THIS week we have a story by another of our favorite authors—Harold F. Cruickshank! Cruickshank is popular in these parts for the thrilling exploits of The Sky Devil from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces, as well as those of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces and The Red Eagle in Battle Birds. He wrote innumerable stories of war both on the ground and in the air.

From the October 1936 issue of Sky Fighters—Lieutenant Carter was to be pitied. Carter’s nerve fibres had been frayed by constant action, frayed to such an extent that not even a stiff slug of liquor held him up now. It was pitiful. Carter, the hell-cat of “A” Flight, the man with a long list of Hun ships to his log—was done. Washed out—unless he could find a “Hell-Fire Cure!”

An Ace of the Air Rides Like a Winged Devil Against the Flaming Guns of the Enemy!

• Download “Hell-Fire Cure” (October 1936, Sky Fighters)

THIS week we have a story by another of our favorite authors—Harold F. Cruickshank! Cruickshank is popular in these parts for the thrilling exploits of The Sky Devil from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces, as well as those of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces and The Red Eagle in Battle Birds. He wrote innumerable stories of war both on the ground and in the air. Here we have his take on the squadron of “Outlawed Aces”—those aces purposely listed as dead so they can be recruited for special missions much like Keyhoe’s Vanished Legion!

From the September 1934 issue of Sky Birds—

The thunder of guns rumbled constantly, ominously, past that secret drome in the badlands back of the Meuse River. And in the tiny hiding place were three men whose garb was strangely unmarked, whose wrists bore no identification tags. For they were a flight of vanished men—and their orders were known only to a few.

• Download “Outlawed Ace” (September 1934, Sky Birds)

THIS week we have a story by another of our favorite authors—Harold F. Cruickshank! Cruickshank is popular in these parts for the thrilling exploits of The Sky Devil from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces, as well as those of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces and The Red Eagle in Battle Birds. He wrote innumerable stories of war both on the ground and in the air. Here we have a story of acting Captain “Nim” Halsey—sent by intelligence to find the leak at Squadron 36. His search for the leak leads Nim all the way to “The Devil’s Forest!”

From the July 1935 issue of Sky Fighters—

Deep in the Craggy Badlands of the Ardennes, Grim Horror Stalked—and Halsey Had to Act Quickly!

• Download “The Devil’s Forest” (July 1935, Sky Fighters)

THIS month we’re spotlighting the work of Canada’s favorite son, Harold F. Cruickshank. We’ve had some good stories the past couple weeks spanning his pulp career. Unfortunately, like all great things, it must come to an end. And we’re ending our month devoted to Harold F. Cruickshank with his obituary.

In finding his obituary, we discovered that his lifespan as listed around the internet is wrong. He did not pass in 1965, but fourteen years later on March 31st, 1979—ten days after his 86th birthday!

So, without further ado—

War-era author dies after lengthy illness

Edmonton Journal, Edmonton, Canada • Tuesday, 3 April 1979, pD8

One of Edmonton’s most prolific authors, Harold Cruickshank, is dead at 86.

The writer of numerous action-adventure stories, Mr. Cruickshank died Saturday in the Misericordia Hospital. He had been in failing health for several months.

His early wartime stories appeared regularly in American, Canadian and British ‘pulp’ magazines, so named because they were printed on newsprint rather than fine paper. They were often looked upon as being too racy.

Mr. Cruickshank’s career began in the early 1920s and continued almost to his death, though he actually began writing while fighting in Belgium in 1915.

Soldiers in his battalion, the 7th Canadian Infantry, were asked to write something to keep them busy. For his piece he received first prize. It was later sold and published in a British magazine.

After being wounded in the Battle of the Somme, he was discharged in 1918.

Bom in Wales of Scottish parents, he emigrated to Alberta with his father and brother in 1905 settling near Barrhead. But because of his health he was unable to return to homesteading and settled in Edmonton where he worked for the education department.

