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The Balloonatics is a short story which was first published in Popular Flying in July 1932 and was subsequently collected as the third chapter of the very first Biggles book The Camels are Coming, published in September 1932. The story was subsequently republished in The Modern Boy Issue 260, 28th January 1933 where it was given the title The Duneville Sausage. In "The Camels are Coming", this story is preceded by J-9982 and followed by The Blue Devil.

The story also appeared in Biggles of the Special Air Police published in 1953.

Synopsis[]

Colonel Raymond offers a prize of quantity of whisky to either Biggles or Wilks, whoever does best in destroying or disrupting the operations of an important German observation balloon at Duneville.

Plot[]

(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)

Characters[]

  • Biggles
  • Major Mullen
  • Batson
  • Wat Tyler
  • Colonel Raymond
  • Wilks - first mention in John's writings of Wilks, although it may not be the earliest in terms of the timeline of the stories.
  • "Flight Sergeant" - first mention in Johns' writings of such a personality but he hasn't been assigned the name of Smyth yet.

Aircraft[]

Places[]

Visited[]

  • 266 Squadron, Maranique
  • Clarmes, Chez Albert (fictional town)
  • Duneville (fictional location)

Mentioned[]

  • Arville - home of 297 Squadron

Editorial Changes[]

  • In the version printed in Biggles of the Special Air Police, the bottles of whisky were changed to bottles to lemonade!

Other Research Notes[]

  • Other R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Units mentioned:
    • 297 Sqn - flying D.H.9s
    • 287 Sqn - flying S.E.5s
  • Raymond wears a monocle here.

References to the past[]

Incongruities[]

  • See Chronology below for anachronisms.

Chronology[]

(see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories)

  • This story belongs to the time period when Biggles has just become a flight commander but Algy has not arrived yet - so June-July 1917.

Publication History[]

  • Popular Flying, Jul 1932
  • The Camels are Coming, John Hamilton, 1932
  • The Modern Boy, Issue 260, 28th Jan 1933 (as The Duneville Sausage)
  • Biggles in the Camels are Coming, Boys' Friend Library, 1938 (as Chapter 4: The Duneville Sausage)
  • Biggles of the Special Air Police, Thames, 1953 and reprints (as Chapter 10: The Balloonatics)
  • Biggles: The Camels are Coming, Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints and editions
  • The Camels are Coming, Norman Wright, 2010

References[]

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