THIS week we have a story from the pen of the Navy’s own Allan R. Bosworth. Bosworth wrote a couple dozen stories with Humpy & Tex over the course of ten years from 1930 through 1939, mostly in the pages of War Aces and War Birds. The stories are centered around the naval air base at Ile Tudy, France. “Humpy” Campbell, a short thickset boatswain’s mate, first class who was prone to be spitting great sopping globs of tabacco juice, was a veteran seaplane pilot who would soon rate two hashmarks—his observer, Tex Malone, boatswain’s mate, second class, was a D.O.W. man fresh from the Texas Panhandle. Everybody marveled at the fact that the latter had made one of the navy’s most difficult ratings almost overnight—but the answer lay in his ability with the omnipresent rope he constantly carried.

Humpy and Tex inadvertently Shanghai the wrong man and find themselves with an admiral on their hands who would like nothing more than to court martial the two of them until their thin explanations somehow work out to be real! “Noah’s Ark” by the Navy’s own Allan R. Bosworth is from the pages of the June 1931 War Aces.

Noah’s Ark was a nice peaceful crate ’til Humpy and Tex shanghaied an Admiral. Then they proved that three is a crowd—for the Heinies.

• Download “Noah’s Ark” (June 1931, War Aces)

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 Tip Top News, 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.

You’d think that once Tip Top News decided to acquire the Weekly News Reel, there wouldn’t be any more shenanigans when Nick and Art set out to get footage of the latest calamities—but you’d be wrong! Turns out, when you move up the ladder of success, there’s just a bigger more unscrupulous outfit making sure you don’t succeed. Maybe you expect that from the other outfit, but not from one of your own. Why that would be “Cloud Treason!”

From the February 1929 Wings, it’s Nick Royce in Frederick C. Davis’ “Cloud Treason!”

Nick Royce, sky-eatin’ newsreel pilot, is back again! And in tumbling skies he rides alone to bring traitor ships to showdown!

• Download “Cloud Treason” (February 1929, Wings)

THIS week we have a brief story by “Ace Williams.” I put his name in quotes because Galactic Central believes Ace to be a house pseudonym. Either way, what we have is a ripping good yarn and more on this house pseudonym after the story.

Andy Hart in his D.H.6 turns hand-springs across the sky in this battle-scarred, fast-moving, quick-shooting novelette of air thrills above the Fields of Flanders. This story is based on actual happenings of the Great War so the location has been disguised as Dieppe.

• Download “Devils of Dieppe” (January 1929, Flying Aces)

William’s “Devils of Dieppe” caused a stir with one reader which eventually led to the whole deal being revealed. “Devils of Dieppe” was published in the January 1929 issue of Flying Aces. A concerned reader had his letter published in the April 1929 issue’s Tailspins column.

“Ace’s” response followed Al’s Letter.

However, three months later in the July issue, the truth comes out in Ace William’s actual response to Al Thomas’ letter.

THIS week we have Frank Sumner’s “Hell Birds” from the August 1929 Flying Ace!

The roar of propellers—the whistling of wind through the wires—the insane chatter of guns—furious breath-taking battle in the clouds! Fighting in the sky-lanes over the scarred fields of Flanders was a thrill to Hellbird—but Hellbird was grounded for disobeying orders! Could any ace with that moniker stay out of a fight?

• Download “Hell Birds” (August 1929, Flying Aces)

THIS week we have an early story from the pen of Donald E. Keyhoe from the pages of the April 1930 Sky Birds magazine. Keyhoe started appearing regularly in the aviation pulps—Wings, Air Stories, Sky Birds, Flying Aces—starting in December 1929. His series characters started in August 1931.

“I can’t help shivering every time I see an ace of spades. It always takes me back to the wrecked Waco out there on the desert, and the poor devil lying in it with the black death card stuck in his stiff fingers. And then I remember all the hellish, crazy things that followed, all marked by the black ace, with a bullet hole through its center. . . .”

Somewhere in the ranks of the border patrol a spy was operating. Day by day fliers were being knocked out of the skies—and always beside the dead bodies there lay a mysterious ace of spades!

• Download “The Ace of Spades” (April 1930, Sky Birds)

And be sure to check out Keyhoe’s Mad Marines—The Devildog Squadron—in five Weird World War Adventures in The Devildog Squadron: The Mystery Meteor! And look for the fourth and final volume of the adventures of The Devildog Squadron this summer!

“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!

Solemnly The Who’s Who of the Kaiser’s Cabinet gathered together and made a momentous decision. Since Phineas “Carbuncle” Pinkham could not be brought down by force in the air, he must be gotten by tricks on the ground. But we all know tricks were Phineas’ meat––he always had better ones up his sleeve!

From the February 1933 number of Flying Aces! it’s Joe Archibald’s Phineas “Carbuncle” Pinkham in “Sleuthing Syrup!”

