{"id":23681,"date":"2026-10-19T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=23681"},"modified":"2026-09-19T18:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T22:23:01","slug":"devildog-squadron-vol-4-coils-of-the-cobra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2026\/10\/19\/devildog-squadron-vol-4-coils-of-the-cobra\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Devildog Squadron, Vol. 4: Coils of the Cobra\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

At PulpFest<\/a> 2026, we got the fourth and final volume of Donald Keyhoe<\/a><\/strong>‘s Devildog Squadron<\/a><\/strong> series, The Coils of the Cobra<\/em>, from Age of Aces Books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Devildog<\/a><\/p>\n

This was his second series, started in 1931, the same month as Philip Strange<\/a><\/strong>. It lasted for 24 stories from 1931 to ’35 in Sky Birds<\/a><\/em>, published by Magazine Publishers (aka Ace), with the magazine only lasting one issue after the last story appeared. This is the fourth and final volume, with the last five stories, along with a bonus.<\/p>\n

The series is set in World War I and centers around a squadron of Marine pilots who have weird adventures against bizarre foes. While the squadron has several members, as this is a series of short stories, only a few characters are named or have major parts in each story. In all, there will usually be one character who is mainly featured in that story.<\/p>\n

Villains are various spies and German agents and, more importantly, some new and bizarre German Staffel or weapon, led by a particular foe. We never got any returns of the villains, though I found it funny that two stories in a prior volume gave the villains the same name, even though they are clearly different characters.<\/p>\n

As an air-war<\/a> series, planes and flying always have a big part of the story. The Devildogs fly SPADs; the Germans fly Fokker and Albatross fighters and Gotha bombers. The English have their Sopwith Camels. Sadly, the particular plane models aren’t given. We also hear about their guns: Spandau and Vickers. And I have to think the flying scenes are accurate, as Keyhoe was a Marine pilot.<\/p>\n

And the series seemed to be popular. As I reviewed the cover art for the pulp magazine, I saw that Donald Keyhoe was almost always listed on the covers, and starting in 1933, the issues with the Devildog stories always listed him in larger type, sometimes with the title, above the listings of Joe Archibald<\/a><\/strong> and Arch Whitehouse<\/a><\/strong>, both of whom wrote aviation series in many of the same magazines as Keyhoe. Each had their own long-running series.<\/p>\n

The squadron is led by Maj. \u201cCyclone Bill\u201d Garrity<\/strong>. He is your typical hard-boiled commander of the 28th Pursuit, overseeing about 30 Marines on the Western Front. Not all are named or featured in each story, and several will die along the way. Some of the other characters include second-in-command Hick Jones<\/strong>; Lt. Larry Brent<\/strong>, the youthful leader of A Flight; Ted \u201cLucky\u201d Lane<\/strong>, a man who lives up to that nickname; and the Three Lunatics<\/strong>: Mack Tuttle<\/strong>, Benny Sparks<\/strong>, and the big Irish lug, Pug Flanagan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This time, we get the final five stories from March 1935 through September 1935. Surprisingly, most of these appeared in sequential issues instead of having gaps. This hadn’t happened since early in the series. As noted, there was only one more issue of Sky Birds<\/em>, as there weren’t issues in October or November, and the December 1935 issue was the last. So this is probably why the series ended, though it could have moved to another magazine.<\/p>\n

In a change from others, “Satan’s Courier” (March 1935) starts off with a scene set four years prior in 1914. The Germans have invaded Belgium, trapping an American and his new bride behind lines. There is a confrontation with a group of soldiers, and the man is shot and left, the woman taken. Then we shift to the current time. During aerial combat, several Devildogs are killed by German fighter planes. But a mysterious Albatross arrives and actually helps them, then drops a message at their airdrome. We learn there is a mysterious person who has been supplying information to the Allies. Larry Brent is sent to meet him, but things go awry, and he is captured. The mysterious man then shows up at the Devildogs’ base and reveals all. Can he free Brent, help the Devildogs wipe out a new sinister squadron, and succeed in his vengeance?<\/p>\n

