The Flying Squad

About this book

This aviation-related adventure story appears- and I emphasize "appears"- to have been written by a collaborative effort of the famous WWI Canadian aviator William "Billy" Bishop and Rothesay Stuart-Wortley, also an aviator in the British Royal Flying Corps during WWI. The story itself is a sort of "Hardy Boys" adventure, taking place in the vicinity of Toronto, Canada during the early days of aviation, wherein two young admirers of a WWI aviation hero use the flying skills he imparts to them to thwart the criminal plans of a group of thieves. The story evinces the social mores and vocabulary of the 1920's ( Gosh! and Shucks! exemplify the then-acceptable "cuss words", although such epithets as "damned " occasionally show up), with the aircraft usually referred to as "machines". The hindsight of an 80-years-plus reviewer recognizes the incongruities of the situations and on-again-off-again childishness/maturities of the protagonists, but is willing to bet that his 13-year old grandson (it is now 2015) would enjoy the "bang-up" flying and detective work of these intrepid youths ("kitshch intended). The only unproven connection here is that several looks at biographies of the two authors do not mention this opus. Will another reviewer locate positive proof?