“HAW-W-W-W-W!” That sound can only mean one thing—that Bachelor of Artifice, Knight of Calamity and an alumnus of Doctor Merlin’s Camelot College for Conjurors is back to vex not only the Germans, but the Americans—the Ninth Pursuit Squadron in particular—as well. Yes it’s the marvel from Boonetown, Iowa himself—Lieutenant Phineas Pinkham!

Major Garrity was fuming in his lair. Outside, Bump Gillis and the boys were waiting like a lot of palpitating schoolgirls for the axe to fall on Phineas Pinkham. But you know Phineas—the kind of guy who could be thrown into an incinerator and come out covered with ice cream!

• Download “The Bat’s Whiskers” (October 1932, Flying Aces)

THIS week we have another gripping tale from the prolific pen of Arch Whitehouse! Whitehouse had numerous series characters in the various air pulps—Coffin Kirk, Buzz Benson, and The Casket Crew to name a few. But this week’s story does not feature any of his series characters. It’s about Teddy.

As an observer, a loyal member of the Eyes of the Army, Teddy was a knockout. His reports were lengthy affairs crammed with accurate data. He knew every German trench from Dixmude to Cambrai. He could take and read aerial photographs like a wizard.

However, Teddy was stricken with the same weakness, that seemed to beset many observers at the front during the dizzy days of 1917 and 1918. In the gunnery schools he had been taught the art of firing at moving targets with the aid of his ring sight and wind vane. The theory and practice, in school, had been religiously digested by our Teddy, but out at the front where excitement plays a big part in the game, he had forgotten all about laying off for direction, speed of machines, angles of approach and all that data.

When an enemy bus appeared in sight, it was Teddy’s idea to point the muzzle of the gun at the black-crossed vulture, pull the trigger and move the muzzzle so that the tracers appeared to be eating their way dead into the enemy cockpit. Thus, Teddy’s tracers were directed at the enemy machines but his armorpiercing and regular ammunition was perhaps being fired yards ahead or behind and recklessly wasted. Unless the aerial target was within a few yards of the Lewis gun muzzle, such firing and aiming was useless.

An amazing, hair-raising story of a spectacular air battle and an observer who was bitten by a most peculiar bug. It brought him nothing but trouble until, in the thick of the fight something happened that wasn’t on the program—

• Download “Hunted Vultures” (March 1929, Sky Birds)

THIS week we have another exciting air adventure with Rusty Wade from the pen of Frank Richardson Pierce. Pierce is probably best remembered for his prolific career in the Western Pulps. Writing under his own name as well as two pen names—Erle Stanly Pierce and Seth Ranger. Pierce’s career spanned fifty years and produced over 1,500 short stories, with over a thousand of these appearing in the pages of Argosy and the Saturday Evening Post.

A war has broken out between the Logan stores and the McCoy chain. Angus McCoy himself plans on flying to Gold Poke to secure the furs he needs—whichever buyer gets there first, gets his business. Sam Goldman, a fur buyer and friend to Rusty Wade is in a tizzy—his rival, Pete Lick, has said he’s going to get that contract and run Sam out of business and he’s hired this dastardly Breed brothers—”Hawk” and “Kid”—to get the job done. Sam asks Rusty to help him and the race is on!

From the pages of the August 1929 Air Trails, it’s our old pal Rusty Wade in Frank Richardson Pierce’s “Sky Trappers!”

Ringed by wolves on the frozen waste, his only hope lay in the birdman who dared the arctic solitudes!

• Download “Sky Trappers” (August 1929, Air Trails)

THIS week we have a short story by renowned pulp author Frederick C. Davis. Davis is probably best remembered for his work on Operator 5 where he penned the first 20 stories, as well as the Moon Man series for Ten Detective Aces and several other continuing series for various Popular Publications. He also wrote a number of aviation stories that appeared in Aces, Wings and Air Stories.

This week’s story features that crack pilot for World News Reel, the greatest gelatine newspaper that ever flashed on a silver screen—Nick Royce! Davis wrote twenty stories with Nick for Wings magazine from 1928-1931.

Tip-Top, the biggest photoplay production corporation in the world, is still planning to add a news-reel to its releases, and they intended to buy up one of the existing independents. They were almost ready to buy, and their choice had narrowed down to either the Compass outfit or the World News. The reel they bought and gave their name would become the biggest in the world; the others would simply pass out. Compass was hell-bent on landing that deal.

Gordon Dugan, editor-in-chief of the weekly World News Reel, and his staff were working night and day to land the lucrative deal. Lately the Compass outfit, their keenest and deadliest competitors, had scooped them so often that Dugan was driven to desperation and wouldn’t let anything like sentiment stand between him and success.

From the June 1928 Wings, it’s Frederick C. Davis’ “Twin Flyers!”

They broke him—made him an outcast in the game he loved best. But he wasn’t through—and in the mile-high contest for a scoop, Nick Royce came back!

• Download “Twin Flyers” (June 1928, Wings)