It was under a cold, grey sky, that Biggles sat in his cockpit the same afternoon, waiting for the signal to take off. He had made one short flight over the aerodrome immediately after lunch to accustom himself to his new machine, and he had satisfied himself that he was able to fly it without difficulty. The F.E.2b. was not a difficult machine to fly; it had no vicious habits, which was, perhaps, the reason why those who flew it were unstinted in its praise.
The patrol was made up of three machines. Captain Mapleton, of course, was leading. Marriot and his gunner, ‘Con’ Conway, were on the right, and Biggles, with Mark Way in the front seat, on the left.
The machine was fitted with two machine-guns, one firing forward and the other backwards over the top ’plane, both operated by the gun
