The Casket Crew Comes Back
By Arch Whitehouse
The Casket Crew’s unspoken code was a simple one: “One for all, and all for one!” Their loyalty was forged in a blazing, withering hell of bullets and steel and dynamite. It was fused and toughened in the cold wind of Death that breathed whenever they flew. On the ground their viewpoints were many-sided and conflicting; but when old No.7 hoiked her trucks from the uneven fi eld of the Independent Air Force at Cassel, the six men that rode along were merged into a perfect, frictionless unit of destruction known as The Casket Crew!
Arch Whitehouse ruled the pages of the air war pulps in the 1930’s. He drew upon his own experiences as a tail-gunner in the Royal Air Force to bring his colorful characters to life. The Casket Crew fl ew their Handley Page bomber through adventures in several magazines—Aces, Wings, War Birds and then back to Wings to fight WWII. This volume collects five more of their WWI adventures from the pages of Aces and Wings. Also included is an afterword of sorts: William E. Barrett (The Lillies of the Field) writing about the Handley Page bombers and the story of the Independent Air Force in WWI.
Stories include:
- “Tracer Target,” – Aces, October 1932
- “Ambassadors to Hell,” – Aces, December 1932
- “The Casket Crew Comes Back,” – Wings, April 1934
- “The Casket Crew Fights Back,” – Dare-Devil Aces, July 1934
- “Highway to Hell,” – Dare-Devil Aces, September 1934
Plus:
- The Handley Page by William E. Barrett
- The Independent Air Force by William E. Barrett