This month we’re celebrating the talents of that pulp stalwart—Joe Archibald. Archibald wrote hundreds of stories for the pulps, both dramatic and humorous. His bread and butter it would seem was the humorous tale. He had long running series in several pulp titles. In the detective titles there was Alvin Hinkey, the harness bull Hawkshaw, in 10 Story Detective; Scoops & Snooty, the Evening Star’s dizzy duo, in Ten Detective Aces; and the President of the Hawkeye Detective Agency himself—Willie Klump in Popular Detective. While in the aviation titles he had Elmer Hubbard and Pokey Cook in Sky Birds; the pride of Booneville—Phineas Pinkham in Flying Aces; and the one-two punch of Ambrose Hooley & Muley Spinks in The Lone Eagle, The American Eagle, Sky Fighters and War Birds!

Here the incomparable Dunc Coburn handles the illustration duties for
“They Had To Flee Paris” (April 1942, The American Eagle)

The Ambrose Hooley stories are written as if Muley Spinks were telling us the tale, describing Hooley as a sawed off little tomato who is a demon in a Spad and dynamite with his fists on the ground. Hooley is frequently working some angle at the 93 Pursuit Squadron and getting their C.O. Major Bertram Bagby’s Hackels up.

A listing of all Joe Archibald’s Ambrose Hooley & Muley Spinks tales.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1936
A Fuel There Was	War Birds	aug	32	1
Hun and Dearie	War Birds	oct	32	2
1937
Doubling in Brass Hats	Sky Fighters	Jan	16	1
A Flyer in Cauliflowers	Sky Fighters	Jul	17	2
Jennies From Heaven	The Lone Eagle	oct	15	2
1938
Pfalz Teeth	The Lone Eagle	feb	16	1
Flying Fishy	The Lone Eagle	apr	16	2
Rumpler Stakes	The Lone Eagle	jun	16	3
Just Plane Nuts	The Lone Eagle	aug	17	1
Spandau Re Mi	The Lone Eagle	oct	17	2
1939
Goose Stepbrothers	The Lone Eagle	jun	18	3
Cockpit Cuckoos	The Lone Eagle	aug	19	1
Observation Bus Boys	The Lone Eagle	oct	19	2
1940
Filet of Solos	The Lone Eagle	jun	20	3
From Spad to Worse	The Lone Eagle	aug	21	1
Plane Jane	The Lone Eagle	oct	21	2
Chocks and Blondes	The Lone Eagle	dec	21	3
1941
Spook Spad	The Lone Eagle	feb	22	1
Reel Heroes	The Lone Eagle	apr	22	2
Flight Manager	The Lone Eagle	jun	22	3
Pastry Doughboys	The American Eagle	aug	23	1
1942
Dawn Patrol Wagon	The American Eagle	feb	24	1
They Had to Flee Paris	The American Eagle	apr	24	2
Prussian Patsies	The American Eagle	sum	24	3
A Bargain For Blois	The American Eagle	fal	25	1
1943
Sea Slick	The American Eagle	win	25	2
Francs and Sauerkraut	American Eagles	spr	25	3
Messup––1918	Sky Fighters	Sep	29	3
1944
Cualiflower Alley	Sky Fighters	jan	30	2
Dough Dough Birds	Sky Fighters	sum	31	1
Uneasy Aces	Sky Fighters	fal	31	2
1945
Ambrose Hooley, C.O.	Sky Fighters	spr	32	1
Forever Ambrose	Sky Fighters	sum	32	2
1946
At ‘Em, Bums	Sky Fighters	sum	33	3
Errornautics	Sky Fighters	fal	34	1
Spy Crust	Sky Fighters	win	34	2
1948
Operation Hooley	Sky Fighters	win	35	3

We present as a bonus, Joe Archibald’s first tale of Ambrose Hooley. No Muley Spinks as yet, but all the other elements are there—the 93 Pursuit Squadron, Major Bagby and Ambrose shooting krauts out of the sky like ducks in a barrel while simultaneously working all the angles. The tale of assumed identity is illustrated by our old friend Frederick Blakeslee using a more cartoonish style! So, without further Adoo, “A Fuel There Was”—

He was washing out ships at fifteen thousand dollars a washout—but Ambrose was determined to win the war along with the heart of a girl in Kansas.