In his spare time he became one of the more popular pulp authors. He began writing full-time, selling his first major story in 1923 to Western Home Monthly, forerunner of Chatelaine.

He often produced and sold up to eight 6,000-word stories a month published under various pseudonyms, the most well-known being Bert Fraser.

Stories ran in such famous magazines of the day as Battle Stories, Battle Birds, Battling Aces, Dare-devil Aces, Air War and Sky Fighters, under titles like “The Village of The Living Dead,” “Judgment of The War Gods” and “Where Death Lurks Deep.”

Drawing on his own war experiences as background, his characters were often involved in war exploits. He created heroes like Captain Bill Dawe the Sky Devil, a First World War flying ace, whose escapades were run in serials. Dawe was patterned after Mr. Cruickshank’s own infantry commander.

As the demand for war stories began to fade he turned to writing wilderness adventure stories based on his early homesteading experiences.

In addition to changing times, he also found himself competing with other popular pulp writers of the day — Erie Stanley Gardner, Luke Short, James Warner Bellah and George Fielding Eliot.

The emergence of modem magazines, paperbacks and television eventually killed the pulp magazines, a situation which Mr. Cruickshank, according to son-in-law Bert Nightingale, found disturbing.

“He worried about its effects on young people,” said Mr. Nightingale. “While he did not have a simon pure attitude, he felt his writing as it used to be was more suitable.”

Mr. Cruickshank was also a frequent contributor to Liberty and Maclean’s magazines, as well as to the old Edmonton Journal feature Third Column.

Recent works were published in Heritage Magazine and other government publications. Tie received an Alberta Achievement Award for writings on pioneer life.

Mr. Cruickshank lived at 10925 126th St. for almost 40 years. He is survived by his wife, Dolly; a daughter, Edith (Scotty) Nightingale; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A son, John, died in 1945.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Foster and McGarvey Chapel.

• Download “War-era author dies after lengthy illness”
  (April 3, 1979, Edmonton Journal)
• Download “Well known Alberta writer dies”
  (April 4, 1979, The Leader Post)

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. After the Second World War, taste again shifted toward westerns, Cruickshank was right there cranking them out for magazines like 10 Story Western Magazine, Western Short Stories, Texas Rangers, Dime Western, Popular Western, Thrilling Western, New Western Magazine, Wild West Weekly, North-West Romances, Thrilling Ranch Stories, Big Book Western, Rodeo Romances, .44 Western, West, Exciting Western, and Range Riders Western!

Cruickshank wrote 35 stories chronicling the trials and tribulations of Dal and Mary Baldwin carving out their piece of the Wild West in Sun-Bear Valley, Wyoming. Cruickshank was born in Wales and emigrated to Alberta with his father and brother in 1905, establishing a homestead when they settled near Barrhead. Ill health would drive him off the farm when he returned and into Edmonton where he worked for the education department and wrote in his spare time. Cruickshank drew on those years on the farm for his Pioneer Folk stories for Range Riders Western.

Here are the first two in the series:

First we have “Wild King Savagery” from the Spring of 1945 issue in which Dal and his wife find the ideal place to start their life in the wilds of Sun Bear Valley. A perfect spot with everything they could want including the most magnificent wild stallion Dal had ever seen—and a half-breed horse thief who wants to catch it.

Dal Baldwin and His Young Wife Face Bitter Hardships as They Strive to Carve a Home for Themselves Out of the Wilderness!

• Download “Wild King Savagery” (Spring 1945, Range Riders Western)

Cruickshank followed this up with “Challenge of the Wilds” from the Summer issue. Dal and Mary try to get everything in order at their homestead before winter comes when tragedy strikes!

Dal and Mary Baldwin Face Disaster When Their Horse Dies and Their Traps Are Robbed—but Their Courage Lives on!

