THIS week we present another cover by Arnold Lorne Hicks! Hicks worked in the pulps primarily from the late ’20’s to the mid 30’s, producing covers for such magazines as North-West Stories, Navy Stories, Police Stories, Detective Dragnet, Sky Birds, Golden West, Western Trails, Love Adventures, and a couple covers for Flying Aces!

“Beware of the Heinie in the sun!”

THIS month’s cover shows you the reason for that warning phrase heard in every Allied airdrome during the war—”Beware of the Heinie in the sun!” German flyers had a habit of hiding in the sun, so that Allied airmen could not see them until they were ready to swoop down with machine guns blazing. In our cover, the Yank pilot has just caught sight of tho German plane silhouetted against the sun. Vickers will soon be trading tracers with Spandaus.

“Beware of the Heinie in the sun!”
Flying Aces, October 1930 by Arnold Lorne Hicks

This week we have a story by another of our favorite authors—O.B. Myers! Honestly he haven’t featured Mr. Myers enough on our website, so when I saw this story in the October 1930 issue of War Birds, I knew I just had to post it. The title says it all—” Gorillas in the Air!”

  “But the others?” said the major softly.
  Pop shook his head slowly from side to side. There was an instant of silence.
  “But how come?” blurted a voiced from the group. “Tell us what happened. What’d you run into?”
  Pop turned toward the speaker with an unfathomable look in his eye.
  “The ‘Gorillas’,” he said quietly.
  A chill fell upon the group, as if some unnamable horror had stalked into their midst. Each man seemed to feel the cold hand of fear laid upon his heart.

Flying beasts of the air—the sight of their hairy animal heads meant death and their Spandaus never missed.

• Download “Gorillas of the Air” (October 1930, War Birds)