• Download “A Fuel There Was” (August 1936, War Birds)

For Ambrose and Muley in action together, check out “Rumpler Stakes” previously posted on AgeofAces.net.

When this pair of wild aces get started, they ruin anybody’s old war!

• Download “Rumpler Stakes” (June 1938, Lone Eagle)

This month we’re celebrating the talents of that pulp stalwart—Joe Archibald. Archibald wrote hundreds of stories for the pulps, both dramatic and humorous. His bread and butter it would seem was the humorous tale. He had long running series in several pulp titles. In the detective titles there was Alvin Hinkey, the harness bull Hawkshaw, in 10 Story Detective; Scoops & Snooty, the Evening Star’s dizzy duo, in Ten Detective Aces; and the President of the Hawkeye Detective Agency himself—Willie Klump in Popular Detective. While in the aviation titles he had Elmer Hubbard and Pokey Cook in Sky Birds; the one-two punch of Ambrose Hooley & Muley Spinks in The Lone Eagle, The American Eagle, Sky Fighters and War Birds; and last, but by no means least, the pride of Booneville—Phineas Pinkham in Flying Aces!

Joe Archibald’s Phineas Pinkham was the longest continuously running aviation character in the pulps. Running in the pages of Flying Aces from November 1930 until the magazine dropped it’s Fiction section in November 1943. In 151 stories, Pinkham bedevils the men of the 9th Pursuit Squadron, all the Hauptmanns and vons the Boche send his way and his hapless C.O. Major Rufus Garrity with his pranks, jokes and insane inventions that seem only to amuse Phineas.

Here is a checklist of his adventures:

