Read the forum code of contact
By: 27th March 2011 at 16:36 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Wasn't the Vandal a development of the Vomit and a predecessor to the mighty Vicious?:diablo:
Just kidding...
I'm pretty confident there never was a Vickers type called "Vandal" (or an Avro "Teuton" or was there?).
Read on here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals
and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles
Al
By: 27th March 2011 at 20:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Having had a large collection of Biggles now with my son 90% of the types mentioned did'nt exist .Capt W.E.Johns was a very inventfull chap.
By: 28th March 2011 at 10:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-But this Sunderland certainly existed. It is from my 1954 copy of "Biggles cuts it fine".
Laurence
By: 28th March 2011 at 11:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Wonderful artwork, but of course not by Johns. Some of the earliest covers were by him. Later they were illustrated by Howard Leigh. After Leigh's death in 1942, they were illlustrated by a number of well-known artists including Leslie Stead, who I think would have been responsible for these.
W. E. Johns probably drew on his knowledge as editor of 'Popular Flying' and 'Flying' in the 1930s to compose fictional types which fitted his stories better than the real thing. Once WW2 started, Johns it can be guessed, realised that more people knew more about individual aircraft types and started to again weave real aeroplanes into the plot.
Some great info on the great man, and some of the wonderful 1930s book and magazine cover art can be found at: www.wejohns.com
By: 28th March 2011 at 11:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Hello L&S.
Yes, the illustrations are credited to 'Studio' Stead.
Laurence
By: 30th June 2014 at 11:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-At the Biggles Forum we have often discussed the Vandal in particular. WEJ was great at making up aircraft, but often it seems he had a type in mind. Like the Supermarine Walrus. Though it is often interesting when he used standard types like the Sunderland. Certainly as a kid it was exciting when WEJ put together the latest plane for the mission! Amphibians rule though.
By: 30th June 2014 at 11:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-This is a model of the vandal made by one of the biggles forum members:
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Was there really an episode entitled "Biggles' Flies Undone" ?
Moggy
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Isn't that a Monty Python sketch? :)
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Fun, but I think a paintjob on the Matchbox Supermarine Walrus kit is just a bit anachronistic. :)
The Vickers Vandal was one of W.E. Johns' made-up interwar types, and in the internal chronology, by the mid 30s was a bit long in the tooth, rather than a brand-new military-only production type!
What he was thinking of was probably more like a member of the Supermarine Sea Lion family, or more likely Supermarine Seagull I to III (the fore-runners of the Seagull V, which became the Walrus) but most probably the Vickers Viking family.
While Vandal sounds odd to us, the Vikings and Vandals were both groups who travelled as well as raping & pillaging! Vickers also had a Vulcan and Vagabond, so such an odd (to us) seeming name isn't actually all that outré.
And remember what the Rover cars logo represented...
Regards,
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:27 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Quote from Wikipedia:
Biggles was parodied in a series of skits on the 1970s British comedy television show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, including one titled "Biggles Dictates a Letter"
"The fictional title Biggles Flies Undone was mentioned at the end of "Biggles Dictates a Letter", but it was never produced."
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-What he was thinking of was probably more like a member of the Supermarine Sea Lion family, or more likely Supermarine Seagull I to III (the fore-runners of the Seagull V, which became the Walrus) but most probably the Vickers Viking family.
Sounds spot on to me :D
By: 30th June 2014 at 12:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Was there really an episode entitled "Biggles' Flies Undone" ?Moggy
No but there should have been. :D
By: 30th June 2014 at 13:39 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-When I read the mention of 'Biggles' Flies Undone', I went off in search of the copy of 'The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok' which I had but, as I cannot find it on my shelves, I must assume that I've disposed of - at some time over the last forty years! I did so because I believed that the 'Biggles' Flies Undone' story appears in that. Having googled the book's title, I note that the wikipedia mentions 'Biggles' as part of the book's content but does not expand on that. Elsewhere there is reference to the book containing a story entitled 'Biggles Flies Down'. Maybe someone with a copy of this book could consult it to ascertain what it contains vis a vis Biggles?
By: 30th June 2014 at 13:52 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Well, at least "Biggles Takes it Rough" was a real title.
By: 30th June 2014 at 19:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Have gone through all my Dale Brown books again, Looks like i might have to dig the old Biggles books out of the loft and have a read of them again for old times sake!
By: 1st July 2014 at 12:36 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Have gone through all my Dale Brown books again, Looks like i might have to dig the old Biggles books out of the loft and have a read of them again for old times sake!
Jolly good idea old bean, they always strike me as being an awful lot better than I remember them when I pick one up for old times sake :)
Posts: 9
By: dhhornet - 27th March 2011 at 13:57
I own a book callled Biggles Flies Again, circa 1934 ish?, in it Biggles and co fly around in a plane callled a Vickers Vandal, I have seached but cannot find a plane of this name, the closest I can find, that looks like the picture in the book is a Walrus. Is this Biggles actual plane??