US Military Aviation

The adventures of Buck Danny which take place during the 40s start in 1941 with the Japanese attack to Pearl Harbour, the Coral Sea and Midway aero-naval battles. Then the scenario moves to the Indochina area with four issues dedicated to the US pilots on duty in the famous squadron known as the Flying Tigers.
After the war a three issues long civilian aviation adventure is taking place in the Middle East. The last adventure in the late 40s is about the flying test of the first USAF operative and experimental jet aircraft.

BUCK DANNY ORIGINES - SONNY TUCKSON - AIR RACE PILOT
P. Buendia, F. Zumbiehl, G. De Luca

In the 1930s, Sonny Tuckson, taken in by an uncle who didn't like him, was bored in Crockett, a small town in Texas. With his only friend Jo, he distracts himself by participating in car races where he tries to beat Peter Tannen, son of a big landowner. Sonny's life changes when his uncle acquires an old agricultural aircraft to spray on his property. Maybe Sonny's life is not on earth but in the air!

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN.

BUCK DANNY#1 LES JAPS ATTAQUENT (THE JAPS ATTACK)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon, G. Troisfontaines

At the end of 1941 Buck Danny a young aeronautical engineer is searching for his first job. He joints a company working in a shipyard in Hawaii. On December 7th, 1941 he was present during the Japanese attach to Pearl Harbour and he helps the US marines soldiers in the fighting against the Japanese airplanes.
Buck Danny decides to enlist in the US Aviation with the rank of Captain and he is on duty on a US Navy aircraft-carrier as a pilot. During one of his first missions flying a Dauntless he is shot down over an island under Japanese control but Buck Danny and his crew are able to steal an enemy bomber and they return back making a safety landing on one of the US aircraft carriers. Buck Danny continues the Pacific War and during another mission flying an Hellcat he has to make an emergency sea-landing. Buck Danny thus reach a small island by swimming there, where he is captured by the local savage indigenous. He escapes thanks to a female indigen and he is eventualy rescued by a US Navy destroyer.
He is back on US Naval aviation flying the Helldiver from the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown fighting in dangerous missions during the Coral Sea aero-naval battle.

In this first issue the drawings of Victor Hubinon are a little too rough but it is already evident that he has a great talent to reproduce aircraft and ships as well as flying and action scenes. The text and scenario of this first story is not very intricate but Jean-Michel Charlier and Georges Troisfontaines made a good job in describing and connecting so many differents situations in a single adventure. Very interesting in this first number is the large ammount of technical information related to aircraft, ships and weapons as well as Pacific war maps and US Army Aviation and US Navy insignas.

In this story there is a little confusion about Buck Danny's exact enlistment, in fact he seems to be enlisted as a Captain of the US Army Aviation but he is actually on duty as a Naval Aviator flying US Navy aircraft on board of the aircraft carriers.

BUCK DANNY RECIT COMPLET - ALERTE NUCLÈAIRE- (2015): LA LACHE (THE COWARD ) F. Bergese
USS Yorktown (CV-5), May 8, 1942. After the battle of the Coral Sea, Captain Buck Danny makes reconnaissance flights. Buck suspects that Jack Drayton, one of his pilots, is suffering cowardice.

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN

Even if this story has been produced by Bergese in the recent years there are still confusing indication about the correct rank of Buck Danny. In fact considering his uniform he seems to be a Navy pilot with a rank of Lieutenant while he is called Captain. Even if the Navy rank of Lieutenant correspond to the Captain of the other armed force, and the rank of Navy Captain correspond to Colonel in the other forces, nobody in the Navy would call Captain a Navy officer with the rank of Lieutenant.

