On Biggles and other such stories …

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been absorbed in the history of the Royal Flying Corps, (RFC) the forerunner of the RAF. I’ve now reached the point in my first book of the Dragon Orb series, where dragons first enter our world over Belgium in World War I. The more I read, the more I’m torn as to what point in the war to have them arrive. There were so many colourful characters and distinguished flying aces from both sides during the Great War, that it’s hard to decide quite how to make best use of the characters and period in question.

I’ve been buying up as many books about the aerial conflict as I can and the more I read, the more I find to choose from. My chosen resource materials range from the purely fictional early adventures of Biggles, the creation of Capt WE Johns, (this week I read Biggles Learns to Fly) to books like A Short History of the Royal Flying Corps (a mere 500 pages!).

Biggles may be a work of fictional adventure, but it does contain a lot of useful references to places and flying machines that were very much a part of the period in question. As it is also an adventure story written for the sort of audience I’m looking to catch, then the pace and style of writing was also interesting to re-read. Perhaps better books for historical accuracy will be Wind in the Wires by Duncan Grinnell-Milne and Winged Victory by Yeates, both of which are on my ‘to read imminently’ list. I’ve also found some great sources on the German Aces – Knights of the Black Cross by Terry C Treadwell arrived through the post today, and I’ve skimmed the section on Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) which was most useful. I’ll be delving more deeply at a later date.

Perhaps the most colourful character from the Allied forces was Albert Ball, widely regarded as the top British flying ace of the period, though he didn’t notch up the highest number of kills. He was a complete eccentric who insisted on living alone in a shed. At night he was often seen (by the light of a magnesium flare) walking around the outside of his shed in his pajamas playing a violin! I guess it takes all sorts. A fantasy writer couldn’t ask for a better character to draw on than that! There were many others too, but no doubt I shall make reference to more in time.

For the moment I’m in a quandry. My characters have arrived at night above the lines and are faced with a choice of where to land. I haven’t set a date for their arrival and I’ve not decided who they will meet first. Whatever I decide I must do so quickly, as I need to keep the story progressing. However, I feel as if I could read for a year and not know enough historical detail to get every little detail right. It’s a tricky one. The book will not be published until next year, so there will be some flexibility for tweaking the details, but I’d really like to get it right first time. Ho hum! Lots of late night reading for a few days may solve my dilemma.