A rare first edition of the first ever Biggles book, where the daring adventures of the fictional First World War flying ace began, has been sold at auction for three times its pre-sale estimate.
The Camels Are Coming was the first book to feature Captain James Bigglesworth, nicknamed Biggles, of the Royal Flying Corps.
It went under the hammer at Keys Fine Art Auctioneers in Aylsham on Friday, January 25, and was sold to a telephone bidder for £1,800.
Its pre-sale estimate was £500 to £600.
The book contains 17 short stories featuring Biggles and his loyal sidekicks Algy, Ginger and Smyth.
It was published in 1932, and was the first of almost 100 books written by author William Earl Johns, a pilot who usually wrote under the pen name WE Johns.
His Biggles tales were wildly popular in their time, and are still fondly remembered by many enthusiasts.
Author got his wings in Norfolk
Born in India in 1893, author William Earle Johns first served as an infantryman in Gallipoli and Macedonia, before joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1917.
In September 1918 he was shot down over the Western Front; his navigator was killed, but Mr Johns survived and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.
Before the war Johns was a sanitary inspector in Swaffham while he learned to fly at No.25 Flying Training School in Thetford.
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