One of Arch Whitehouse’s many series characters from Flying Aces, Crash Carringer is an American aircraft salesman extraordinaire, adventurer, and soldier of fortune in any Army that came along. He was top man in the field for the Hale Aircraft Corporation of Long Island, the despair of those he selected as his enemies, the envy of those he aided, and at present the particular pal of the British Royal Air Force in the Near East. How much of a pal he was to be this night he could not know, for he was still unaware that the Second World War had broken out in Europe.

• Download Wings for the King” (December 1939, Flying Aces)

Everyone likes a fat guy, unless they have to fly with him. “Tubby” Gorkin could barely fit into the rear observer’s cockpit and no pilot wanted him as their observer. Now, with a new hard edged C.O. coming on, it looked like the end of Tubby’s dream of becoming a pilot.

• Download “Fat Chance” (December 1933, Sky Birds)