The Casket Crew
By Arch Whithouse
ONE-Oh-Nine Squadron of the Independent Air Force was the craziest bomber squadron on the Western Front and Handley Page No.11 was the reason why. It was flown by The Casket Crew: Lieutenant Graham Townsend, the mad Englishman, pilot of No.11; Lieutenant Phil Armitage, equally crazy American, the reserve pilot and bombing officer; Corporal Andy McGregor, wearing his Scottish kilts, aerial gunner; with Sergeant Michael Ryan, silent fighting Irishman on the toggle board and Corporal Harry Marks, dizzy Australian, manning the rear gun-turret. There was enough insanity scrawled across the log book of No.11 to make the wildest fiction seem tame in comparison!
The extraordinarily prolific Arch Whitehouse drew upon his own experiences as a tail-gunner in the Royal Air Force to bring to life the colorful aces that flew through his stories. His characters for Flying Aces and Sky Birds were extremely popular with readers of the 1930’s and ‘40s. The Casket Crew was his only series outside those magazines. It ran in the pages of Aces and WIngs.
Stories include:
- “Lost Wings,” – Aces, August 1931
- “Terror Turret,” – Dare-Devil Aces, February 1932
- “Handley Hate,” – Dare-Devil Aces, May 1932
- “The Flying Fortress,” – Dare-Devil Aces, June 1933
- “Thunder Patrol,” – Dare-Devil Aces, September 1933
Plus:
- Notes from the Western Front
- Bibliography