Book Review: Boy Scouts of the Air on the French Front by Gordon Stuart
Tod Fulton’s father is an inventor who has developed a new airplane that can hover in place and has true VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) capabilities. Up to now, he wasn’t able to sell it as there were no peacetime applications. But now that America has entered the Great War, it’s been realized that the Fulton Airplane would be perfect for precision bombing. So German spies are after Mr. Fulton and his invention. Tod and his buddy Jerry Ring must rescue the inventor, even if they have to go all the way to France!
This is the tenth Boy Scouts of the Air book, and by this point Scouting is reduced to a brief mention on the last page, given credit by Tod and Jerry to explain where they learned all their awesome skills. This was a high point to end my binge of boys’ air adventure books, as the central device is outright science fiction and wouldn’t have been out of place in a G-8 story.
The writing is decent, though the characterization is a bit thin. We’re still treated to the calm, clever hero (Tod) and his more excitable chum (Jerry) and supporting characters with single motivations. The thrills are a mile a minute as our heroes must join the Army and qualify as military pilots to continue their search. Late in the story, they actually get to fly the new airplane, which they rename the Vampire, on a rescue mission deep into enemy territory.
The reason for that is that they’re the only Americans who know how to fly a Fulton airplane. Earlier, they’re saddled with the three least competent federal agents available so that the grownups won’t accidentally solve the plot first. (Also note that somehow no one could think of peacetime applications for a VTOL aircraft that can hover in midair.)
Parents should be aware that there’s wartime prejudice against the Germans, and our young heroes do wind up killing people (for the first time in this series.) If you think your young reader is ready for that, it should be suitable for twelve and up. Boy Scouts (and those interested in Scouting) will probably want to search out earlier books in the series which actually have Scouting in them.