BUCK DANNY#2 LES MYSTERES DE MIDWAY (THE MYSTERIES OF MIDWAY )
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

This second issue of the adventures of Buck Danny continues with the war in the Pacific and the upcoming battle of Midway. Buck Danny is stationed on the USS Yorktown, and during a mission with his Hellcat he is shoot down and finally captured by the Japanese forces. Buck is then transferred to the headquarters of the Kempeitai (the Japanese Gestapo) in Guadalcanal, but during an US airraid he is able to escape together with Susan Holmes, an American military nurse, and probably an agent of the OSS (the forerunner of the CIA) too. During their escape, Buck and Susan are helped by an European farmer and the local population. They are finally able to leave the island with a Chinese junk and are rescued by a US-Navy submarine. During their return flight to Pearl Harbour on board a B-17 Flying Fortress, Buck and Susan are attacked by several Japanese fighters. With the help of the brave Susan, the B-17 could survive the attack, and despite the B-17 being severely damaged, Buck reaches Hawaii and he makes a perfect forced landing. Buck didn’t ask Susan why she as a nurse was a prisoner of the Kempeitai, so it’s not 100% sure, that she is an agent of the OSS also, but during the Japanese attack she at least showed military skills. Again back aboard the USS Yorktown, Buck Danny participates in the battle of Midway, flying the Dauntless. After the sinking of the USS Yorktown, Buck moves with his aircraft to the USS Hornet, where he continues his war missions against the Japanese Navy until the final victory.

The script and the genre of this 2nd adventure of Buck Danny is the continuation of the first story. However, the graphic representation of the people, drawn by Victor Hubinon, is not yet very accurate, but some improvements can be noticed concerning the aircraft and ships, who are drawn by Jean-Michel Charlier. Charlier continued drawing airplanes and ships until Buck Danny volume #7. Very impressive in this 2nd adventure are some scenes of the aero-naval battles and the aircraft carriers sinking. Also in this volume are the several interesting technical details and maps added by Charlier.

Not clear and confusing is the mix of US Army Air Force and US Navy personnel on duty on Aircraft carriers. In this adventure a fantasy Japanese flying boat is also represented, basically a strange mixed aircraft between a British Sunderland and the Imperial Japanese Navy Kawanishi H-8K "Emily".

SPIROU # 4108 (2017): L'INEVITABLE RENCONTRE (THE INEVITABLE ENCOUNTER)
F. Marniquet

Near Midway, July 4, 1942. The US-Navy pilot Buck Danny flies in his Douglas Dauntless a mission against the Japanese aircraft-carrier Hiryu. When Buck and his squadron want to return to the USS Yorktown (CV-6), they hear by radio that the Japs have sank this aircraft-carrier and that they have to fly to the USS Hornet (CV-8). When a damaged USS Hornet has to be repaired in the US, Buck flies to the island of O’Ahu, Hawai. During his flight he reads in the Life magazine an interesting article about Jerry Tumbler, who is a pilot of the famous Flying Tigers in Soe-Sjow, China, and he intends to join them too.

In the same time Sonny Tuckson at the training base of Hickman Field is looking at a military documentary about the Battle of Midway where also the image of Buck Danny appears. Sonny hopes that the time will come also for him to get involved in operative missions.
Jerry Tumbler in the Flying Tigers base of Soe-Sjow is instead reading in a newspaper about the training of new pilots. The article shows a picture in which Sonny Tuckson is rebuked by an instructor. Tumbler then hopes to never have to do with such a turbolent pilot.

In this story placed in 1942 before the encounter between Buck Danny and his friends, Jerry Tumbler is already on duty with the Flying Tigers group in the Chinese base of Sou-Chow. This fact apparently seems incongruent with the Charlier's adventure LA REVANCHE DES FILS DU CIEL where Jerry Tumbler joins the Flying Tigers with Sonny and Buck. However, in the story of Charlier there are no precise indications of the previous duty of Jerry Tumbler. Also the fact that he had expected to command the Flying Tigers can support the fact that he previously was already part of the squadron, and that in the LA REVANCHE DES FILS DU CIEL his second deployment with the Flying Tigers is shown.

BUCK DANNY ORIGINES - LE PILOTE À L'AILE BRISÈ (THE PILOT WITH THE BROKEN WING)
de Yann, G. De Luca

June 1942. The young Buck Danny is a Wildcat pilot aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He is a enlisted after the treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Taking advantage of a permission to visit his parents and his younger brother, nicknamed "Microbe", Buck will unfortunately discover the death of his father ... Only one solution for the heartbroken pilot is to resume the fight within his unit in order to escape his distress. Next Buck’s Wildcat is shot down by the Japs, and he finds himself alone in the middle of the Pacific: on an inflatable dinghy and under a relentless sun. An opportunity for him to rethink his childhood, as well as certain traumas being intimately linked to him. And while these floods of memories come back to him in his memory, a Japanese submarine rises to the surface ...

