Bandy Papers

The year is 1916 and subversive young Bartholomew Bandy is leaving behind hearth & home, religion & boiled cabbage, to fight in the Great War, where the blank, expressionless face he developed for annoying the pious hypocrites of his home town gets a new use in driving senior officers and other pompous figures of authority apoplectic with rage. Like any young man setting out to find his fortune, Bandy has many first encounters, some of which, like his first encounter with British plumbing, nearly kill him. Others, such as his first encounter with rum, nearly kill his commanding officer. But when that colonel recommends Bandy for the Royal Flying Corps (largely because the average life expectancy for pilots was six weeks), he inadvertently does the young lieutenant a good turn by helping Bandy find his true genius – flying. This revised and expanded edition is volume one of the 9-book Bandy Papers series.

Promoted from the rank of Acting Temporary Captain in a Royal Flying Corps training squadron, to that of very temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in the Air Ministry, ace pilot Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy blots his copybook with an ill-considered speech, flies to Ireland by mistake, and is sent back to the chaos of the Western Front as a lieutenant with the 13th Bicycle Battalion (also known as, "Captain Craig and the Forty Thieves"). Reclaimed by the newly, hatched RAF that had just been born on April Fools' Day, Bandy, now a major, survives Irish gun-runners, Bolshevik spies, and his honeymoon with only minor injuries and major embarrassment.

It's 1918, and Bandy has survived the trenches and the war in the air, but now that he has his own squadron to command there are even worse things in store for him. His adjutant. A parachute test. A Paris dentist. Love. The wrath of Brigadier Soames. Halifax hospitality... And when a new German biplane comes along that can out-perform even the Dolphin, it looks like it's the end of the war for Bandy. Volume III of Donald Jack's award-winning Bandy Papers series.

The Great War may be finished, but Bartholomew Bandy isn't. After not quite succeeding in defeating communism in Russia, he's returning to the New World when he meets shy, awkward Cissie Chaffington, whose first glimmerings of interest in aviation appear when she sends a cooked duck soaring through the ship's first-class dining room. More than just terminal embarrassment stands in the way of their happiness, however. Her father, for example, takes a violent dislike to Bandy, even before Bandy blows up Cyril Chaffington's hotel. And then, who should turn up but the diminutive Dasha, the former Bolshevik (sort of) nurse whom Bandy married (sort of) in Russia, where she betrayed him (more or less) to the mercy (or lack thereof) of the Red Cavalry. Between sorting all of this out, carrying airmail, and trying to start his own aviation business while dodging flappers and bootleggers, Bandy hardly has time to be a silent movie star... This edition includes "Banner's Headline", a radio play by Donald Jack published here for the first time. In it we discover what happens when Arthur Banner, a rocket scientist, gets, passed over for promotion one too many times, and decides to resign to work on a project of his own.

Back home in Gallop to set up an aircraft company after the First World War, Bandy finds himself having to get involved in all sorts of unsavoury business, from rum-running to running for Parliament, before he finally finds himself running from the law... "Me Too" is volume of five of Donald Jack's award-winning series about flying ace Bartholomew Bandy.

It's 1924, and Bandy is making a solo flight across the Atlantic in the Gander, a seaplane of his own design. Not for fame though, he's fleeing from arrest for train robbery, from his job as Minister of Defense, and from his would-be assassin and friend George Garanine. From Iceland, to Iraq, to St Pancreas Hospital in London, Bandy's career has never been more complicated, or his luck more of a roller coaster. When he finds new employment as Deputy Supreme Being of a mercenary air force, Bandy begins to feel that the whole, British Empire has a grudge against him. But, at least the pay is good...

It is 1925 and First World War air ace Bartholomew Bandy has finally found a secure post-war job, as commander of the Maharajah of Jhamjarh's new air force. The only problem is that the British Raj is not so happy with him for setting up a rival air power inside British India, and he may need to actually earn his fabulous salary, when a neighboring princely state shows signs of preparing for war...

Bandy is back! It's 1940, and the intrepid air ace of WWI is eager to join the fight against Germany. Unfortunately, everyone seems to think Bandy is too old to be flying Spitfires, and should go quietly into retirement to polish his medals and knighthoods. Bandy, however, has other ideas, and uses his friends and/or enemies in high places to maneuver himself into the Battle of Britain. This edition also includes, Donald Jack's novelette "Where Did Rafe Madison Go?" Jack wrote the story just as the fate of the Avro Arrow was still up in the air (the first test flight, taking place in March '58, and the program's termination coming only four months after the story was, published). In "Where Did Rafe Madison Go?" Jack imagines a future delta-winged descendant of the Arrow, the CF-108, and takes us through the RCAF court martial that is trying to uncover the explanation for the plane's mysterious disappearance, an incident that even the pilot, Rafe Madison, doesn't understand. "Where Did Rafe Madison Go?" was produced for television under the title "Breakthrough".

In the aftermath of the Normandy invasion, Bandy continues to bob through the ranks like a cork at sea, persecuted by one of his pilots and pursued by Gwinny, who just can't understand why her attempt to have him convicted of treason has soured their relationship. Love rears its (elegant, Belgian) head again, the King needs a man of tact and discretion for a delicate post-war job in Germany, and there's an embarrassing parcel of ladies undies to explain, not to mention just why a half-clothed Bandy (unfortunately, not the right half) is in bed with George Garanine, that lazy, loveable failed Bandy-assassin. From Normandy, to Brussels, to Yalta, to Moscow, Bandy's career path is, as labyrinthine as ever, strewn with bottles, battles, and brass hat blood pressure. Of most crucial concern to our hero, as 1944 draws to a close and 1945 sees the last grim push of the war beginning, boozing pal, Philby of the SIS couldn't possibly have any reason to get Bandy sent to the Yalta Conference except as a translator, right? And, Stalin can't really be out to get Bandy, just because he happens to know that a certain Soviet leader was once a Tsarist agent provocateur. After all, we all know Uncle Joe isn't the type to hold a grudge. Will Bandy survive? Will he get the, er, mature, middle-aged lady (unaccountably still in love with her lazy, loveable, long-lost husband)? Will a plane be, purloined? Will his last few hairs hold out?