“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!

Pinkham’s really put his foot in it this time—or so it appears—and he’s sent off to another squadron to be their problem. Problem is, he’s been sent to the drome of the Twenty-Ninth Squadron, south of Lerouville. The Twenty-Ninth was a forbidding-looking collection of hangars and huts, an outfit that every pilot who wished to grow old prayed to keep away from. There was a curse on the place. It was known all over France as the Suicide Squadron. And it was at the Twenty-Ninth that hard-bitten individuals who scoffed at discipline and military regulations eventually found a home. . .

They’d been threatening to transfer Phineas for months, and at last the axe fell. Major Garrity couldn’t handle Pinkham, eh? Well, who could?

• Download “The Grin reaper” (May/June 1933, Flying Aces)