Biggles and Erich von Stalhein. Quiz

Answer: Biggles Flies East

In fact Erich von Stalhein only appears in one of the Biggles "directions" books. "Biggles Flies East" is set during World War I. Biggles is working undercover and von Stalhein definitely has his suspicions about him. The book ends with a crash in which Erich is apparently killed.

Answer: Ginger

Von Stalhein tells Biggles that the firing squad was merely a ruse to get Biggles to give himself up. Ginger as a mere boy would not have been shot, he claims. It is sometimes difficult to know when Erich is telling the truth.

Answer: Fritz

The nephew's full name is Fritz Lowenhardt. He comes to see Biggles in London after his uncle has been put into the political prison on the island of Sakhalin. Fritz wants Biggles to consider attempting a rescue of Erich.

Answer: Von Stalhein shoots him dead with a pistol

Zorotov is supposed to be on the same side as von Stalhein. However, Erich doesn't hesitate to gun him down when he thinks his plan to obtain the aeroplane with the special device is about to be frustrated. Later in the same book von Stalhein orders the massacre of a large number of Africans for much the same reason.

Answer: Biggles in Mexico

The interview with von Stalehin comes at the beginning of "Biggles in Mexico". This is after "Biggles Buries a Hatchet" where Erich was rescued from Sakhalin by Biggles and his team. After the way he has been treated by his former employers von Stalhein is reluctantly prepared to give information about them.

Answer: Finland

The meeting takes place during the Russo-Finnish war. However, von Stalhein is in Finland to obtain the documents that an escaping scientist has carried to the depths of the frozen countryside.

Answer: The violin

It is in "Biggles Looks Back" that this information is revealed. Indeed Erich incorporates this skill into his disguise as he earns a living by working as a musician whilst searching for news of Marie Janis, the woman that he once loved.

Answer: Algy

The wager is for five thousand francs and Algy wins the money when he and von Stalhein phone Biggles who confirms that Algy was telling the truth. This is the story where later on there is a good deal of excitement in a car chase where sugar beet on the road becomes a vital factor.

Answer: A tie

The tie is one of the symbols of the organisation that is recruiting soldiers from the West to go and join a new army elsewhere. Biggles is clever enough to realise that it may help him and his assistants if they too wear the same sort of tie.

Answer: Petroffsky

When Bertie points out von Stalhein has only been offering Petroffsky the vodka bottle in order to get him drunk enough to talk, the Russian says, "Could a man be so base?" Bertie replies, "Von Stalhein's methods are so low that no one yet has got to the bottom of them."

Answer: Biggles Defies the Swastika

At one point Erich nearly has all three comrades imprisoned together at once. However, Biggles devises a clever means of escape and he and Algy are free by the time Ginger is brought along to join them.

Answer: Biggles in Australia

It seems strange that the normally immaculate Erich should turn up looking "dirty, shrunken and generally disreputable". Von Stalhein claims that he had been studying oceanography but his purpose in Australia is really to stir up trouble amongst the Aborigines.

Answer: He disconnected the electric flex with his foot and plunged the room into darkness

Once again in "Biggles Takes a Holiday" we learn about Eric von Stalhein's career as a member of the Gestapo. Stitzen, with whom von Stalhein has now chosen to live, is one of the Nazis who spent their time conducting brutal medical experiments using human guinea-pigs.

Answer: Vega

This is also the story where Erich manages to appear to be in two places at once. By the side of the swimming pool he plants a double complete with a monocle and a long cigarette holder and meanwhile he sets out on his mission at Rumkeg Haven. However, it is his failure in this story (amongst others) that makes the Communists believe that he is really collaborating with Biggles.

Answer: The Lucranian Chief of Secret Police

As "Biggles Secret Agent" is set just before World War 2 W.E.Johns is careful to choose a Ruritanian title for the country where the events take place. However, Lucrania is obviously modelled on a Nazi German puppet state like Lichtenstein or Austria after the annexation.

There are certainly persecuted Jews and brutal stormtroopers and von Stalhein, in spite of his outward courtesy, behaves with all his usual devious nastiness.