• Download “Sleuthing Syrup” (February 1933, Flying Aces)

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, finally makes a choice as to which newsreel service to go with and feature in all their theaters. Will it be the double dealing Compass outfit or the square-shootin’ World News Reel service? It all comes down to a “Showdown in the Sky!” From the August 1928 Wings.

“Get those shots and the reel’s made!” And Nick Royce, World News Reel flyer, hurtles his plane into the clouds to get them. But a man must play the air-game square—even when blazing skies bring strange showdown!

• Download “Showdown in the Sky” (August 1928, Wings)

THIS week we have another story from Andrew A. Caffrey. Caffrey, who was in the American Air Service in France during The Great War and worked for the air mail service upon his return, was a prolific author of aviation and adventure stories for both the pulps and slicks from the 1920’s through 1950.

Here, Caffrey tells a simple and short tale of a flight leader, low on gas, trying to bring his green recruits, also low on gas, home without running into any enemy planes. From the February 1929 Flying Aces, it’s Andrew A. Caffrey’s “The Shadow of Death!”

Lost in the fog on their first flight over enemy lines, two Yank flyers thought to be unreliable, prove what manner of men they are in the Shadow of Flying Death!

• Download “The Shadow of Death” (February 1929, Flying Aces)

THIS week we have another of Raoul Whitfield’s ‘Buck’ Kent stories from the pages of Air Trails magazine. Whitfield is primarily known for his hardboiled crime fiction published in the pages of Black Mask, but he was equally adept at lighter fair that might run in the pages of Breezy Stories. ‘Buck’ Kent, along with his pal Lou Parrish, is an adventurous pilot for hire. These stories, although more in the juvenile fiction vein, do occasionally feature some elements of his harder prose.

Buck Kent and Lou Parrish arrive at the Crissville Field for an air show only to find another couple of pilots had arrived earlier claiming they were Buck Kent and his pal Lou Parrish! In an effort to get to the bottom of the whole mystery, Buck and his pal say they’re someone else to give the faux Buck and Lou some “Sky Room” in order to see what they’re after. From the September 1929 Air Trails, it’s Raoul Whitfield’s Buck Kent in “Sky Room!”

They crowded “Buck” Kent—and learned what it was to dare the anger of a master pilot!

• Download “Sky Room” (September 1929, Air Trails)

“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!

You all know Phineas “Carbuncle” Pinkham—that past master at throwing the bull. But here’s the story of one time when the bull threw Phineas—a bull named Rittmeister von Holstein!

From the January 1933 number of Flying Aces!

• Download “The Bull Flight” (January 1933, Flying Aces)

THIS week we have a story by Syl MacDowell! MacDowell was an inveterate traveler—traveling across and all over the country many times—even living for a time in a trailer. Born June 16,1892, in Denver, Colorado, MacDowell found transitory homes on both coasts when not on the road. He worked as a foreign correspondent for the UPI and a free lance writer and rewrite man on various newspapers in New York and on the West Coast. He had a large following as a magazine columnist and general adviser on matters concerning Western travel, traditions, attractions, and opportunities. Somehow he found the time to also write numerous pulp stories. Although he’s best known for his westerns—the Painted Post series is probably his most well known—he was a regular in the pages of Navy Stories, War Birds, Sky Riders, War Aces, The Lone Eagle, Sky Fighters, and Flying Aces from the late twenties through the mid thirties.

This week we have Sly MacDonald’s “The Sky Salt” from the March 1933 Flying Ace!

“Sky skimmers”—that was what 1st Class Gunner Weaver of the U.S. Navy called the seaplanes that patrolled the English Channel. But that was before a certain morning when an old freighter met up with a U-boat in the choppy seas off the coast of France.

• Download “The Sky Salt” (March 1933, Flying Aces)

THIS week we have a story from Raoul Whitfield. Whitfield was a prolific pulp writer primarily known for his hardboiled crime fiction published in the pages of Black Mask, but he was equally adept at lighter fair that might run in the pages of Breezy Stories. We’ve featured a number of his Buck Kent stories that ran in Air Trails, but this time we have a WWI tale!

“Bing” Burks didn’t give the new recruits sent down to the squadron much of a chance. How good could a kiwi be? But he found out when Lt. Dunning found himself at the squadron and on Bing’s bad side—but Bing found out when it counted, that the Lieutenant also wore “Hard-Boiled Wings!” From the August 1929 number of Over The Top.

It was a case of rough meet tough when “Bing” Burks and the fighting newcomer declared war.

• Download “Hard-Boiled Wings” (August 1929, Over The Top)

TO ROUND off Mosquito Month we have a non-Mosquitoes story from the pen of Ralph Oppenheim. In the mid thirties, Oppenheim wrote a half dozen stories for Sky Fighters featuring Lt. “Streak” Davis. Davis—ace and hellion of the 25th United States Pursuit Squadron—was a fighter, and the speed with which he hurled his plane to the attack, straight and true as an arrow, had won him his soubriquet.