• Download “Challenge of the Wilds” (Summer 1945, Range Riders Western)

A listing of Harold F Cruickshank’s PIONEER FOLK stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1945
Wild King Savagery	Range Riders Western	Spr	13	1
Challenge of the Wilds	Range Riders Western	Sum	13	2
Spring Borning	Range Riders Western	Fal	13	3
Red Harvest	Range Riders Western	Dec	14	1
1946
Terror Neighbors	Range Riders Western	Feb	14	2
Wilderness Justice	Range Riders Western	Apr	14	3
Squatter’s Law	Range Riders Western	Jun	15	1
Wild Hoof Warfare	Range Riders Western	Aug	15	2
The Valley Beyond	Range Riders Western	Nov	15	3
1947
Stampede Conquest	Range Riders Western	Jan	16	1
Frontier Courage	Range Riders Western	Mar	16	2
Wild King Savagery	Range Riders Western	May	16	3
Death Loops a Widelooper	Range Riders Western	Jul	17	1
Satan Tugs the Jerkline	Range Riders Western	Sep	17	2
Hell and High Water	Range Riders Western	Nov	17	3
1948
Good Neighbor Gunfire	Range Riders Western	Jan	18	1
Frontier Timber Wolves	Range Riders Western	Mar	18	2
The Devil’s Eye	Range Riders Western	May	18	3
Courage in the Craglands	Range Riders Western	Jul	19	1
Death Rides the Freight Trail	Range Riders Western	Sep	19	2
Satan Dabs a Wide Loop	Range Riders Western	Nov	19	3
1949
Drum Thunder	Range Riders Western	Jan	20	1
Showdown	Range Riders Western	Mar	20	2
Satan’s a Bad Neighbor	Range Riders Western	May	20	3
Wild Hoof Battle Loot	Range Riders Western	Jul	21	1
Satan’s Shroud of Death	Range Riders Western	Sep	21	2
Tough Test	Range Riders Western	Nov	21	3
1950
According to Colt	Range Riders Western	Mar	22	2
Rescue	Range Riders Western	May	22	3
The Scars of Victory	Range Riders Western	Aug	23	1
Backfire	Range Riders Western	Oct	23	2
Cupid Packs a Gun	Range Riders Western	Dec	23	3
1951
Buckaroo Bridge Gang	Range Riders Western	Feb	24	1
Dauntless the Pioneer	Range Riders Western	Apr	24	2
1952
Phantom Hoofbeats	Range Riders Western	Jan	25	3

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. One of the most successful series of animal wilderness stories Cruickshank produced was the “White Phantom” series which primarily ran in the pages of Thrilling Adventures and West magazines.

Olak, the White Phantom, is an extraordinary wolf. He is large, handsome and is an albino. Because of his unusual coloring, the superstitious natives, Indians, think of him as allied with the spirit world and as such influences their hunting, the weather elements, famine conditions and so forth.

In the January 1940 issue of Thrilling Adventures, Tuc Cramer’s brother-in-law Tan goes searching for his lost friend Sa, son of Olak, the great White Phantom wolf king of Nahanni. Along the way he finds himself in the next valley over where the strange tribe there worships Olak-Achak—and about to be sacrificed to the spirit of the White Phantom!

Tan, the Indian Youth, Follows the Trail of the Son of the White Phantom!

• Download “Wolf Worship” (January 1940, Thrilling Adventures)

As a bonus, here’s an article Cruickshank wrote about writing his animal stories that ran in the pages of the October 1944 issue of Writer’s Digest!

• Download “Writing the Animal Story” (October 1944, Writer’s Digest)

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. As the winds of war swept across Europe, Cruickshank continued to crank out aviation stories for the pulps, but he also started to write animal stories. These stories proved to be very popular in the pages of western and adventure magazines.

Otan, a proud she-cougar, fights to save her precious liter of three cubs from the likes of Yeepek, a great bald eagle, and Mishi, a sour-tempered old barren she-grizzly! From the August 1939 Thrilling Adventures, it’s “The Fangs of Otan!”

