TOAD TAKES UP TEACHING
Two years after the end of World War 1, found Toad in the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau. For which benison he was grateful to his ex-RFC commander who had pulled the necessary strings.

Not only Toad but his invaluable comrades, Bones and the Flight had also been included. The three of them were gloomily discussing their good fortune after the manner of a dentist who has won a racehorse in a raffle.

"It's a tricky one Hall" the Colonel greeted Toad brusquely. "I need you to infiltrate a boarding school, playing the part of a teacher, in order to flush out another member of staff who is subverting the boys to gain access to their fathers top secret information.

That's all we have to go on and its our best guess based on the scientists whose work has been compromised. The adult could be anyone the boys might encounter, possibly a gardener not necessarily a teacher. So draw up a plan to present to the higher ups in a weeks time, will you?
TOAD TALE PART 2 - tHE PLOT THICKENS
After Toad returned to 'the mess' as they had very appropriately named their shared work and leisure space, he explained the bare boned task which he had been given a week to flesh out.

"So let's see" said Bones, who had a knack for arranging information rapidly, "what we have here is unknowns that must be isolated or quantified. In order to extract some order from the chaos we need to isolate one of them.

I suggest the classic Indian tiger trap, a bleating goat is required so why not plant a suitable subject in the school and await results? I have just the chap in mind, my cousin Osbert, remember the brat that dismantled your engine Flight?"

"I'm afraid he'd let the cat out of the bag because he's a mouthy little bastard who would probably prove unable not to let his school fellows in on the secret." said Toad doubtfully "then the secrets source might be one of several boys to whom he had blabbed and that would make the spy extremely suspicious."

"I don't know why there has to be some shadowy spy when a boy might deliberately sell his own fathers secrets for malice or profit or simply give them away inadvertently by careless talk?" the Flight said. "Any ideas about what subject you will be teaching them, or do they already have a suitable slot."

"No, I already have permission to start a new topic on the school curriculum, it will be model making and flying. After all it's a subject dear to my heart and I won't be a popular teacher struggling to manage Latin declensions."


TOAD TALE PART 3 - Old school days
The ways and means discussion continued as the three chums got down to work following Toads news.

"Of course you'll be taking your 2 seater, assuming we get it roadworthy in time, nothing like a special to lure a boy's interests" suggested the Flight, whose baby the roadsters H6 OHC Hispano Suiza engine was.

"Attract you mean" said Toad with a grin "lure has lurid connotations, altar boys, the sort of nonsense that squalid tabloids such as the Nudes of the World like to wallow in."

"Pater swears it's the only honest rag on the market!" added Bones "but he keeps it hidden inside his F.T lest mater have his balls for breakfast."

The day and discussion both wore on as they began to assemble the germ of a plan.

The school in question was conveniently situated not far from London in the country town of Bishopsford. Founded and funded by the South Africa Company nabobs, the school had a reputation for producing solid Christian missionaries masquerading as plantation owners (or vice versa) who upheld the Victorian values of Jesus to such effect as to create a model democracy like Zimbabwe.


TOAD TALE 4 - OSBERTS UNDOING
The Colonel listened patiently to Toads explanation of the plan that he and his men had devised over the past few days of careful construction.

"Jolly good job, Hall. Devious lot, you and your chaps but then I knew that already from your wartime missions. Seems to me you included everything as well as the kitchen sink in the shape of this young Osbert fellow. Thats your only weak link as far as I can see. Can he be trusted to fit in with the other pupils and most important of all keep his trap shut?"

"Yes sir because his uncle, who is my old observer Bones, has him firmly under his thumb. He's been caught red handed and that now hangs over him like the sword of Damocles, ripe to be whisked away to some penitentiary at the behest of the local magistrate Uncle Bones."

"I don't like using unreliable fellows, Hall. What's to say he won't be tempted to go astray again?"

"He was set up by his uncle on purpose to rope him in as a suitable foil for our needs. A few quid to a willing chambermaid and Bob's your uncle as indeed he is, since that's Bones' christian name."

"Poor little chap, a case of chitty chitty bang bang eh? Never fails, the pursuit of carnal knowledge."

"A double edged sword when you can be punished for what you didn't and couldn't do!" chuckled Toad.