The Krupp munitions factory near Metz, some fifty kilos across the lines, has been secretly manufacturing sixteen-inch howitzers. Howitzers of the Skoda, Austrian type—the same type which, early in the war, reduced all those seemingly impregnable forts in Belgium! They were abandoned when the Skoda plant ran out of materials. But now the Krupps have evidently taken over the design. They’ve managed to rush out a whole batch of those guns. And just one shell dropped from a single Skoda is sufficient to smash an entire fort and its complete personnel!

“Those howitzers and the shells for them must be destroyed tonight!”

Streak had hoped he’d get the job in his lightning Spad loaded down with bombs—slip in, drop the bombs, get out. Instead an enormous Handley-Page was brought in to do the job. Seven other members of the Squadron were picked to crew it. But when they failed to return home, Streak sets out to find what went wrong.

From the March 1937 Sky Fighters, it’s Ralph Oppenheim’s “Hell’s Crate.”

Streak Davis Takes Up the Torch of a Grim Sky Crusade Against Von Kobar’s Staffel—While Hun Espionage Institutes a Crafty Plan of Sabotage! A Complete Novel of Sky-High War-Air Action!

• Download “Hell’s Crate” (March 1937, Sky Fighters)

THE greatest fighting war-birds on the Western Front are once again roaring into action. The three Spads flying in a V formation so precise that they seemed as one. On their trim khaki fuselages, were three identical insignias—each a huge, black-painted picture of a grim-looking mosquito. In the cockpits sat the reckless, inseparable trio known as the “Three Mosquitoes.” Captain Kirby, their impetuous young leader, always flying point. On his right, “Shorty” Carn, the mild-eyed, corpulent little Mosquito, who loved his sleep. And on Kirby’s left, completing the V, the eldest and wisest of the trio—long-faced and taciturn Travis.

Were going to get things off the ground with Oppenheim’s very first Three Mosquitoes tale from the pages of War Stories from July 1927! This premier tale finds the inseparable trio separated following a stunting attack on the front line trenches that resulted in Carn and Travis going down behind enemy lines and captured and an humiliated Kirby being sent down to ferrying new ships to their assigned fields. Mindless, boring work for the beaten Ace—his instructions are to avoid all altercations and steer far clear of any action what so ever. Especially since the plane he’s flying and those of the other ferried ships have no guns! But that doesn’t stop Kirby when he sees the Block brothers sniffing around the very secluded forrest the Allies are amassing troops and supplies—he tries to find a way to stop them from getting that information back across the lines without the benefit of guns!

Kirby felt his blood turn to ice, while sheer horror paralyzed him in every muscle. His eyes continued to stare wildly—there, right in front of him it had happened! The Spad of Shorty Carn had vanished—vanished in the same mysterious fashion that had already claimed the lives of those other American flights. Here was a ruthless and bloody mystery which the best minds in the Allied armies were at a loss to fathom, and which those three daredevil mosquitoes set out to combat single-handed!

• Download “No-Man’s-Sky” (April 1930, War Birds)

If you enjoyed these tales of our intrepid trio, check out some of the other stories of The Three Mosquitoes we have posted by clicking the Three Mosquitoes tag or check out one of the four volumes we’ve published on our books page! And come back next Friday or another exciting tale.

THEIR familiar war cry rings out—”Let’s Go!” The greatest fighting war-birds on the Western Front are once again roaring into action. The three Spads flying in a V formation so precise that they seemed as one. On their trim khaki fuselages, were three identical insignias—each a huge, black-painted picture of a grim-looking mosquito. In the cockpits sat the reckless, inseparable trio known as the “Three Mosquitoes” Captain Kirby, their impetuous young leader, always flying point. On his right, “Shorty” Carn, the mild-eyed, corpulent little Mosquito, who loved his sleep. And on Kirby’s left, completing the V, the eldest and wisest of the trio—long-faced and taciturn Travis.

Were back with the second of three Three Mosquitoes stories we’re presenting this month. This week it’s “Roof of Treachery” from the March 1930 issue of Sky Riders. The city of Remiens could not be taken. It is continuously ranged and shelled and whole battalions of crops are sent in to take it, but they all die in the undertaking. Pilots are sent over during these skirmishes, but they never return. The Brass turn to The Three Mosquitoes to try to find the secret behind Remiens’ invulnerability just hours before a great push is set to take the town. Can they discover it’s deadly secret in time?

Fate had thrust upon Kirby, valiant leader of the famous Three Mosquitoes, a staggering responsibility. One lone Yank among thousands of the enemy, he had been placed suddenly in a position where the whole show depended on him. He alone held the secret of Remiens in his grasp. And yet, here he was with his plane disabled and only twenty minutes to spare!

• Download “Roof of Treachery” (March 1930, Sky Riders)

If you enjoyed this tale of our intrepid trio, check out some of the other stories of The Three Mosquitoes we have posted by clicking the Three Mosquitoes tag or check out one of the four volumes we’ve published on our books page! And come back next Friday or another exciting tale.