We find Lucky Lane and the Three Lunatics on leave in Paris in “Falcons of Fury” (April 1935), trying to avoid the MPs. When they are finally grabbed, they learn their leave has been canceled due to a new crisis: all contact with the U.K. is lost, and they are needed. There is a huge mass of fog, and all attempts at contact, including ships and planes, can’t get through. But getting to the French coast, they see a British plane being attacked by a black falcon carrying a red stick, which causes a huge explosion. So there is more going on preventing contact. They use a Curtiss H-16 flying boat to try to get to England. Will they succeed and expose the mystery of the falcons and the conspiracy preventing contact?<\/p>\n

Lucky Lane is flying back to his base when he spots something bizarre in “Coils of the Cobra” (June 1935). He sees a fellow Devildog tied up in the back of a two-seater, with a cobra drawn on his forehead. The pilot, who seems to have a brass arm and a brass mask, forces him out of the plane, sending him to his death. Lane fights several planes, all with cobras on their wings instead of the German cross. Who are these planes? On the ground, he learns there have been other deaths by these cobra planes, and he is sent to a secret base to help uncover who this group is. There he is waylaid by a false pilot and finds an American colonel electrocuted, with an old newspaper article. Can Lane get to the bottom of this, expose who and what this cobra group is, and put a stop to them?<\/p>\n

In “The Devil’s Dynamo” (July 1935), we get a scene with mysterious men around a miniature of Paris, directing agents to attack various Allied officers. The Germans are starting some new sinister campaign. Lucky Lane is flying in with a German prisoner who has info on the man behind it. Despite attempts at stopping him, he gets through. The agent has the message written on his back, but can they decode it? Before they can, the Germans make their move: creating a huge invisible wall that blocks off Paris from the Front, preventing men and supplies from getting through. Lane is joined by Larry Brent to try to get through. And if not, can they figure out what is going on? Even Major Garrity gets in on the action.<\/p>\n

Finally, in “Shells of Satan” (September 1935), Lane and the Three Lunatics are facing a new threat. A nearby airdrome is wiped out by a single shell. This seems to be a new terror weapon: something similar to a guided missile. Will they be able to find the source of this and stop it?<\/p>\n

The bonus for this volume is a reprint of Keyhoe’s flying saucer article for True<\/em> in January 1950, “The Flying Saucers are Real.” True<\/em> was a men’s adventure magazine. Sadly, whatever photos or artwork accompanied the original article was not reprinted here. This article would be expanded into his book later that year, then followed by Flying Saucers From Outer Space<\/em> (1953) and The Flying Saucer Conspiracy<\/em> (1955). He would then co-found the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in 1956.<\/p>\n

This was another great collection of stories. I really enjoyed this series. If Sky Birds<\/em> had lasted longer, might this series have also lasted? Who knows. Having read his Philip Strange series, both series present a similar version of WWI. I could easily see Strange having an adventure alongside some of the Devildogs. Maybe someone can make that happen.<\/p>\n

I do hope Age of Aces Books will reprint Keyhoe’s final series, the Al \u201cClick\u201d Jarnaghan<\/a><\/strong> series from Flying Aces<\/a><\/em>, which ran only four stories. Keyhoe has some other aviation series I need to read; it’s just a matter of which one I’d delve into first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At PulpFest 2026, we got the fourth and final volume of Donald Keyhoe‘s Devildog Squadron series, The Coils of the Cobra, from Age of Aces Books. This was his second series, started in 1931, the same month as Philip Strange. It lasted for 24 stories from 1931 to ’35 in Sky Birds, published by Magazine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at 'Devildog Squadron, Vol. 4: Coils of the Cobra.\u2019","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[1,135,14],"tags":[943,444,2747,664,967,942,975,986,2473,262,1716],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-23681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pulps","category-reprints","category-review","tag-age-of-aces","tag-air-war-pulps","tag-al-click-jarnaghan","tag-arch-whitehouse","tag-devildog-squadron","tag-donald-keyhoe","tag-flying-aces","tag-joe-archibald","tag-philip-strange","tag-pulpfest","tag-sky-birds"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-69X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2026\/08\/devildog-squadron-4-featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23681"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23862,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681\/revisions\/23862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23681"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=23681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}