Cover Date: June 1939
Volume 13 #4
Copyright Date: Friday, May 19, 1939
Author: Lester Dent
Editor: John Nanovic
Story Length: 36,211 words
Cover: Emery Clarke
WHMC: The collection contains seven folders for this story, f. 577-583
Recurring Characters. Only Monk and Ham are all present in this story. There is no explanation on the location of the other aids.
Table of Contents
“The Flaming Falcons” by Kenneth Robeson
“The Devil Below” Decks by Wallace Booker
“Radium Death” by George Allen Moffatt
“Hidden Wings” by Alan Hathway
Doc Savage Club
-Parachute Jump
-Soldiers on Skis
-Doc Savage Award
Editor’s Page
In the remote Arizona desert, a wandering hobo named Hobo Jones stumbles upon a heavily guarded experimental plot where strange, yellow-fruited plants are being cultivated in secret. Before he can investigate further, he witnesses a bizarre and deadly attack: metallic, falcon-shaped machines dive from the sky, release a lethal gas, and then self-destruct in violent bursts of flame, erasing all evidence of their existence. Terrified, Jones flees and eventually reaches Doc Savage and his aides with a fragmented account of the “flaming falcons” and the mysterious plants.
Doc’s investigation reveals that the plants are a revolutionary new strain of rubber-producing vegetation engineered to thrive in arid conditions—an achievement of immense strategic value at a time when the United States depends entirely on imported rubber. The project was begun in a tropical jungle laboratory and later moved to Arizona for field testing under the direction of Fenter Bain. Powerful interests, both commercial and foreign, have learned of the breakthrough and are determined to seize or destroy it before it can make the United States independent of overseas rubber supplies.
As Doc and his men pursue the trail, they encounter repeated attacks by the flaming falcons—remote-controlled, self-immolating killing devices first used in an earlier adventure. The machines are directed by a ruthless cabal intent on monopolizing or eliminating the desert rubber. The investigation leads from the Arizona test fields to the original jungle laboratory, where Doc uncovers the full scope of the conspiracy and the identity of those willing to kill to control the plants.
In the final confrontation, Doc and his aides dismantle the falcon network, expose the conspirators, and secure the rubber plants. The new variety is preserved for American industry, ending the immediate threat and delivering a strategic resource at a critical moment on the eve of global war. The story closes with the destruction of the last of the flaming devices and the confirmation that the arid-land rubber can be cultivated successfully on American soil.
Dr. Fu Manchu
One of the ideas that intrigued me about this story is that it had a bit of a Fu Manchu mystique to it. Consider this, Fu Manchu frequently kidnapped scientists to work for him. Dave Robertson could be one of those scientists. Fenter Bain was a Si-Fan operative who grew greedy. He stole away with Robertson, his work, and some loyal followers. Dr. Fu Manchu reacts with the usual fury reserved for traitors to the Si-Fan.
The story actually begins in Indochina based on Dave Robertson’s note stating he is being held captive there. His sister reveals that he is a horticulturalist and was there looking for rare plants. The jungles of south-east Asia are Fu Manchu’s stomping grounds.
There are “brown” men and a lost city in the jungles of Indochina. Hobo Jones learns in short order that the little brown man managing the desert compound is no mere laborer. The man attacks Jones and turns out to be an impressive fighter with special fighting skills. Jones wins the fight through more or less luck. It should also be noted that the man had black teeth. This is consistent with the stains caused by chewing betel nuts. This also appeared in “The Daughter of Fu Manchu.”
In “The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu,” readers encounter a character who is incredibly thin and gaunt. He is an agent of the Si-Fan. Fenter Bain is also described as being skeletally thin with bony fingers. Incidentally, the name “Bains” has historically been used as a nickname for someone who is very thin.
During the time this story was written rubber was a strategic item of national importance. The entire supply of rubber for the United States was imported. The world was in chaos. The Japanese Empire was growing in China while Germany was slowly absorbing Europe. A rubber producing plant that could grow in the continental United States would have been an item viewed with great interest. The fact that it would grow in the arid regions of the country was an additional boon. Eventually, synthetic rubber was developed, but until that time, the dependence of the United States on imported rubber was matter of national defense.
There is a plant named Gray Rabbitbrush, which contains a high-quality rubber. The fictional plant in “The Flaming Falcons” was yellow. It is possible the basic idea for the story was derived from this little plant.
“The Flaming Falcons” also recycles devices used in prior plots.
- The first is the idea of a new rubber plant. This idea first appeared in “The Land of Fear” published in the June 1937 issue. This story is attributed to Harold A. Davis. The only material for this story in the Dent Collection at the University of Missouri in Columbia is an outline.
- Next is the idea of airborne killing machines embodied in the strange birds that burst into flames once their dastardly work is accomplished. Readers first saw this trick in “The Seven Agate Devils.” This story was published in May 1936. The infernal machines used in that story zeroed in on a victim. Instead of the poison gas used in “The Flaming Falcons,” the machines carried a stabbing device.
- In both stories, once their work was done, the death instrument burst into flames, thus destroying the evidence.
Even with its bastardized origins this is really an excellent story.
This is not the end of the deadly flaming death devices. The gimmick appears once more in “The Goblins” from October 1943.
