“LET’S GO!” Once more, The Three Mosquitoes familiar battle cry rings out over the western front and the three khaki Spads take to the air, each sporting the famous Mosquito insignia. In the cockpits sat three warriors who were known wherever men flew as the greatest and most hell raising trio of aces ever to blaze their way through overwhelming odds—always in front was Kirby, their impetuous young leader. Flanking him on either side were the mild-eyed and corpulent Shorty Carn, and lanky Travis, the eldest and wisest Mosquito.

We’re back with the second of three tales of Ralph Oppenheim’s Three Mosquitoes we’re featuring this March for Mosquito Month! This week, Kirby experiences the pitfalls of pride when the Boche form an All-Ace squadron called the Avenging Yellow Jackets to take down the pesky Mosquitoes—while Shorty Carn and the lanky Travis urge caution, Kirby’s all guns ahead ready to rush in and take on all the Aces Germany can dish out. Problem is, believing his own press, he rushes into things foolishly and finds himself in “Hot Air!” From the February 2nd, 1928 issue of War Stories—

The Boche was good and sore, tired of having his planes shot down one after another by the famous “Three Mosquitoes.” A special formation of Albatrosses, known as the “Avenging Yellow-Jackets,” was out to finish Kirby and his pals. Another of Oppenheim’s great flying yarns.

• Download “Hot Air” (February 2, 1928, War Stories)

And check back next Friday when the inseparable trio will be back with another exciting adventure!

Frederick L. Nebel, a member of the Black Mask school of pulpsters, penned a popular series about the vagabond pilots Gales and McGill—free-lances of the air, birdmen of fortune, the wildest brace of adventurers that ever came out of America. They were notorious on the coast, known from Shanghai to Surabaya for a brace of wild, reckless adventurers, ripe at all times for anything short of murder.

Frederick L. Nebel, author of the Gales and McGill stories, says of his partners of the skies:

“Gales and McGill have flown before in Air Stories, and I know they’ll fly some more. I like Gales and McGill. They’ve sort of become friends of mine.

“I don’t have to tell you that McGill is a pretty hard-boiled egg. Nor is Gales particularly soft-boiled. But what one lacks, the other has, and, taking them together, they’re no boobs.

“McGill has no tact. He’s a wild hombre and will haul off and pop a fellow on the slightest provocation. Gales, on the other hand, has tact. He can sock, too, but he has a level head and a lot of canny stuff inside of it. And, of course, a lot of his time is spent getting McGill out of trouble.

“However, the main thing is that they play the game. They’re soldiers of fortune out to make the money and take the chances. But they play the game. There’s no double-crossing, and they don’t hire out as murderers.

“And so they zoom in “Sky-High Nerve,” an episode of their fortune hunting in the East. In all their flights they’re Gales and McGill; McGill reckless, Gales planning, both fighting. That motive is behind “Sky-High Nerve” and behind every flight they make. At least I try to make it that.

“Surely you’ve met guys like ‘em somewhere, some time.”

From the pages of the February 1928 number of Air Stories, it’s Gales & McGill in “Sky-High Nerve!”

Gales and McGill, free lances of the air, seek adventure—and get rapid-fire action as Gales plays out his hand against the sinister menace of the Tong. Another smashing Gales-McGill yarn!

• Download “Sky High Nerve” (February 1928, Air Stories)