A She-Cougar Fights for Life and Safety in the Untracked Wilds!

• Download “The Fangs of Otan” (August 1939, Thrilling Adventures)

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. Although the final issue of Battle Aces had just hit the stands in November of 1932, Cruickshank created a brand new series when asked to for the new companion magazine to Dare-Devil Aces—Battle Birds in December 1932.

In “The Red Eagle,” Cruickshank gives us Ted Blair—a Yank Eagle who excelled more than any other with fighting guts and his ability to maneuver in tight loops and slip-offs which amazed and baffled his opponents. His eye was quick, as quick as the flash of greased lightning, and his Vickers twins were deadly accurate. In the dive he was merciless; he struck like a hungry, angered eagle, hence his nom de guerre, Red Eagle. That, and because of his flaming red hair and freckled spotted face.

Cruickshank gave him a brood much like the Sky Devil’s—formed from his old B Flight of the 44th, Blair had played with, fought with, nursed, and built up those members of the Brood—Lieutenant Sam Martin, the tall, blond deputy leader; Lieutenant Pete Monty Rider, the hard-egg scrapper from America’s ranch country; Lieutenant Frank “Spud” Fallon, the Irish-Yank, whose wit was no less appreciated than his fighting quality, and his flair for fixing things mechanical; and Lieutenant Dave “Babe” Deakin, the big-framed ex-fullback of Yale, a good-natured fighting hellcat, whose piano playing and singing, though of secondary importance, brought a big hand from his intrepid pals. They were all men of guts. Each wore a single decoration. Each packed an unswerving brand of loyalty and a fighting heart. These were the Red Eagle’s Brood—big-chested, rollicking sky scrappers, who feared nothing, save the tongue of their leader.

The Red Eagle and his Brood were established as an semi-independent flight under the command of Major Bruce Grove. Unfortunately, Grove had his own problems—a splendid fellow in every way, he had jeopardized his position some months back by taking the rap for a wrong done by one of his former flights. He knew that if he rode just once over a Wing order, his term of command was done. Bruce Grove was, literally, on the spot and Wing was ready to get him. Bill Mond, the surgeon, knew this. Ted Blair, the Eagle skipper knew it too.

With all that in mind, we present The Red Eagle’s self-titled premier outing from the December 1932 issue of Battle Birds!

Zeps stalked above; from below a flight of super-Fokkers zoomed, Spandaus snarling. But the Red Eagle led his devil’s brood straight on; like monster bird killers they dived straight for the staffle of Death, determined to slash a gap through this hell trap—or meet their doom fighting!

• Download “The Red Eagle” (December 1932, Battle Birds)

A listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s RED EAGLE stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1932
The Red Eagle	Battle Birds	Dec	1	1
1933
The Iron Eagle	Battle Birds	Jan	1	2
The Phantom Staffel	Battle Birds	Feb	1	3
The Masked Buzzard	Battle Birds	Mar	1	4
The Gray Phantom	Battle Birds	Apr	2	1
The Black Skull Staffel	Battle Birds	May	2	2
The Red Death	Battle Birds	Jun	2	3
Hellion’s Brood	Battle Birds	Jul	2	4
The Coffin Ace	Battle Birds	Aug	3	1
The Buccaneer Flight	Battle Birds	Sep	3	2
The Hell Busters	Battle Birds	Oct	3	3
Dodoes from Hell	Battle Birds	Nov	3	4
The One-Eyed Squadron	Battle Birds	Dec	4	1
1934
Storm Eagles	Battle Birds	Jan	4	2
Mad Shark of Prussia	Battle Birds	Feb	4	3
Staffel of Skulls	Battle Birds	Mar	4	4
Squadron of Lost Men	Battle Birds	Apr	5	1
The Bloodhound Patrol	Battle Birds	May	5	2
Tiger Patrol	Battle Birds	Jun	5	3
Dynamite Busters	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	8	3
The Bloodhound Flight	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	9	1
1935
The Black Comet	Dare-Devil Aces	Apr	10	1
Gunpowder Eagles	Dare-Devil Aces	Jul	10	4
The Vampire Flight	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	12	1

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!”