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN.

BUCK DANNY ORIGINES - LE FILS DU VIKING NOIR (THE SON OF THE BLACK VIKING)
de Yann, G. De Luca

The Second World War is in full swing in the Pacific. Buck Danny particularly shines with his talent and his commitment, hanging several enemy devices on his hunting board. Between two dangerous missions, the pilot sleeps as he can and thinks back to the end of his adolescence, when he discovered an aerial circus with stuntmen who were going to give him his first thrills of flight. Not to mention the beautiful Moira, who was going to cause her first love chills. An era with its share of darkness, however. Since Buck was going to learn there that his father would have had a shameful behavior during the First World War. But a momentous mission years later to neutralize a Japanese general might have Buck wondering if he judged his father too harshly...

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN.

There are some temporal inconsistencies in this adventure as the events can only take place in the early summer of 1942, because after August 1942 Buck Danny was sent to China to fight the Japanese from a coastal base (not on an aircraft carrier), inside the famous Flying Tigers, and will remain there until Japan's capitulation in 1945. So Buck Danny could not meet with PT-109 patrol boat commander John Kennedy, because Kennedy was sent to the Pacific on a patrol boat in late February 1943.

BUCK DANNY#3 LA REVANCHE DES FILS DU CIEL (THE REVENGE OF THE SKY-CHILDREN)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

August 1942. While on holiday at home, Buck Danny receives a message to contact the military command of the 14th Air Force in San Diego, where he gets his new order as a commander of the 3rd squadron of the 23th Fighter Group "Flying Tigers" in Sou-Chow, South-China. This group inherited the missions of the famous A.V.G. (“American Volunteer Group”) disbanded in 1942, who were fighting against the Japanese forces in the China-Burma-India scene since 1940. During his trip Buck Danny meets for the first time Lieutenant Sonny Tuckson from Texas, who’s destination is also his Flying Tigers group. Once arrived at the militairy airbase in Sidney, Buck Danny takes the command of the 3rd squadron. Then all the gathered American and Chinese pilots board a ship to leave for India. In the group there is also Captain Jerry Tumbler, who doesn't like the presence of Buck Danny, because he would have expected to be the new commander of the 3rd squadron. After some dangerous adventures, the pilots reach the base of Sou-Chow under the command of Colonel Ted Morton, and they take confidence with aircraft like the Airacobra P-39, Curtiss P-40 and the new P-51 Mustang. However, in the Flying Tigers group is also the Chinese pilot Mo Choung-Young, who appears to be -together with the Chinese nurse Miss Lee- a spy for the Japanese enemy. Both inform the Japanese about the secret militairy mission plans of the Flying Tigers, causing to the group the loss of several aircraft. Sabotage is also a part of Mo Choung-Young’s illegal activity. And because of sabotage on his Mustang, Sonny Tuckson has during a mission to make an emergency landing in the enemy territory. Then Buck Danny organises, together with his pilots Stinson and Tao Tsoe-Sin, a very risky rescue mission. After some dangerous situations, Sonny Tuckson is back safe at the airbase. Unfortunately the brave Stinson didn’t survive the rescue mission. And Jerry Tumbler, who had been injured during a flight, becomes now on friendly terms with Buck Danny and Sonny Tuckson.

In the first images of this third issue the mother and the young brother of Buck Danny are shown, but the story is remarkable because he also meets Sonny Tuckson and Jerry Tumbler for the first time who will became the best friends of Buck Danny and co-protagonist of all the future stories. This very intriguing story is the first installment of a serial of four taking place in the Indo-China area.

Despite the fact that the Flying Tiger replaced the P-40's fighters with the early versions of the P-51 Mustang, the authors decided to show the Flying Tiger squadron equipped with different types of aircraft like the old P-39 Airacobra, P-40F Warhawk, P-51A Mustang and also the P-38 lightning.

