W . E . Johns William Earl Johns ( 5 February 189321 June 1968 ) was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories , usually written under the pen name Captain W . E . Johns although he never held that rank . He is best remembered as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles . Early life . Johns was born in Bengeo , Hertford , England , the son of Richard Eastman Johns , a tailor , and Elizabeth Johns ( née Earl ) , the daughter of a master butcher . A younger brother , Russell Ernest Johns , was born on 24 October 1895 . Johns ' early ambition was to be a soldier , being a crack shot with a rifle . In January 1905 , he attended Hertford Grammar School . He also attended evening classes at the local art school . Johns was not a natural scholar . He included some of his experiences at this school in his book " Biggles Goes to School " ( 1951 ) . In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor for four years and in 1912 was appointed as a sanitary inspector in Swaffham in Norfolk . Soon after , his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47 . On 6 October 1914 Johns married Maude Penelope Hunt ( 1882 – 1961 ) , the daughter of the Rev . John Hunt , the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk . Their only son , William Earl Carmichael Johns , was born in March 1916 . Military service . In 1913 , while living in Swaffham , and working as a sanitary inspector , Johns enlisted in the Territorial Army as a private in the King ' s Own Royal Regiment ( Norfolk Yeomanry ) . The regiment was mobilised in August 1914 and was sent overseas in September 1915 , embarking on RMS " Olympic " . The Norfolk Yeomanry fought at Gallipoli until December when they were withdrawn to Egypt . In September 1916 Johns transferred to the Machine Gun Corps . While serving on the Macedonian front in Greece he was hospitalised with malaria . After recovering he was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) in September 1917 and posted back to England for flight training . Johns undertook his initial flying training at the short - lived airfield at Coley Park in Reading , flying the Farman MF . 11 Shorthorn aircraft . He was then posted to No . 25 Flying Training School at Thetford in Norfolk , closer to where his wife Maude , and son Jack lived . On 1 April 1918 , Johns was appointed flying instructor at Marske - by - the - Sea in Cleveland . Aircraft were very unreliable in those days and he wrote off three planes in three days through engine failure – crashing into the sea , then the sand , and then through a fellow officer ’ s back door . Later , he was caught in fog over the Tees , missed Hartlepool and narrowly escaped flying into a cliff . Shooting one ’ s own propeller off with a forward - mounted machine - gun with malfunctioning synchronisation was a fairly common accident , and it happened to Johns twice . The Commanding Officer at Marske was a Major Champion , known as ' Gimlet ' , a name used later by Johns for the hero of a series of stories . Johns served as a flying instructor until August 1918 when he transferred to the Western Front . He performed six weeks of active duty as a bomber pilot with No . 55 Squadron RAF , close to the average in the latter part of the war . This squadron was part of the Independent Air Force , a section the Royal Air Force that had been formed for the purpose of bombing strategic targets deep inside Germany . On 16 September 1918 , he was piloting one of a group of six De Havilland DH4 s , that were to bomb Mannheim . Johns ' aircraft was hit by anti - aircraft fire and was forced to drop out of formation . He jettisoned his single bomb and turned for home , but was attacked by a large group of Fokker D . VII fighters . During a lengthy , furious , but one - sided battle , Johns ' observer and rear - gunner , Second Lieutenant Alfred Edward Amey , was badly wounded and the aircraft shot down . The victory was credited to German pilot Georg Weiner , the commander of Jagdstaffel 3 . Johns and Amey were taken prisoner by German troops . Johns received a leg wound during the battle and was slightly injured in the crash ; Amey died of his injuries that day . Johns was a prisoner of war until the end of the war . After the war , Johns remained in the Royal Air Force , apparently with the substantive rank of Pilot Officer . His promotion to the rank of Flying Officer was gazetted on 23 November 1920 . Johns worked in central London as a recruiting officer and , notably , rejected T . E . Lawrence ( of Arabia ) as an RAF recruit for obviously giving a false name , but was later ordered to accept him . By 1923 , Johns had left his wife . His RAF commission had been extended a further four years and he had moved to Birmingham , again working as a recruitment officer . In Birmingham he met Doris ' Dol ' May Leigh ( 1900 – 1969 ) , daughter of Alfred Broughton Leigh . They later moved to Newcastle upon Tyne when Johns was posted there . Although he never divorced Maude Hunt , Doris Leigh was known as ' Mrs Johns ' until her death . Johns continued to pay for his wife and son ' s upkeep and for her nursing care ( she suffered from acute arthritis ) . On 15 October 1927 , he was transferred to the reserves . Four years later , on 15 October 1931 , he relinquished his commission . Writing . W . E . Johns was a prolific author and editor . In his 46 - year writing career ( 1922 – 68 ) he penned over 160 books , including nearly one hundred Biggles books , more than sixty other novels and factual books , and scores of magazine articles and short stories . His first novel , " Mossyface " , was published in 1922 under the pen name William Earle . After leaving the RAF , Johns became a newspaper air correspondent , as well as editing and illustrating books about flying . At the request of John Hamilton Ltd , he created the magazine " Popular Flying " which first appeared in March 1932 . It was in the pages of " Popular Flying " that Biggles first appeared . The first Biggles book , " The Camels are Coming " , was published in August 1932 and Johns would continue to write Biggles stories until his death in 1968 . At first , the Biggles stories were credited to " William Earle " , but later Johns adopted the more familiar byline " Capt . W . E . Johns " . The rank was self - awarded ; his actual final RAF rank of Flying Officer was equivalent to an army ( or RFC ) Lieutenant . Johns was also a regular contributor to " Modern Boy " magazine in the late 1930s as well as editing ( and writing for ) both " Popular Flying " and " Flying " . He was removed as editor at the beginning of 1939 , probably as a direct result of a scathing editorial , strongly opposed to the policy of appeasement and highly critical of several Conservative statesmen of the time . This opposition to appeasement is reflected in some of his books . For example , in " Biggles & Co " ( 1936 ) the storyline revolves around German preparations for conquest . Even more advanced in his thinking , for that time , was the story " Biggles Air Commodore " ( 1937 ) which alludes to Japanese preparations for conquest of British colonies in the Far East . Apart from " Biggles " , his other multi - volume fiction series were : Besides the above - mentioned children ' s book series , Johns also wrote eight other books of juvenile fiction , twelve books of fiction for adults , and eight factual books , including several books on aviation , books on pirates and treasure hunting , and a book on gardening , " The Passing Show " . Unusually among children ’ s writers of the time , from 1935 Johns employed a working - class character as an equal member of the Biggles team – " Ginger " Habblethwaite , later Hebblethwaite , the son of a Northumberland miner . However , readers never learn his real Christian name , and he proclaims himself a Yorkshireman once or twice . Biography . " By Jove , Biggles ! " , a biography of Johns , was published in 1981 , written by Peter Berresford Ellis and Piers Williams .