The Blue Orchid

The Blue Orchid is the third short story in the anthology Biggles Flies Again. The story was originally published in the September 1933 edition of Popular Flying. It was then gathered in Biggles Flies Again in 1934. From 1935, it was also reprinted in other publications. In Flies Again, this story is preceded by The Maid and the Mountains and followed by Fair Cargo.

Synopsis

Biggles and Algy are enjoying their position as national heroes after the events in The Maid and the Mountains. Biggles cautions Algy about getting too deeply involved with Consuelo Guardia. But they soon get drawn into another adventure, this time, to help collect a fabled blue orchid from deep within the Bolivian jungles.

Plot

See the article under Professor J. T. Smilee for a summary of the plot.

Characters

• Biggles
• Algy Lacey
• Smyth

• Professor J. T. Smilee, F.R.H.S.
• Mr F. Hutson

Aircraft

• Vickers Vandal

Places

Visited

• La Paz, Bolivia
  • Hotel Guibert

• The Beni River

Editorial Changes

• The major changes to the text in the later editions have to do with changing the descriptions of the Vandal to make it look more modern. The editors were really alert to subtle nuances which suggest an old style biplane:
  • "He was lying across the lower wing...." becomes "He was lying half inside the cabin...." This is to disguise the fact that the Vandal is a biplane.
  • "... crawled with difficulty to the cockpit...." becomes "crawled with difficulty into the cabin...." So as to not suggest that the Vandal had an open cockpit which one could crawl into.
  • "... hauled the unconscious form of Smyth onto the hull under the centre-section...." becomes "hauled the unconscious form of Smyth off Algy...." In the former, to do that would imply an open cockpit. Also, centre-section suggests a biplane.

Publication History

• Popular Flying, September 1933.
• Collected in Biggles Flies Again, August 1934 and subsequent editions.
• Reprinted in Modern Boy, No. 378, 1935 entitled Biggles and the Blue Orchid which includes both The Maid and the Mountains and The Blue Orchid.
• Reprinted in Out of the Blue edited by Flight Lieutenant (W E Johns), Ace Publishing Co., 1938.