Beautiful back cover of the album BUCK DANNY#3 LA REVANCHE DES FILS DU CIEL

SPIROU #3000 (1995), re-print TOUT BUCK DANNY #15 (2001): LA MASCOTTE (THE MASCOT)
F. Bergese

The Flying Tiger squadron under the command of Major Buck Danny is making numerous victories against the Imperial Japanese forces. Some aircraft were damaged and a pilot was injured. Only one Pilot, Lt. Felix Arnold nicknamed "The Belgian" who is flying with a special mascot, is as usual without any damage on his P-40. The Group receives the order to transfer one patrol in the Wangsing area to protect the Chinese ground forces involved against the Japanese troups advancing in that area. So Buck Danny decides to transfer in that area Jerry Tumbler, Felix Arnold "The Belgian" and other pilots. Some days later during a mission Sonny Tuckson who is flying a Tomahawk, the old version of the P-40, is by mistake shot down by the ground friendly fire of his base. Back in his room Sonny Tuckson finds a letter from the "Belgian" where it is written to take and send to him the mascot fogotten in his flight garmet in the cabinet.Sonny Tuckson has the opportunity to bring the mascot very soon because some aircraft of the group have to attack a Japanese convoy and then reach the Wangsing area where Jerry Tumbler and the "Belgian" patrol have been located. During the mission Sonny Tuckson's aircraft is shot several time and a bullet hit the pilot's jacket on the pocket. After the landing Buck Danny and Sonny Tuckson are informed that the "Belgian" was injured and he is in surgery at the near hospital. They reach the hospital and Sonny Tuckson shows Felix Arnold the mascot which was broken and glued together. This time the good luck object saved his life stopping the bullet in the pocket.

This small story, unpublished in the regular Buck Danny series, is included in #15 of the collection TOUT BUCK DANNY. Even if the script is very simple the story is higly accurate in all the scenes. The drawings of Bergese both for what concer the aircraft and the uniforms are very beautiful and detailed.

The last illustration of the adventure shows a humoristic element because the famous mascot represents a figurine of a bell boy which is the simbol of the SIPROU publishing. This is Bergese's tribute to the French publisher of Buck Danny.

BUCK DANNY#4 TIGRES VOLANS (THE FLYING TIGERS)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

Colonel Ted Morton and commander Buck Danny are very worried because of the presence of a spy inside the Flying Tigers group. Thus they asked the dissatisfied Jerry Tumbler to pretend to be a traitor with the intention that the spy will contact him. In the mean time even Buck Danny is wounded due to sabotage of his aircraft. Despite he takes part in a rescue mission to the city of Sink Kian under siege by the Japanese forces. In this mission Buck Danny and his pals save a group of Chinese children including Susan Holmes, the US military nurse Buck already met in the second adventure of the series. After this mission Buck Danny pretens to be seriously injured in order to be transfered to the Calcutta Hospital; also to prepare a secret mission, but he is narcotized by Miss Lee. In the meantime the spy Mo Choung-Young is arrested, but Miss Lee succeeds in organizing his escape. Now the Allied Headquarter ask Susan Holmes to deliver top secret documents concerning the plan for an invasion in Birma. Miss Holmes should leave during the night in a small airplane piloted by Buck Danny, but Mo Choung-Young takes the identity of Buck Danny and he takes off with Susan Holmes and the important documents. When Susan Holmes realizes that the airplane is not piloted by her friend Buck Danny, she jumps with the parachute into the Birmese jungle. Mo Choung-Young decides to catch Susan Holmes and to steal the top secret documents, so he parachutes into the jungle as well. Meanwhile the Allied Headquarter realizes the dangerous situation and a rescue mission by Buck Danny, Sonny Tuckson and Tao Tsou-Sin is organized. They reach Susan Holmes just in time so save her from the bad guy Mo Choung-Young, who is able to escape in the jungle. Unfortunately Buck, Sonny and Tao receive information by radio that the shortest path to reach the airbase is controlled by Japanese soldiers, so they are forced to make a long tour through the hostile jungle in order to avoid the enemy and safely deliver the top secret informations.

Charlier wrote a very intriguing scenario full of action scenes and dangerous situations. Also interesting in this number is the return of Susan Holmes who, together with the main characters, will be the protagonist of the next two adventures.
From the first story, big improvements can be noticed in Victor Hubinon's graphic representation of people. Always incredibile the images of aircraft and means of transport.

Several types of aircraft are well represented in this story, from the P-38 Lightning to the P-51 Mustang, P-39 Airacobra, The Dakota DC-3, some Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, RAF Supermarine Spitfire and a Bristol Beaufighter. Indeed in this adventure Charlier and Hubinon made a technical/historical error because the Flying Tigers have only used the Curtiss P40 Warhawk and not the Mustang, the Lightning or the Airacobra as shown in this story.