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
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
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
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
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
1939
Wings of the Brave	Sky Devils	Jun	01	06
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
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!

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. The first was Captain Bill Hennedy, a.k.a The Sky Wolf, in the pages of Battle Aces. Starting in the magazine’s fourth issue in January 1931, The Sky Wolf would appear just over a dozen times before flying through the pages of G-8 and his Battle Aces and Dare-Devil Aces for another dozen or so adventures.

Hennedy was ably assisted by his famous Yank Wolf Brood! “Red” Kelly was the Sky Wolf’s deputy leader; he along with Pat Maguire and Stan Glover formed a trio of pilots who had no equal in the whole of France. Filling out the Wolf Flight were wolf cubs Jim Evans and Hank Daly—able to hold their own with any German Ace that dared take them on. Together, The Sky Wolf and his Brood were the scourge of any and all German Aces who dared attack the Allied forces.

Here we present The Sky Wolf’s premier outing as he and his brood try to save a stranded garrison! From the January 1931 issue of Battle Aces, it’s “The Sky Wolf’s Brood!”

It was the “Sky Wolf’s” daring scheme—this plan to rescue that stranded garrison of wounded infantrymen. And now unmindful of his blood-drenched face, he was leading his brood straight down into the enemy stronghold—for here was a skipper and a brood that didn’t know when they were dead!

• Download “The Sky Wolf’s Brood” (January 1931, Battle Aces)

Here is a listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s SKY WOLF stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1931
The Sky Wolf’s Brood	Battle Aces	Jan	1	4
The Sky Wolf Returns	Battle Aces	Jul	3	2
Fangs of the Wolf Brood	Battle Aces	Nov	4	2
1932
The Wolf Brood Strikes	Battle Aces	Jan	4	4
The Wolf Brand	Battle Aces	Mar	5	2
Sky Wolf’s Cub	Battle Aces	Apr	5	3
The Brood at Bay	Battle Aces	May	5	4
The Wolf Terror	Battle Aces	Jun	6	1
Snarl of the Sky Wolf	Battle Aces	Jul	6	2
Wolf Brood Hell	Battle Aces	Aug	6	3
The Flying Torpedo	Battle Aces	Sep	6	4
Sky Wolf’s Trap	Battle Aces	Oct	7	1
Staffel of Hell	Battle Aces	Nov	7	2
1934
Return of the Sky Wolf	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Feb	2	1
The Silver Spad	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Apr	2	3
The Outlaw Patrol	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Jun	3	1
Drome of the Living Dead	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	8	4
1935
Legion of Death	Dare-Devil Aces	Jan	9	2
The Torpedo Eagle	Dare-Devil Aces	May	10	2
The Iron Devils	Dare-Devil Aces	Aug	11	1
The Jackal Patrol	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	11	4
1937
Hell Trap	Dare-Devil Aces	Mar	12	4
1938
The Sky Wolf Returns	Dare-Devil Aces	Jun	19	3
The Hell Raider	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	20	3
1943
Fangs of the Sky Wolf	Dare-Devil Aces	May	31	2

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career when he was asked to write about his war comrades in Belgium. He received a prize for the story and continued writing in his spare time.

In 1923 he sold his first major piece to Western Home Monthly, Chatelaine’s forerunner, and a demand quickly grew for his stories. When he first started off, the demand was for war stories so Cruickshank wrote stories inspired by his time in the 63rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and soon had stories running in all the big war themed pulps of the day—War Stories, Under Fire Magazine, Canadian War Stories, War Novels, Soldier Stories, and the magazine our featured story ran in—Battle Stories!