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1930
Sneeze That Off	Flying Aces	Nov	6	6
1931
The Hardware Ace	Flying Aces	Feb	6	9
Rock-A-Bye Jerry	Flying Aces	Jun	9	1
Bargains For Blois	Flying Aces	Jul	9	2
Tell It To The King	Flying Aces	Aug	9	3
For Dear Old G.H.Q.	Flying Aces	Sep	9	4
Crazy Like a Fox	Flying Aces	Oct	9	5
Junkers—C.O.D.	Flying Aces	Nov	9	6
Please Omit Flowers	Flying Aces	Dec	9	7
1932
Half-Shot at Chaumont	Flying Aces	Jan	9	8
A Flyer In Tin	Flying Aces	Feb	11	1
Too Good for Hanging	Flying Aces	Mar	11	2
From Spad to Worse	Flying Aces	Apr	11	3
Pride of the Pinkhams	Flying Aces	May	11	4
No Money, No Flyee	Flying Aces	Jun	12	1
Herr Tonic	Flying Aces	Jul	12	2
Sky A LA Mode	Flying Aces	Aug	12	3
The Reel Hero	Flying Aces	Sep	12	4
The Bat’s Whiskers	Flying Aces	Oct	13	1
Good To The First Drop	Flying Aces	Nov	13	2
Shower Kraut	Flying Aces	Dec	13	3
1933
The Bull Flight	Flying Aces	Jan	13	4
Sleuthing Syrup	Flying Aces	Feb	14	1
Nothing But The Tooth	Flying Aces	Mar	14	2
The Fryin’ Dutchman	Flying Aces	Apr	14	3
The Grim Reaper	Flying Aces	May	14	4
Spin Feathers	Flying Aces	Jul	15	1
Take The Heir	Flying Aces	Aug	15	2
Stage Flight	Flying Aces	Sep	15	3
Herr Net	Flying Aces	Oct	15	4
Bomb Voyage	Flying Aces	Nov	16	1
The Frying Suit	Flying Aces	Dec	16	2
1934
Smell-Shocked	Flying Aces	Jan	16	3
String ‘Em Back Alive	Flying Aces	Feb	16	4
Hans Up	Flying Aces	Mar	17	1
Hose De Combat	Flying Aces	May	17	2
No Fuelin’	Flying Aces	Jun	17	3
Hunbugs	Flying Aces	Jul	17	4
Intelligence Pest	Flying Aces	Aug	18	1
Scrappy birthday	Flying Aces	Sep	18	2
Tattle Tailwinds	Flying Aces	Oct	18	3
Parlez Voodoo	Flying Aces	Nov	18	4
Good Haunting	Flying Aces	Dec	19	1
1935
An Itch In Time	Flying Aces	Jan	19	2
Crepe Hangers	Flying Aces	Feb	19	3
Horse Flyers	Flying Aces	Mar	19	4
Geese Monkeys	Flying Aces	Apr	20	1
Cinema bums	Flying Aces	May	20	2
Prop Eyes	Flying Aces	Jun	20	3
Rice and Shine	Flying Aces	Jul	20	4
Dog Flight	Flying Aces	Aug	21	1
Pfalz Teeth	Flying Aces	Sep	21	2
One Hun, One Hit, Three Errors	Flying Aces	Oct	21	3
Sea Gullible	Flying Aces	Nov	21	4
Fallen Archies	Flying Aces	Dec	22	1
1936
Spy Larking	Flying Aces	Jan	22	2
T.N.T. Party	Flying Aces	Feb	22	3
Doin’s In The Dunes	Flying Aces	Mar	22	4
The Batty Patrol	Flying Aces	Apr	23	1
Smells, Spells, And Shells	Flying Aces	May	23	2
Sky Finance	Flying Aces	Jun	23	3
Scratch-as-Scratch Can	Flying Aces	Jul	23	4
Blois, Blois, Blacksheep	Flying Aces	Aug	24	1
Fish and Gyps	Flying Aces	Sep	24	2
Watch Your Steppes	Flying Aces	Oct	24	3
C’est La Ear	Flying Aces	Nov	24	4
Scrappy Birthday	Flying Aces	Dec	25	1
1937
Flight Opera	Flying Aces	Jan	25	2
P.D.Q.—Boat	Flying Aces	Feb	25	3
Smoke Scream	Flying Aces	Mar	25	4
Poosh ‘Em Up, Pinkham	Flying Aces	Apr	26	1
Wrong About Face	Flying Aces	May	26	2
Bagger In Bagdad	Flying Aces	Jun	26	3
Spree With Lemon	Flying Aces	Jul	26	4
Swiss Wheeze	Flying Aces	Aug	27	1
Peck’s Spad Boys	Flying Aces	Sep	27	2
Scott Free-For-All	Flying Aces	Oct	27	3
Crash or Delivery	Flying Aces	Nov	27	4
Yankee Doodling	Flying Aces	Dec	28	1
1938
Flight Team Flight	Flying Aces	Jan	28	2
Cat’s Spad-Jamas	Flying Aces	Feb	28	3
Eclipse of The Hun	Flying Aces	Mar	28	4
Hoots and Headlights	Flying Aces	Apr	29	1