BUCK DANNY#5 DANS LES GRIFFES DU DRAGON NOIR (IN THE TALONS OF THE BLACK DRAGON)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

Pursued by Japanese soldiers, Buck Danny, Susan Holmes, Sonny Tuckson and Tao Tsou-Tsin push their way through the Burmese jungle. By means of a trick they succeed in having their Japanese pursuers suffer major losses. For the moment the foursome seems to be safe. But their enemy Mo-Choung-Young appears not so easy to shake off. He is trailing Buck and his friends and is lucky to meet a member of the Moï tribe at the right time.
This tribe lives in a remote part of the jungle and is very anti-American, thus Mo-Choung-Young convinces the leader of this Moï tribe to help him catching the Americans.

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN

A Christmas covers dedicated the the stories LA REVANCHE DES FILS DU CIEL, TIGRES VOLANS and DANS LES GRIFFES DU DRAGON NOIR

BUCK DANNY#6 ATTAQUE EN BIRMANIE (ATTACK IN BURMA)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

A deserted beach on an island. Four people lying motionless in the sand. Sonny Tuckson is the first to regain consciousness. Immediately he is searching for the others.
It appears that only Buck Danny, Susan Holmes and Tao Tsou-Tsin have survived the storm. No trace from the others. But their secret and important mission still must be finished. The foursome is near the location where the next day a submarine awaits them. So they decided to build a raft and sail from island to island to reach their final destination.

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN

BUCK DANNY "CLASSIC"#3 LES FANTôMES DU SOLEIL LEVANT (THE GHOSTS OF THE RISING SUN)
J.-M. Arroyo, F. Zumbiehl, F. Marniquet

It’s September 4th, 1945. Japan has just surrended. But the secret German/Japanese society “The Ghosts of the Rising Sun” doesn’t accept this. They want to attack the United States with an atom bomb and with anthrax, spread by means of MXY-7 Ohka’s. To reach their goal, the Chinese spy Miss Lee is freed from prison by the Chinese former “Flying Tigers” pilot and spy Mo Choung-Young and his German accomplices. Next the German General Hessler and his accomplices hijack a-B-29 bomber with an atom bomb on board. In the mean time the former “Flying Tigers” Buck Danny, Jerry Tumbler and Sonny Tuckson are traveling from China to Japan to be decorated by General MacArthur. Arrived at a militairy airbase near Tokyo, Sonny Tuckson notices a spy close to the MXY7-Ohka’s. Just before Captain Miller could inform Buck Danny about the existence of “The Ghosts of the Rising Sun”, he is murdered by Miss Lee. During his visit at MacArthur in Tokyo, Buck Danny offers to help him solving the recent events. It looks like a lot will occur on and close to the many islands of the Philipines...

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN

This adventures is placed just before the retirement of Buck Danny and his friends from active duty at the end of WWII and thus not preciselly after the adventure ATTAQUE EN BIRMANIE but in the frame of its last page just before the departure of our heroes to San Francisco.

This adventure has been also published in the limited edition black and white album with a different cover

The cover coming from the French comic magazine SPIROU 4072 dedicated the the story LES FANTôMES DU SOLEIL LEVANT

BUCK DANNY "CLASSIC"#4 L'ILE DU DIABLE (THE DEVIL'S ISLAND)
J.-M. Arroyo, F. Zumbiehl, F. Marniquet

It’s still September 1945. During a storm Buck Danny crashes with his P-47 Thunderbolt in the Pacific. Then he flushes on a mysterious island. This island isn’t just populated by copper rivals, but also by an old British professor and members of the secret society "Ghosts of the Rising Sun", lead by General Osho. With the help of the Chinese spies Mo Choung-Young and Miss Lee, Doctor Ishii, and General Hessler and his men, Osho prepares a devastating attack on the west coast of the United States. He wants to use the Ohka MX-7 rocket and even the giant bomber G10N1 Fugaku.

