Pilots! Vexatious pilots! Will they give me no peace?
the Skull Squad:
Yet another gang of pilots with some pretty lacklustre skull theming to go with their name. The Skull Squad is an international affair, with American Jimmy Jones, Englishman Kent Douglas and Scotsman Jock "Sandy" MacGregor all flying a bomber for the RAF and predictably getting into wild and wooly scrapes. (Wings Comics 001, 1940)
SKULL SCORE: 0.5/5
the Parachute Patrol:
The Parachute Patrol are Tommy, Curly and Blimpo (and I know every kid gang has to have a fat kid or an ethnic kid with a cruel nickname, but "Blimpo" seems a bit extreme for a kid who is husky at best), three American teens who for some never-explained (I assume) reason live in a picket fenced neighbourhood in Central France, complete with an even more incongruous grumpy neighbour straight out of an Our Gang short. One must assume that they were originally based out of the US somewhere until someone raised the point that having them casually fly over the Atlantic Ocean in their single-engine plane in their first adventure strained credulity somewhat.
The "parachute" in Parachute Patrol comes from their signature mode of transport, the parachute balloon, which allows them to smoothly ascend and descend from any height. (Wings Comics 001, 1940)
(The above only applies to the first appearance of the Parachute Patrol. From Wings Comics 002 onward the same three kids are a trio of British Boy Scouts who are loosely attached to the RAF and get into all kinds of scrapes with Axis spies and other threats. Blimpo is still called that, even though he's about the same size as Tommy. The parachute balloon and Mrs Measly never appear again - the "parachute" in Parachute Patrol refers to parachute-spotting, i.e., looking for incoming paratroopers)
the Phantom Falcons:
A private air force founded by airplane manufacturer Davis and a handful of WWI fighter aces, the Phantom Falcons operate out of an underground air base that is probably somewhere in Switzerland but also probably moves around in order to facilitate storytelling. In their first appearance, young pilot Tom Slade stumbles across their operation and becomes the fifth Phantom Falcon. (Wings Comics 001, 1940)
the Spitfire Ace:
Though the Spitfire Ace is ultimately just another WWII pilot with a cool nickname, he is remarkable for having what is one of the more complicated origins that I have ever read, and all to end up as an RAF pilot just like any number of characters who just volunteered. Here's the skinny:
-Tom Cassidy is a hard-boiled airplane salesman trying to sell fighter planes to the Polish government, and so is in Warsaw when the Nazis attack. Disgusted by the slaughter of civilians, he hops in his sample plane and attacks the Germans, putting in a good showing before being shot down by the Nazi ace Hornigg.
-Hornigg blackmails the captured Cassidy by having his face disfigured and threatening to leave it that way. Cassidy is forced to participate in mock dogfights with Hornigg as a propaganda exercise, with himself as an example of a misguided former antagonist won over to the Nazi side. BUT! Cassidy is also learning all of Hornigg's air combat tricks.
-With the aid of a British secret agent, Cassidy and captured RAF pilot Captain Sheridan escape in a stolen plane. They are shot down near Dunkirk and Captain Sheridan is killed.
-Cassidy takes Sheridan's papers and joins the evacuation of Dunkirk. Once in England, he poses as Sheridan in order to have an opportunity to fight the Nazis again. He is able to claim that his face was injured and reconstructed thanks to his plastic surgery scars, and he is soon instated as RAF Captain Sheridan.
Cassidy/Sheridan makes a name for himself thanks to his inadvertent training with Hornigg, and soon gets a chance to shoot his former captor down. Having done so kind of makes all of the above meaningless of course, but whatever. At this point, "Spitfire Ace" is just a regular aviation comic. (Wings Comics 004, 1940)
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