Footnotes

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Chapter 1

^*1 Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Force medals.

^*2 The officer in charge of assisting the Commanding Officer.

^*3 This adventure appears as a short story in Biggles Flies Again.

^*4 An aircraft able to land on sea or land.

^*5 A flat-bottomed Chinese sailing boat, sometimes also fitted with an engine.

^*6 Slang: been fooled.

^*7 This story is set in the later years of the Second World War.

^*8 Now Malaysia.

^*9 Japanese forces attacked Malaya, a British colony, in 1941, rapidly defeating British and Allied forces during the following weeks.

Chapter 2

^*1 Oriental labourers.

^*2 A large, heavy knife, used by the Malays as a weapon.

^*3 Extracting the liquid from the trees, from which rubber is made.

^*4 Small native boats.

^*5 Give up his position in the army.

^*6 American-built by Consolidated, converted from the four-engined heavy bomber which carried a maximum bomb load of 12800Ib, armed with nine machine guns for defence.

Chapter 3

^*1 This machine, an American built high-wing cantilever all-metal monoplane, carries the U.S. Navy and Coastguard designation of J4F—1 but in the R.A.F. it is known as the Gosling. The hull is divided into five watertight compartments. There is enclosed seating accommodation for five passengers. Cruising speed is about 150 m.p.h. See cover illustration.

^*2 See Biggles and the Secret Mission published by Red Fox.

^*3 Slang: man who grows and trades in teak.

^*4 American Lockheed Lightning, a twin-engined single seat fighter armed with a cannon and four machine guns. Top speed 350 mph.

^*5 Slang: corned beef.

Chapter 4

^*1 Malay: Sir.

Chapter 6

^*1 Now Thailand.

Chapter 8

^*1 Now the Gulf of Thailand.

^*2 Greasers kept the moving parts of the Engine room machinery well oiled, while the stokers kept the boilers full of coal.

Chapter 10

^*1 Common name for Japanese single-seat Mitsubishi ‘Zeke’ type O fighter armed with two machine guns synchronised to fire through the propellers and two 20mm Cannon in the wings. See cover illustration.

^*2 R.A.F. slang for bombs.

^*3 Slang: a look.

Chapter 11

^*1 A very sharp Malay dagger with a wavy blade.

^*2 Hamlet or village.

^*3 A name applied to any small boat of Chinese pattern.

^*4 A nautical measurement, about 180 metres.

^*5 A fleet of small ships.

^*6 Before the radio communication was common on ships, signal lamps were often used to send messages between ships by flashing morse code signals. They are still in use today where radio is unsafe or unusable.

Chapter 12

^*1 His crash—See Biggles in the Orient, published by Red Fox.

^*2 Phosphorus-loaded bullets whose course through the air can be seen by day or night.

^*3 Foot-operated lever which the pilot uses to control the direction of flight.

^*4 National flag of Japan, a red sun on a white background.

Chapter 13

^*1 Non-commissioned officer e.g. a corporal or a sergeant.

^*2 ‘Very good, sir’.

Chapter 14

^*1 High explosive.

^*2 Approximately three metres.

^*3 Artillery and anti-aircraft guns.

^*4 Slang: parachutes.

Chapter 15

^*1 Use their heavy calibre guns to bombard the island with high explosive shells.

^*2 Slang: on the ground.

^*3 A rubber for erasing pencil marks.

Chapter 16

^*1 R.A.F. abbreviation for the Beaufighter aircraft. A twin-engined night fighter or, as in this case, a very successful anti-shipping fighter. Armed with four cannon in the nose and provision to carry either a torpedo, rockets mounted under the wings or bombs. It carried a crew of two.

Chapter 18

^*1 RAF slang for sleep.

Chapter 19

^*1 Slang: aeroplanes.

Chapter 20

^*1 A twin-engined American medium bomber with a crew of 6, top speed 305 mph and able to carry 40001b of bombs. It was armed with twelve machine guns.

^*2 American-made Boeing Fortress, a four engined heavy bomber with a crew of up to eight with thirteen machine guns for defence. It could carry 128001b of bombs.

^*3 Anti-aircraft fire.

^*4 Posted back to the UK.