SUMMARY TO BE WRITTEN

This adventure has been also published in the limited edition black and white album with a different cover

BUCK DANNY#7 LES TRAFIQUANTS DE LA MER ROUGE (THE TRAFFICKERS OF THE RED SEA)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

The story begins soon after the end of World War Two in New York City, where Buck Danny is practically unable to find work. By pure chance, he runs into former comrade in US Army Aviation Jerry Tumbler, who is in the same situation, and the two decide to keep job hunting together. Eventually, they are accosted by a businessman representing the "Arabian Airways", a small airline working in the Middle-East, who offers them a job flying cargo planes. They quickly agree (and bring along Sonny Tuckson), only to be told that they are expected to go to Port Said on their own and as soon as possible. Somewhat put off, the three aviators are forced to find an illegal way to reach Egypt. Thanks to an airline pilot friendly with Sonny, they manage to stow away aboard a cargo plane loaded for North Africa, but barely escape the authorities upon landing in Cairo. After this, they follow the road to Port Said, and along the way save a young woman from being kidnapped. Out of gratitude, she gives them a lift and the trio is surprised to learn that she is a royal princess; her father is the Sheikh of the Oulaï, an independent tribe in the Arabian Peninsula. She indicates that if they ever need help in the region, they can always contact her. In Port Said, the trio goes to the headquarters of the Arabian Airways, where their first impressions are confirmed; the company is broken down, its aircraft very poorly maintained and its chief pilot, Jake, is an alcoholic thug. On the flight to the company's main airport in Arabia, Jake's drunk flying practically kills them until an outraged Danny reaches the cockpit, knocks Jake out and takes over the controls. When they reach the base, the plane's rusted landing gear refuses to work, and they are forced to land it on its belly... nearly killing Samuel Bronstein, the airline's CEO, who happened to be driving on the runway. Buck, Tumb and Sonny immediately tender their resignations, but Bronstein informs them that they will work for him until the price of the airplane they landed is repaid.

However, this turns out to be the least of their problems. While snooping around the hangars, the three friends discover that their cargo is mostly heavy hand-held weaponry. Bronstein surprises them in the act and informs them that they are now hostages; since they are now aware of the airline's business, they will be the ones to fly the weapons to the Arab tribes the arms are meant for. For added security, he places them in the custody of a muscular guard, Achmet, and decides that they will take turns flying the cargo, with one or two of them remaining as hostages. The situation seems hopeless, but a caravan comes into the base has brought in another outsider, an Englishwoman who may not be all she seems...

This adventure and the next two are the only ones in which Buck Danny and his friends are not on duty in the US Armed Forces. Not many aircraft are shown in these adventures indeed the stories are charming and the drawings very accurate.

BUCK DANNY#8 LES PIRATES DU DESERT (THE DESERT PIRATES)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

The story begins with Sonny flying another arms delivery and Jake keeping an eye on him, while Buck and Tumb are locked up for bad behavior on their latest flight. In the middle of the night, they are freed by the newly arrived English woman, who turns out to be an MI5 agent investigating Bronstein's activities. After barely escaping the base and Bronstein's thugs, they reach the palace of Emir Hussein, who controls the region, and ask for his protection. Instead, Hussein promptly has them arrested, revealing that he is in cahoots with Bronstein; the illegal weapons are meant to help him reconquer the oil-rich territory of Sheikh Chekri el-Maahdi of the Oulaï (whom the Americans recognize as the father of the princess they saved in Port Said). Buck, Tumb and the British agent are placed into Hussein's custody to be brought back to base, but they are caught by a sandstorm and must stop. During the storm, Buck frees himself and, after its end, quickly takes control of the caravan. They return to the Arabian Airways base disguised as their captors and take control of the radio tower. Meanwhile, Sonny's mission has gone awry; the cargo plane was forced to land in the middle of the desert due to an engine malfunction, and he and Jake have spent the entire day repairing it so they could take off. On the way back to base, he is suprised to hear Buck and Tumb guiding him from the control tower; after knocking out Jake, Sonny flies on to the airport, lands and picks them up. Flying off in a hail of bullets, the plane is hit in the engine again and forced to crash-land in the desert several miles away, with the base personnel in hot pursuit.

They are spotted, however, by a British reconnaissance plane which quickly directs help to their position. Jake and the rest of his cronies are arrested, but when the British arrive at the Arabian Airways headquarters, they find it abandoned and dynamited; the planes have left along with most of the arms trafficking ring, and Emir Hussein is also gone.

