The Air Pirate

Air travel has acquired its own police force in Guy Thorne's imagined Britain, and Sir John Custance is its chief commissioner. His account begins with an urgent wireless message from Plymouth, where the controller of an air line wants his help. Custance already has a reason to travel there: the actress Constance Shepherd has promised to share his train carriage before boarding a liner for New York. Flowers and press photographers give the departure a cheerful air, while the opening frame points toward danger over the Atlantic.

The Air Pirate combines an aviation adventure with an investigation, moving between official communications, personal loyalties and the search for a concealed enemy. In Cornwall, Custance and Danjuro study the movements of Helzephron and his associates while weighing how to protect the skies. Patrol ships, coded telegrams and the problem of locating a hidden airship give the suspense a practical shape. Readers interested in early visions of commercial flight will find that machinery woven into a brisk personal narrative.