Science Fiction Thorne, Guy: The Air Pirate (1920); v1; 14 Nov 2019

[Pulpmeister]

Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull used several pen names, the best known being "Guy Thorne". This novel was published as by Ranger Gull.

Written in 1919, published in 1920, it is set in the near future, or about 1933 as far as I can calculate; it portrays a world where giant flying boats cross the Atlantic (years before the Boeing "Clipper" flying boats) and where they are suddenly preyed upon by an agile, heavily armed and very fast pirate aircraft, which forces the giant aircraft down at sea and plunders them. Incidentally, the author predicts the power-assisted control systems of modern aircraft!.

Unusually, while the head of the British Air Police is the notional hero, leading the hunt for the lair of the predators, the real hero is a diminutive Japanese samurai, the bodyguard to an American millionaire, who speaks without any foreign accent, and who is the brains behind the search.

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