This second episode shows a very interesting characterization of the main protagonists and an well elaborate and charming plot. Furtheromre the story is very well drawn with several action scenes.

Beautiful back cover of the album BUCK DANNY#8 LES PIRATES DU DESERT

BUCK DANNY#9 LES GANGSTERS DU PETROLE (THE OIL GANGSTERS)
J.-M. Charlier, V. Hubinon

A month after the events of the previous novel, Major Pemberton, commander of the local British garrison, informs the three pilots that their investigation has led nowhere; Bronstein and Emir Hussein are still at large, and worse, their plot is probably still being carried out. After two assassination attempts by their hitmen, Buck, Tumb and Sonny suggest that they leave the base and instead ask for protection from Sheikh el-Maahdi, who still has not been warned of the plot against him. Pemberton readily agrees, since the Oulaï are outside the Crown's jurisdiction anyway. While crossing the desert, the three pilots and their guide are once again attacked and barely escape, but in the end make it to the Oulaï capital anyway. Once there, however, they find it impossible to reach the royal palace; it has been sealed off after a recent assassination attempt on the Sheikh. In an attempt to gain the palace's attention, Sonny has the innovative but unsound idea of using the minaret of the local mosque as a loudspeaker; he is nearly killed by the outraged congregation, but palace guards interrupt the brawl and bring the Americans to the palace, where they meet a relieved princess Myriam. She agrees to obtain an audience with her father immediately, but on the way, Sonny commits a second gaffe by accidentally knocking into Emir Mohammed il-Feral, one of the Sheikh's most powerful courtiers, and earning his undying ire. Myriam reassures them that Feral is ambitious and wants to sit on the throne himself one day; he will not do anything to displease her or her father. However, her appraisal of the man turns out to be optimistic; Feral is soon corrupted by one of Bronstein's spies in the palace, who has seen the altercation and offers him the throne in exchange for his help and the death of the Americans. In an audience with the Sheikh, Buck, Tumb and Sonny repeat the details of Hussein and Bronstein's plot to the Emir, who gratefully accepts their assistance despite Feral's outraged protests. The threat, however, is considerable; el-Maahdi does not have enough men to effectively monitor or control the desert, but he also refuses to involve the British Empire, which is also interested in controlling the local oil. The problem is solved when he reveals the existence of an abandoned airfield where British and American fighters have been left over from the war; the former Flying Tiger aces offer to restore the airfield and use the fighters to protect the region. This is accomplished in a matter of days, and Buck, Tumb and Sonny become the three pilots of what they refer to as the "Ghost Squadron".

After several days of monitoring the desert, they locate Hussein's army and begin strafing runs which take a severe toll on it, slowing down the advance but not stopping it. However, the situation becomes grave when Feral convinces el-Maahdi to let him lead his men out of the capital and into combat; his actual purpose is to leave the city undefended, allowing Bronstein's cargo planes to land on a friendly airstrip, unload their troops and take it while Feral and Hussein combine forces and return to the capital in triumph. Danny, already suspicious after several sabotage attempts, is now convinced of Feral's duplicity and takes steps to defend the capital; when Bronstein's cargos arrive, the "Ghost Squadron" is expecting them and successfully shoots down several of them. Bronstein's plane manages to drop several bombs and set ablaze the oil-rich soil of the city, but the fire is stopped. Meanwhile, Feral and Hussein's armies meet up in the desert, but the two leaders find themselves in conflict immediately, since Bronstein has promised each of them el-Maahdi's throne separately.

In the battle that follows, both are killed; Hussein's army is routed, while Feral's, left leaderless, simply returns to the city. The end of the threat sparks celebrations in the Oulaï capital, and el-Maahdi personally thanks the three Americans, who decide to return to New York for some well-deserved R&R.

BUCK DANNY CLASSIC#11 L'OMBRE ROUGE (THE RED SHADOW) J.-F. Marniquet, F. Zumbiehl, A. Le Brass
1948, Buck Danny and his friends, hired on a Howard Hughes film, see the CIA arrive on the set. Because the numerous incidents that punctuate him are said to be caused by a Soviet spymaster: the Red Shadow... In pursuit of this elusive enemy, Buck will quickly understand that the game promises to be complicated. Very complicated, even.