“Sky Devil’s Trap” by Harold F. Cruickshank
WE’RE celebrating the works of 
Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career writing stories based loosely on his war experiences. As tastes turned from straight out battle field stories to air war stories, Cruickshank shifted his setting from the trenches to the cockpit. With stories appearing in such titles as War Birds, War Aces, Sky Birds, Airplane Stories, Flying Aces, and Sky Fighters.
For Harry Steeger’s trio of Popular Publication’s titles—Battle Aces, Dare-Devil Aces and Battle Birds—Mr. Cruickshank developed continuing characters that ran generally in short novelettes each month. Following on from the success of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces, Cruickshank was asked to develop a series for the newly premiered sister magazine, Dare-Devil Aces. For Dare-Devil Aces, Cruickshank developed his best known war hero—the rough and tumble Captain Bill Dawe—The Sky Devil! Cruickshank based Bill Dawe on his own infantry commander from WWI.
There was no better flight in France than the Sky Devil and his Brood. Led by Captain Bill Dawe, the famous Yank ace known to all of France as the Sky Devil, the brood consisted of Chuck Verne, Mart Bevin, Slim Skitch and Slug Walton. The crimson devil insignia on their silver Spads brought fear to any German pilot unlucky enough to meet them in the air. But the Sky Devil’s greatest enemy might just be his own C.O., Major Petrie, who had been railroaded into command of 120 Squadron over Dawe’s head. Jealous of Dawe’s popularity, Petrie will do anything to bring down the Sky Devil and his Brood!â€
Sky Devil flew through the Hell Skies of 29 adventures in the pages of Dare-Devil Aces from 1932-1935. Cruickshank returned to the savior of the Western Front in six subsequent stories several years later. The first two were in the pages of Sky Devils (June 1939) and Fighting Aces (March 1940). The other four ran in Sky Fighters (1943-1946) where he was aged up and moved to the Second World War where Bill Dawe changes his name to get into the air service and flys along side his son!
Here we present The Sky Devil’s premier outing from the April 1932 issue of Dare-Devil Aces, it’s “Sky Devil’s Trap!”
Swiftly those Yank bombers ripped in, blasting that fake staffel to hell. They didn’t see the Fokkers swinging down from above; didn’t guess they were cold meat—snared in a blood trap from which only the yammering guns of one doomed sky devil could hope to snatch them.
- Download “Sky Devil’s Trap” (April 1931, Dare-Devil Aces)
Here is a listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s SKY DEVIL stories.
| title | magazine | date | vol | no |
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| 1932 | ||||
| Sky Devil’s Trap | Dare-Devil Aces | Apr | 01 | 02 |
| The Green Devils | Dare-Devil Aces | Jul | 02 | 01 |
| Hell’s Skipper | Dare-Devil Aces | Sep | 02 | 03 |
| The Sky Devil’s Brood | Dare-Devil Aces | Oct | 02 | 04 |
| Killer’s Drome | Dare-Devil Aces | Nov | 03 | 01 |
| The Sky Tiger | Dare-Devil Aces | Dec | 03 | 02 |
|
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| 1933 | ||||
| Captain von Death | Dare-Devil Aces | Jan | 03 | 03 |
| The Flaming Ace | Dare-Devil Aces | Feb | 03 | 04 |
| Sky Devil’s Trap | Dare-Devil Aces | Mar | 04 | 01 |
| The Haunted Fokker | Dare-Devil Aces | Apr | 04 | 02 |
| Buzzards’ Brand | Dare-Devil Aces | May | 04 | 03 |
| Torpedo Buzzards | Dare-Devil Aces | Jun | 04 | 04 |
| The Bat Patrol | Dare-Devil Aces | Jul | 05 | 01 |
| Hell Buzzards Nest | Dare-Devil Aces | Aug | 05 | 02 |
| The Sky Cobra | Dare-Devil Aces | Sep | 05 | 03 |
| The Outlaw Ace | Dare-Devil Aces | Oct | 05 | 04 |
| Ace of Devils | Dare-Devil Aces | Nov | 06 | 01 |
| Skeleton’s Drome | Dare-Devil Aces | Dec | 06 | 02 |
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| 1934 | ||||
| The Sky Pirates | Dare-Devil Aces | Jan | 06 | 03 |
| Staffel of Hate | Dare-Devil Aces | Feb | 06 | 04 |
| The Flaming Vulture | Dare-Devil Aces | Mar | 07 | 01 |
| No-Man’s Squadron | Dare-Devil Aces | Apr | 07 | 02 |
| The Storm Buzzard | Dare-Devil Aces | May | 07 | 03 |
| The Derelict Patrol | Dare-Devil Aces | Jun | 07 | 04 |
| Staffel of Skeletons | Dare-Devil Aces | Jul | 08 | 01 |
| Graveyard Staffel | Dare-Devil Aces | Sep | 08 | 02 |
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| 1935 | ||||
| The Stratosphere Patrol | Dare-Devil Aces | Feb | 09 | 03 |
| The Undersea Buzzard | Dare-Devil Aces | Jun | 10 | 03 |
| Staffel of Dead Men | Dare-Devil Aces | Sep | 11 | 02 |
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| 1939 | ||||
| Wings of the Brave | Sky Devils | Jun | 01 | 06 |
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| 1940 | ||||
| A Torch for the Damned | Fighting Aces | Mar | 01 | 01 |
When Cruickshank brought The Sky Devil back in the 40’s for Sky Fighters, he moved his theater of operations from the First World War to the Second World War. Older, more reckless and enlisted under false pretenses, he’s fighting the good fight and watching out for his son as well!
| 1943 | ||||
| Sky Devil and Son | Sky Fighters | Jan | 28 | 02 |
| Return of the Sky Devil | Sky Fighters | Mar | 28 | 03 |
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| 1946 | ||||
| Settlement in Full | Sky Fighters | Win | 33 | 01 |
| Sky Route to Hell | Sky Fighters | Spr | 33 | 02 |
We’ve collected and published all 29 of The Sky Devil’s stories from Dare-Devil Aces into two volumes—Hell’s Skipperand Ace of Devils! In addition, we’ve posted many of the post-Popular stories on the site here (just click on the “Sky Devil” tag below). The books can be picked up through the usual sources—Adventure House, Mike Chomko Books and Amazon!