The company commander, Captain Coyne, had been found lying in a pool of his own blood—foully murdered. Coyne had been more than a good pal to Maguire. There was a bond between them which had been cemented during years of service on the Montreal Police Force and almost three years of action together in France. Now Coyne was gone. The skipper had been shot from behind and not by a German! It was an inside job. But who? Coyne was the most popular officer in the battalion, with a heart which was always with his men. But if Maguire wanted answers, he’d have to venture into the tunnels snaking under No-Man’s-Land!

Murder and mystery stalk hand in hand in this amazing story of a dread sector at the front!

From the July 1929 issue of Battle Stories, it’s Harold F. Cruickshank’s “The Tunnel of Death!”

• Download “The Tunnel of Death” (July 1929, Battle Stories)

THIS month we’re spotlighting the work of Canada’s favorite son, Harold F. Cruickshank. The following article from 1974 acts as a fine introduction to this prolific pulp author!

Adventures with Pulps

The Leader Post, Regina, Canada • 6 September 1974, p14

EDMONTON (CP) — Harold Cruickshank says a “green hungry monster’’ has swallowed up the kind of adventure literature he once wrote and peddled to pulp magazines.

Cruickshank, 81, has spent most of his life creating action-adventure heroes but says his brand of story has been replaced with “sex, violence, and pornography, the very things which we tried to keep from the eyes of our younger folk.”

For 55 years Mr. Cruickshank, whose characters include the Sky Devil and Keko the wolf, wrote for pulp magazines, those publications printed on newsprint rather than fine paper.

During his peak he knocked off eight 6,000-word stories a month with titles like The Village of the Living Dead, Judgment of the War Gods and Where Death Lurks Deep.

Using pseudonyms, some magazines ran as many as three Cruickshank stories in a single issue.

“Certainly the pulps caried stories of violence, but it was a violence of a defensive nature.

“When we killed somebody it was because we knew damn well he was about to kill us, not out of any desire to kill.”

Mr. Cruickshank’s war adventure stories were based on his own combat experience during two world wars.

His best-known war hero, First World War flying ace Capt. Bill Dawe, The Sky Devil, had a real life model in Mr. Cruickshank’s own infantry commander.

He said young readers who patterned themselves after heroes like the Sky Devil and formed fan clubs to honor the fictional adventurers were doing a good thing.

The pulp magazines such as Battle Stories, Dare-Devil Aces and Sky Fighters, popular between the 1920s and the early 1950s, sold for a quarter or less.

“The critics thought the pulps should be hidden under rocks and only read on rainy days,” said Mr. Cruickshank.

“Some of the greatest writers in the world wrote for the pulps. People who also wrote for the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers and Redbook.”

“A writer for the pulp magazines had to be continually alert to cope with the changing trends. And you had to compete with the cream of the pulp people.

“When I first started off the demand was for war stories. When they faded you had to switch to air war stories.”

When that fad passed a demand for wilderness adventure grew and Cruickshank met it with his profitable series about Keko the wolf.

The series jelled during the Depression when Mr. Cruickshank saw a German shepherd and a golden collie playing together in the snow.

“At that point I conceived in ray mind’s eye the product of a mating between a wolf and a collie.

“I developed this idea into a series of animal adventure stories running several years in one of the western magazines. I later compiled the stories into a book.**

Mr. Cruickshank launched his career when he was asked to write about his war comrades in Belgium in 1918.

He received a prize for a story and continued writing in his spare time in Alberta.

In 1923 he sold his first major piece to Western Home Monthly, Chatelaine’s forerunner, and a demand grew for his stories.

“For 55 years I wrote more magazine stories than most writers in the country, the U.S. and elsewhere and nobody cared.

“Now they come around giving me halos for what I’ve done. Not that I’m complaining, you understand, I always considered I was just doing a job, like a carpenter or anybody else.”

Mr. Cruickshank now writes technical guides for would-be writers and instructional articles on homesteading for government publications.

