Pilots Demobilized (Buck Danny)

Pilots Demobilized ("Les Aviateurs Démobilisés") is the third story arc in the Franco-Belgian Buck Danny comic book series, by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon.

Publication history

The "Pilots Demobilized" story arc was published during the early fifties as three separate comic books. The first two, The Red Sea Traffickers ("Les Traficants de la Mer Rouge") and Desert Pirates ("Les Pirates du Désert"), were published in 1951 and the closing novel, The Oil Gangsters ("Les Gangsters du Pétrole"), in 1952. They were combined into the "Pilots Demobilized" album when the series was republished during the nineties.

Plot

The Red Sea Traffickers

The novel 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 arms Jerry Tumbler, who is in the same situation, and the two decide to keep jobhunting 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, another friend from their days in the Flying Tigers), 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 unorthodox 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...

The Desert Pirates

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 Englishwoman, 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.

The Oil Gangsters

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.

Characters

* Buck Danny: the lead character, formerly a Major in the Flying Tigers. Before the war, he was employed as an engineer, but he has not kept current with the technological advances made during the war and his skills are no longer marketable.
* Jerry "Tumb" Tumbler: formerly one of the best men in Danny's squadron, he is also unable to find work after the war.
* Sonny Tuckson: another one of the aces in Danny's old squadron. Sonny enlisted at a very young age, and did not have any job skills after the war. He ends up working for an Italian restaurant in New York, where he regales the guests with tales of his exploits, often breaking the dishware while reenacting them.
* Samuel Bronstein: a ruthless businessman and arms dealer, he creates the Arabian Airways as a legal cover through which he plans to gain a foothold in the Middle-Eastern oil market. Bronstein leads the failed attempt to take over the Oulaï capital, where he is shot down by Buck Danny.
* Agent XB16: a female agent working for MI5 and investigating the illegal arms trafficking in the Arabian peninsula. Resourceful, fluent in Arabic and a crack shot with a handgun.
* Myriam el-Maahdi: the princess of the Oulaï, who helps and is helped by Danny, Tumbler and Tuckson throughout the story arc. She was educated in the United States and is equally comfortable in both Western and Arab worlds; she goes from wearing a business suit when the three pilots meet her in Port Said, to a niqab and abaya in the royal palace, to ordinary workman's clothes when she helps set up the Ghost Squadron.
* Sheikh Chekri el-Maahdi: the ruler of the independent Oulaï tribe, in the Arabian peninsula. A fair minded man, he is open to Western ways and friendly towards the three Americans, but refuses to allow the use of his oil lands, whether by the British Empire or more unsavory types like Bronstein's operation, for fear of exposing his people to exploitation.
* Emir Hussein: a powerful ruler in the region. He once controlled the Oulaï territory, but was ousted by el-Maahdi, and swore to reconquer his land. To this end, he passes an alliance with Bronstein, promising him full access to the region's oil in exchange for the throne.
* Sid Mohammed il-Feral: a powerful, power-hungry and xenophobic member of el-Maahdi's court. For years he has tried to court Myriam as a means to the throne (since the Sheikh has no male children). When Bronstein offers him a faster and more guaranteed alternative, he doesn't hesitate to take the offer.
* Jake: the chief pilot of the company. An alcoholic with a short temper and very little in the way of brains (or scruples), he is representative of the type of people employed at the Arabian Airways.
* Achmet: a massive Arab guard charged with Bronstein to make sure the American pilots stay put. Unable to take him on physically, Sonny finds several creative ways to incapacitate or distract him.

Aircraft shown in the novel

* Douglas DC-3.
* P-51 Mustang.
* Supermarine Spitfire.