile wadi in the desert. This reference to the search for the Lost Oasis of Zenzura by Lazlo Almazy and Sir Robert Clayton East-Clayton is treated in greater detail in Biggles Flies South. The facts given there are historically accurate. Biggles does not add that all this is very familiar to him because of his earlier adventure there before the Second World War.
- Khargar Oasis was a base for 666 Squadron in Biggles Sweeps the Desert.
Incongruities
- In Chapter 2, Biggles mentions that for five hundred miles east of the Khargah Oasis, the map shows nothing except for the water hole at El Arig. Actually Biggles meant five hundred miles west. Going east five hundred miles from Khargah takes one to the Red Sea.