Kraut Fishing	Flying Aces	May	29	2
The Spider and The Flyer	Flying Aces	Jun	29	3
Zuyder Zee Zooming	Flying Aces	Jul	29	4
Tripe of Peace	Flying Aces	Aug	30	1
Cocarde Sharpers	Flying Aces	Sep	30	2
Heir-O-Bats	Flying Aces	Oct	30	3
Skyway Robbery	Flying Aces	Nov	30	4
Happy Hunning Ground	Flying Aces	Dec	31	1
1939
A Haunting We Will Go	Flying Aces	Jan	31	2
Don Patrol	Flying Aces	Feb	31	3
Kaiser Bilious	Flying Aces	Mar	31	4
Slaked Limeys	Flying Aces	Apr	32	1
Spin Money	Flying Aces	May	32	2
Flight Headed	Flying Aces	Jun	32	3
The Airy Ape	Flying Aces	Jul	32	4
Herr Dresser	Flying Aces	Aug	33	1
Duc Soup	Flying Aces	Sep	33	2
C’est La Goat	Flying Aces	Oct	33	3
Nippon Tuck	Flying Aces	Nov	33	4
Ye Ould Emerald Oil	Flying Aces	Dec	34	1
1940
Impropa Ganda	Flying Aces	Jan	34	2
Fright Leader	Flying Aces	Feb	34	3
Take It or Leafet	Flying Aces	Mar	34	4
Briny Deep Stuff	Flying Aces	Apr	35	1
Flight to the Finish	Flying Aces	May	35	2
Pharaoh and Warmer	Flying Aces	Jun	35	3
Dawn Parole	Flying Aces	Jul	35	4
Horse of Another Cocarde	Flying Aces	Aug	36	1
Air or Nautical	Flying Aces	Sep	36	2
The Foil Guy	Flying Aces	Oct	36	3
Bull Flight	Flying Aces	Nov	36	4
Leave La Frawnce	Flying Aces	Dec	37	1
1941
Crow de Guerre	Flying Aces	Jan	37	2
I Knew De Gaulle	Flying Aces	Feb	37	3
Daze In Dunkirk	Flying Aces	Mar	37	4
Zooming Zombies	Flying Aces	Apr	38	1
Dawn Petrol	Flying Aces	May	38	2
Jerry Prison Scamp	Flying Aces	Jun	38	3
The Eyes Have It	Flying Aces	Jul	38	4
Nieuport News	Flying Aces	Aug	39	1
Chuting Star	Flying Aces	Sep	39	2
Zoom Like It Hot	Flying Aces	Oct	39	3
Gleech of Promise	Flying Aces	Nov	39	4
Gas Me No Questions	Flying Aces	Dec	40	1
1942
Tanks For The Memory	Flying Aces	Jan	40	2
The Moor The Merrier	Flying Aces	Feb	40	3
Hot Francs	Flying Aces	Mar	40	4
Contact Bridge	Flying Aces	Apr	41	1
The Crate Impersonation	Flying Aces	May	41	2
Grim Ferry Tale	Flying Aces	Jun	41	3
Maltese Doublecross	Flying Aces	Jul	41	4
Spy and Ice Cream	Flying Aces	Aug	42	1
Air Screwball	Flying Aces	Sep	42	2
Glider Than Air	Flying Aces	Oct	42	3
Flight Headed	Flying Aces	Nov	42	4
Pot Luck	Flying Aces	Dec	43	1
1943
Heir Minded	Flying Aces	Jan	43	2
Chateau Theory	Flying Aces	Feb	43	3
Pinkham’s Pixies	Flying Aces	Mar	43	4
Laughing Gas Model	Flying Aces	Apr	44	1
Hide and Go Sheik	Flying Aces	May	44	2
Jappy Landing	Flying Aces	Jun	44	3
Three Aces Feast	Flying Aces	Jul	44	4
Italian Vamoose	Flying Aces	Aug	45	1
Czech Mates	Flying Aces	Sep	45	2
Gamboling With Goebbels	Flying Aces	Oct	45	3
Sounds Vichy	Flying Aces	Nov	45	4

“Haw-w-w-w-w!” As a bonus, here’s Phineas Pinkham mirthquake from 1934. From the February number of Flying Aces Phineas goes to some inventive extremes to get a captured flyer back in “String ‘Em Back Alive!”

Major Garrity had an idea. It involved sending Phineas Pinkham back to training school in his stolen Fokker to teach rookies to fight. Phineas had an idea, too. It involved taking that stolen Fokker across the lines to teach the Mad Butcher not to fight. Lay your bets, gentlemen!

• Download “String ‘Em Back Alive” (February 1934, Flying Aces)

Editor’s Note: This story was posted a number of years ago, but this is an update PDF with Archibald’s illustrations included to add to the merriment!