Admittedly, proof of the club outside of the monthly editor’s column, “G-8 Speaks,” is rare. As G-8 explained: “There will be no cards — no buttons — no emblem of any kind. The only ones who know they are members will be the members themselves. Just as the Secret Service is run. Get it?”

But even though individual members did not receive identifying papers from the magazine, local chapters of five or more kids did, in the form of a G-8 Club Charter. In order to form a chapter of the G-8 Club in your community all you needed to do was find four friends who also bought G-8 every month, and mail in five club coupons from the same issue. (Some chapters were formed by individuals in different communities connecting through the G-8 letters column.) The June issue reported that the very first chapter of the G-8 Club mailed their coupons on February 28th — actually a day before the street date of the April issue that announced it.

Qualifying clubs received a charter, a small (7″x5″) but distinguished-looking two-color certificate with a blank for the name of the chapter (ideally to be named after a local bird) and “signed” by G-8. In addition they received the Rules and Secret Orders for the Operation of the G-8 Club Chapters a tri-fold brochure (5″x7″ folded) that consisted of one page detailing the meeting rules (including an oath) and two pages describing the club’s SECRET CODE, none of which was ever reprinted in the magazine.

Members of the G-8 Club apparently took their secrets all the way to the grave or the nursing home, because neither of these giveaways had ever been documented by collectors or pulp historians until two weeks ago, when one example of each turned up at auction. The only other known G-8 premium is equally rare …

G-8 and His Battle Aces didn’t offer any other premiums for many years following the launch of the club. Then, in the November 1939 issue, came the “Special Announcement” of the G-8 Battle Aces Club Wings — silver metal wings with a blue enamelled shield in the center, measuring 1.25″ wide. As the announcement makes clear, this is not for the secretive G-8 Club (remember, that would blow your cover) but a separate, “affiliated” Battle Aces Club.

Strangely, after this “Special Announcement” there was no mention of the badge again until the April 1941 issue, when the wings coupon became a staple of the club section of the magazine through October 1942. The wings offer reappeared for two months in the final year of G-8, with a interesting variation: golden wings. Only one example of the G-8 Wings has ever turned up and yet it sold at auction in 2007 for only $800. Like the Spider Ring, the G-8 wings were produced by Uncas Manufacturing Co. of Providence, Rhode Island, and bear the company stamp of a “U” with an arrow through it.

Silver Wings Coupon

Gold Wings Coupon

Comparison of G-8 wings with Shadow & Doc badges and (repro) Spider Ring

The June and December covers of 1936 are probably the two most recognizable Dare-Devil Aces covers and we have featured both of them now on back covers of our books. Our very first publication, Steve Fisher’s Captain Babyface, featured the June cover on the back. Captain Babyface and Mr Death matched wits through ten of the twelve issues that year––their last scrap appearing in the November issue. William Hartley’s The Adventures of Molloy & McNamara started running in the July 1936 issue with the adventure we choose to use as the title for the volume, Satan’s Playmates, in the December issue allowing us to utilize it’s cover in the cover design of that book.

As 1936 gave way to 1937, Blakeslee’s covers move further away from depictions of planes in use during the late great hate and start to feature more contemporary planes in the frenetic melees depicted on the covers. Robert J. Hogan’s The Red Falcon was also printing it last stories in 1937 with the last Dare-Devil Aces Red Falcon story being published in the January 1938 issue. The June 1937 cover seemed to work best with the crimson cover of the Red Falcon’s fourth and final volume. This is the latest cover we’ve used, but fear not, this is not the last update to our covers gallery. There are more covers to come.

You can enjoy these as well as covers from 1932 through 1935 in our Dare-Devil Aces Cover Gallery!

• Download “The Spy in the Ointment” (November 1933, War Birds)

World War I went on for five long years before ending on November 11, 1918. It made a pretty big canvas for pulp writers to paint their word pictures on. But the U.S. didn’t start fighting until June of 1917. Because his characters were American, Hogan had a much smaller window for his stories. Further shrinking of that window is necessary because of references he uses throughout the tales.

One important point in regards to the timing of the G-8 stories is the airplanes being flown. G-8, Bull, and Nippy all fly the SPAD XIII which was built by the French. They were first flown in combat by the French in September 1917, but it wasn’t until March of 1918 that the U.S. Air Service purchased 800 of them for its’ pilots. Because so many Americans had flown for France before the U.S. joined the war, it is possible that some of them would have had SPAD XIII’s before March 1918. The famous flying spy G-8 would almost certainly have had one before the rest of the American pilots. Thus September 1917 is the first possible date for the beginning of the G-8 adventures. There is another important piece of data that points to a later date though.

Hogan often has the Germans flying the incomparable Fokker D VII. It was widely considered the best fighter plane of it’s time. Unfortunately for Hogan, the D VII didn’t enter combat until April 1918. I would consider this as the most probable beginning of the recorded G-8 stories. Historically, we have to squeeze all 110 of them into the period between April and November of 1918. Thus G-8 was facing off about every other day against the worst the Germans could throw at him.

The Red Falcon’s place on the timeline is governed by many of these same factors. He built his famous red fighter using parts from planes that had crashed near his Vosges Mountain hideaway. The fuselage was from a Fokker D VII, the wings were from a SPAD XIII. This would indicate a date no earlier than April 1918. However, Barry Rand also equipped his plane with a Liberty engine.

The American built Liberty made its’ combat debut powering the British DH4 in May 1918, but Hogan states that the Red Falcon’s engine came from a DH9. This plane was not equipped with Liberty engines until August. Furthermore, only one DH9 made it to the front in time for combat duty. Assuming this single plane was shot down over the Vosges, the Red Falcon could not have gotten his engine before August 1918. His 53 recorded adventures took place between August and November of 1918.

Having a historical start for the Red Falcon also provides a bookmark for the G-8 stories. The March 1937 issue of G-8 and His Battle Aces features a brief appearance by Barry Rand. This means that August 1918 is the earliest possible date for this story titled Fangs of the Sky Leopards. It was the 42^nd issue which means that the last 68 of G-8’s adventures had to have occurred in the 4 months between August and November 1918, while the first 41 took place in the 4 months from April to July 1918.

I’m sure the pressures of monthly deadlines far outweighed Hogan’s need for historical accuracy. His great knowledge of the machines flown in WWI is one of the factors that made his fiction so appealing, but it would have been interesting to read these stories with a more careful historical placement of the characters.

• Download “Don’t Shoot” (November 1931, War Aces)

• Download “Framed Wings” (October 1931, Popular Complete Stories)

• Download Aces In Dutch” (October 1931, Air Trails)

• Download “Wager Flight” (August 1931, Air Trails)

• Download “The Other Cockpit” (March 1934, Lone Eagle)