The Worrals series consists of 11 books published between 1941 and 1950 by English writer Capt. William Earl Johns (1893-1968), author of the Biggles and Gimlet series. The first book in the series is Worrals of the W.A.A.F. All the other titles have “Worrals” in the title, and the series at Faded Page can be found here. The first six books take place during World War II, while the remaining five books are located after the war, in remote and exotic places around the world.

When WWII broke out, Johns became a lecturer at the Air Defence Cadet Corp. Due to his success in encouraging young men to train to be pilots through his Biggles series of stories, the Air Ministry requested that he create a female counterpart to Biggles to aid in the recruitment effort for the W.A.A.F. (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force). The character “Worrals” first appears in 1941 with her side-kick “Frecks”, both flying for the W.A.A.F. By the time the fourth Worrals book, Worrals on the War-path, was released, Worrals and Frecks were actively behind the lines engaged in the war.

Johns modeled Worrals after two female aviators he knew: Pauline Gower, who established the women’s branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII, and Amy Johnson (“Johnnie”), who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Interestingly, our next and eighth Faded Page Worrals book to be released is Worrals Down Under.

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