THE COCKPIT
First Published by John Hamilton in August 1934 as a large format
book (7.5 inches by 10.5 inches) – 192 pages
Rather strangely, the pages are not numbered
in the conventional way in the first edition of “The Cockpit”. Instead there is a number every eight
pages(!) with these numbers running
up
to 24. So there are 8 x 24 = 192 pages
in the book. The Biggles story appears
two pages before number 11, so we can calculate that it runs from pages 79 to
92 in that book.
The book was then republished by John Hamilton in 1936 in a more
standard size (5.0 inches by 7.5 inches) - 220 pages
THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS BOOK CONTAINS EIGHT STORIES
There were also eight LARGE colour plates
by Stanley Orton Bradshaw in the FIRST edition (interestingly one is entitled
“The Camels are Coming”!)
These eight plates are entirely unrelated
to the stories published; however there are also some line illustrations that accompany
the text which ARE related to the stories.
When the book was reprinted by John
Hamilton as a “normal” sized book it contained FOUR completely different plates
by an artist who signs “SOB36”
So “SOB” must be Stanley Orton Bradshaw
again with the pictures being done in 1936 especially for the reprint.
HOODOO – by Kenneth Quintrel
PRICELESS PERCY – by Arch Whitehouse
THE UNFORGIVING MINUTE – by Kenneth Quintrel
THE ACE OF SPADES – by W. E. Johns
The title
illustration from the FIRST edition
This was a Biggles story.
Biggles is accused of incompetence by a General and has to clear
his name. Biggles flies without ammunition during a camera duel with Wilks and
is attacked and forced down by an orange coloured German plane with a
distinctive Ace of Spades on the side. A General sees this one-sided dual and
reprimands Biggles for not firing a shot. Rather than writing a report to
explain what happened, Biggles borrows Algy's Sopworth
Camel and subsequently shoots the German down. The fabric showing the Ace of
Spades is sent to the General as his report. This story was later reprinted in BIGGLES OF THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE and it is interesting to note the differences between the original
adult version as printed in this book and the subsequent children's version in
the reprint. For example, the phrase "He swore, tersely but
effectively", relating to Biggles, is not in the reprint and expressions
like "My God!" become "My Gosh!" Most importantly, they changed the aircraft
in BIGGLES OF
THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE where it was a Fokker D.VIII,
instead of the original Fokker D.VII.
The story
illustration from the Biggles story in the SECOND edition
FRIGHTFULLY BRIGHT – by Kenneth Quintrel
MAD MIDNIGHT – by Arch Whitehouse
THE ENGLISH OFFENSIVE – by Rudolf Stark
ONE CROWDED HOUR – by Kenneth Quintrel
Published by John Hamilton Ltd.
Dustjacket from the first edition showing the original price of 5
shillings
Dustjacket from the 1936
reprint (note the date under the artists signature)