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Biggles's Camel


Folkbox1

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This is quite a fun topic as the last thing WE Johns was doing, when writing those books, was worrying about whether modellers 100 years later would need to know the colour of the elastic on the French Mademoiselle's foundation garments any more than they would about the aircraft serial!

 

I read the first Biggles book a couple of years back and I was impressed. It would, one day make a good film (anything is better than the Biggles Film, Flyboys and several others) as long as they don't use CGI, but the one thing I noticed from the book is WE Johns never flew a Camel, as whilst he did fly Bristol Fighters he got running a rotary engine wrong!

Edited by melvyn hiscock
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I would have thought that Johns would have been at least passingly familiar with rotaries as he did serve as a flying instructor at one point although I can only find reference to him having flown DH.4's and having learned to fly on the Farman MF.11 so both inline engined planes. There is a similar faux pas in the Bandy books of Donald Jack where Bandy talks of being covered in castor oil from the rotary engine of his R.E.8.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Beardie said:

I would have thought that Johns would have been at least passingly familiar with rotaries as he did serve as a flying instructor at one point although I can only find reference to him having flown DH.4's and having learned to fly on the Farman MF.11 so both inline engined planes. There is a similar faux pas in the Bandy books of Donald Jack where Bandy talks of being covered in castor oil from the rotary engine of his R.E.8.

 

 

But it's plainly clear that he modified it. After all, it was the only Harry Tate with drawers in the rear cockpit, so why not a rotary?

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Some drawers in the rear cockpit is one thing but a rotary stuck on the front would look seriously weird, plus in other places he refers to the exhausts sticking up. It would be rather difficult to fit exhausts of any kind to a rotary engine.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were talking about Camels at the December MKSMC club meeting.  I'm not that familiar with the Biggles books myself (although I did read a few in my youth) but a friend is.  He said that there are frequent references to the "Bentley" engine of the Camels flown by Biggles, so you'd be advised to get the "BR1" boxing.

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As  a whiffer, you can paint it any way you'd like, but the ideal is to make it look almost real. Over on one of the flight sim boards, someone proposed  a squadron marking for Biggles' squadron: a hollow square between the roundel and serial rectangle, a little larger than the solid square of 28 Sqn. So far as I know, no other squadron used this, and it has that basic 1918 RFC/RAF minimalism. 

The serial could be from an unbuilt order; B & P had the full F9496 - 9695 canceled. The letter? B, of course--it's a high flight leader's letter anyway.

And if I was doing it, all of the above on a worn, weathered Camel, based on actual pictures or a good profile--no cowlings so polished you could use as shaving mirrors, no wood that looks like antique cherry. 

 

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Since this forum thread began I've reread most of the Biggles WW1 stories.

There are very little in these stories that describe the Sopwith Camels in 266 Squadron. One thing though is mensioned quite often. The Camels had a Bentley rotary engine. In one story it's mensioned that the engine is a 150 hp Bentley, but in another story 300 hp is mensioned. In the story about the high flying German camera plane it says that the Camel normally had a 26 gallon tank. The tank is reduced to less than half (1 hour) and the upper wing tips are lengthened 18 inches to make the aircraft fly higher.

 

Biggles was most of the time, except in the beginning, flight commander of C-flight. Mahoney was FC of A-flight and MacLaren of B-flight.

I've counted that biggles made at least six crashes (totally destroyed beyond repair) and one capture/destroyed Camel.

Once he switched Camel with Batson.

When on leave in England he flies a Camel with number 9471.

The professor has a Camel with number J-7743 on one occation.

 

When it comes to colours it says that: Major Mullen have a red nosed Camel.

It also says that Mahoneys Camel had  "Streamers".

Often Camels of other members of the Squadron are easy recognized which should mean that the have some markings for recognition.

 

Btw Wilks flies an SE.5  with blue propeller boss...

Edited by Matave
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The only serial number I can remember from any of the Biggles books was J9982, which was a captured Camel flown by a German pilot in British markings and shooting down British aircraft.  Quite why that has stuck in my mind for over 50 years is anyone's guess.  (Biggles got the German in the end).

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There was never a 300hp Bentley, just 150 as fitted to the Camel and 230 as fitted to the Snipe. The fact they kick out way more horses than they are rated for is a bonus. I have never heard of extended wingtips on a Camel either. It would require new wing panels as there would be nothing to attach them to on the spars.

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  • 2 months later...

Given the number of aeroplanes Biggles wrote off I'd say the most accurate model would be a heap of broken spars, stringers and canvas / linen.  Or mebbe just a pile of ash.  :) 

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