Worrals of the W.A.A.F.

INTRODUCTIONWilliam Earl Johns (1893–1968) was an English First World War pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the pen name Capt. W. E. Johns. He remains best known for creating the fictional air-adventurer Biggles. Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertford, England, the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a fabric tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. A younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, was born on 24 October 1895. Johns’ early ambition was to be a soldier, and he was a crack shot with a rifle. From January 1905, he attended Hertford Grammar School. He also attended evening classes at the local art school. Johns was not a natural scholar. He included some of his experiences at this school in his book Biggles Goes to School (1951). In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor for four years and in 1912 was appointed as a sanitary inspector in Swaffham in Norfolk. Soon afterwards, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47. In 1914, Johns married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Rev. John Hunt, vicar of Little Dunham, Norfolk. Their only son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, was born in 1916. W. E. Johns was a prolific author and editor. In his 46-year writing career (1922–1968) he penned over 160 books, including nearly one hundred Biggles books, more than sixty other novels and factual books, and scores of magazine articles and short stories. His first novel, Mossyface, was published in 1922 under the pen name “William Earle.” After leaving the RAF, Johns became a newspaper air correspondent, as well as editing and illustrating books about flying. At the request of John Hamilton Ltd, he created the magazine Popular Flying which first appeared in March 1932. It was in the pages of Popular Flying that Biggles first appeared. The first Biggles book, The Camels are Coming (a reference to the Sopwith Camel aeroplane), was published in 1932, and Johns would continue to write Biggles stories until his death in 1968. At first, the Biggles stories were credited to “William Earle,” but later Johns adopted the more familiar “Capt. W. E. Johns.” While his apparent final RAF rank of flying officer was equivalent to an army (or RFC) lieutenant, captain is commonly used for the commander of a vessel or aircraft. Johns was also a regular contributor to The Modern Boy magazine in the late 1930s as well as editing (and writing for) both Popular Flying and Flying. From the early 1930s, Johns called for the training of more pilots because, if there were not enough when war came, “training would have to be rushed, and under-trained airmen would die in accidents or in combat against better trained German pilots.” He was removed as editor at the beginning of 1939, probably as a direct result of a scathing editorial strongly opposed to the policy of appeasement and highly critical of several Conservative statesmen of the time. Cockburn, however, feels that the government was concerned about being so “expertly attacked” on the lack of trained pilots by the editor of the most widely read aviation magazines in the world, including readers “in the RAF or connected with flying.” Johns died on 21 June 1968, aged 75. Shortly before he died he was writing the final Biggles story, entitled Biggles does some Homework, which shows Biggles preparing to retire and meeting his replacement. The twelve chapters written were issued privately in 1997. —Karl Wurf Rockville, Maryland