The article above Is a combination of two versions of the same article. The one in The Regina Leader Post is the most complete version. The one in the Advocate is more edited, but includes the final paragraph.

• Download “Adventures with Pulp” (September 6, 1974, The Leader Post)
• Download “Heroes of pulp magazines replaced by sex, violence” (July 22, 1974, The Advocate)

THIS week we have a story by another of our favorite authors—Harold F. Cruickshank! Cruickshank is popular in these parts for the thrilling exploits of The Sky Devil from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces, as well as those of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces and The Red Eagle in Battle Birds. He wrote innumerable stories of war both on the ground and in the air. Here Mr. Cruickshank gives us a fast-moving tale of Jerry Cougan, known by his squadron as “The Cougar”, as he tries to save Major Power from the huns and rid the skies of the dreaded von Scheer. From the February 1935 issue of Sky Fighters, it’s “Sky Cougar!”

Racing Madly to the Rescue of a Valiant Brass Hat, Jerry Smacks Up Against Some Real Scrapping!

• Download “Sky Cougar” (February 1935, Sky Fighters)

ALTHOUGH we just gave you twelve stories last month instead of just four or five, it’s Friday, so let’s make it a baker’s dozen. And who better to feature that our old pal Harold F. Cruickshank. We have three good reasons for this: First, Harold F. Cruickshank was not represented last month among our twelve tales of Christmas 1931; Second, this is kind of a teaser for next month when we’ll be featuring Canada’s favorite son and looking at his trio of Aces—The Sky Devil, The Red Eagle and The Sky Wolf, as well as his Pioneer Folk tales; and last, but by no means least, It’s just a darn good story to get the year going!

Jack Malone’s flight has been dwindling down at the hands of the evil Baron von Satan! When his former deputy leader returns badly injured, his face surgically altered, and fighting off some kind of mind control—Malone believes there’s still hope to find other members of his flight, and that he can save them before they too go under the sinister knife of von Satan!

From the pages of the April 1934 issue of Sky Fighters, it’s Harold F. Cruickshank’s “Von Satan’s Lair!”

Corporal Jack Malone Sails the Sky Lanes Grimly in this Gripping Drama of Sinister Secrets of Hun Hate!

• Download “Von Satan’s Lair” (April 1934, Sky Fighters)

WHILE browsing through eBay a couple months ago, I came upon these two snapshots from a family’s Christmas in Memphis 1931. What caught my eye was the little boy all dressed up as a WWI ace with leather jacket, aviator’s cap with goggles, and some sort of tall leather boots(?)! It got me thinking about what stories that boy could have been reading that rather mild, snowless December in Memphis.

So this month we’ll be featuring stories published in the December 1931 issues of Aces, Sky Birds, War Aces and War Birds, by some of our favorite authors—Arch Whitehouse, O.B. Myers, Frederick C. Painton, Frederick C. Davis, Donald E. Keyhoe, and George Bruce—as well as a couple new or seldom seen authors to our site—Elliot W. Chess, Edgar L. Cooper, and Robert Sidney Bowen.

Looking at that impressive list, you may be wondering where a few of our most often posted authors are. Authors like Ralph Oppenheim, Harold F. Cruickshank, Lester Dent and Joe Archibald. That’s a bit of good news/bad news. The good news, we’ve already posted the stories Ralph Oppenheim (“Lazy Wings”) and Lester Dent (“Bat Trap”) had in the December 1931 War Aces; the bad, I don’t have the December 1931 issues of Wings featuring George Bruce, F.E. Rechnitzer and Edwin C. Parsons or Flying Aces with Keyhoe, Archibald, George Fielding Eliot, Alexis Rossoff, and William E. Poindexter. And as for Cruickshank—he didn’t have a story in any of the air pulps that month.

With that in mind—and since it’s Monday, let’s get the ball rolling with the covers of Christmas 1931!

Come back on Wednesdays and Fridays this month for some of the great fiction from these issues!