With only 3 days before he was due to take up his new position at the school, Toad and the Flight gazed ruefully at the smoking remains of his roadsters engine.

"I know it was hard for you to find an adequate Hispano-Suiza engine, when the RFC could hardly get one." said the Flight in commiseration.

"Its like that saying 'when she was good she was very good'.." said Toad sadly

Engine failures were common even by the low standards of the day.. The RFC could not afford to sacrifice power in scout aircraft and so were attempting to maximize the power of the engine at the same time as they were learning how to manufacture them in the first place.

Broken crankshafts, compression leaks, failed bearings, ill-sized or ill-fitting cylinder sleeves, and warped valve stems were continual problems. A never-ending headache for the mechanics and a continual threat to the pilots.

"However I can save the day. I just happen to have a prototype Bentley 3.0 Litre straight-4 engine designed by RFC engineer Clive Gallop. You remember him from Brooklands?"

"Oh yes, old Pony!"

"It is very technically advanced. It was one of the first production car engines with 4 valves per cylinder."

"You mean the four valve SOHC Hemi design, with a bevel-geared shaft drive for the camshaft? How the hell did you get your hands on that!" said Toad in surprise.

"Friends in high places" remarked the Flight enigmatically with a wide grin.

TOAD TALE 5 - HORSES FOR COURSES
"You will keep referring to the dear old RFC, Flight" remarked Bones "but we all know its been the RAF for the last couple of years, so why not admit it?"

"Old habits die hard Mr Bones, things never change for the better neither. I've been hearing things about how its more organized now, no place for old school mechanics like me."

This fragment of a previous days conversation came to his mind as Toad drove his roadster towards his new position as a school teacher at Bishopsford Prep school.

For 'old school mechanic' read brilliant engineer he thought, marvelling at the silk smooth power from the low revving Bentley lump, so different from his HS yet if anything a better fit and balance with enormous torque.

"Think of her like a Shire horse compared to an Arab" the Flight had said with satisfaction once convinced the new engine was behaving at its best.

"Those heavy horses are no slouches either" added Bones "I rode our brood mare La Collene, beautiful girl, through three foot snow drifts to get food from the village when the tractor couldn't cope. She walked as though the snow was no problem and yet in summer when she's out in her paddock you should see her gallop. I loved that mare..." he muttered almost to himself.

Toad grinned at the recollection of his mates and their constant comments. He was going to miss them whilst he did his duty, there was a job to do, an important one as the Colonel had emphasized.

"Listen Hall I know how you and your chaps have this laissez faire attitude and I am aware that its an act to keep the brass at bay but for God's sake take this job seriously.

Someone in our Ministry and probably a couple of others is leaking like a sieve about the latest developments in science and manufacturing.

You might well ask yourself , whats the point of the latter but a manufactory is a potential target and knowing exactly where it is and what it produces could be of great value to an enemy."


TOAD TALE PART 6 - THE COLONEL EXPLAINS ALL
"Enemies?" said Toad feigning surprise "I thought we'd just finished clearing that lot out from under their rocks!"

The Colonel stared at him for a moment and said, pointing to a chair and producing two glasses and a bottle of Scotch "Make yourself comfortable Hall after I've disenchanted you of your youthful delusions, you may be glad of a stiff drink. Of course I know you're nobodys fool but even so I doubt you're aware of how the cards are stacked against us.

The apocryphal man in the street may well be regarding his present circumstances with relief, having fought the good fight and apparently triumphed but the truth of the matter is sadly at odds with his comfortable delusions and thats what we here at the Service are not only aware of but pledged to overcome at all costs.

Fortunately for England not all the upper echelons are manned with fools, we have men like Churchill not afraid to voice warnings about what lies ahead. As First Lord of the Admiralty he did sterling work, for example in his encouragement of development of the 'landships' he called what we know as tanks.

Churchill took the first two steps to ensure full consideration for a project upon which he had set his heart. On the 20th of February, 1915, he formed a semi-technical committee under the Director of Naval Construction expressly to deal with it.

Five weeks later, when this committee had brought matters to the executive stage of experiment necessitating the expenditure of money, he took the second step—one for which he deserves the gratitude of the Army and of the nation. He sanctioned the expenditure of £70,000 pounds of public funds upon what was a speculative venture, Ernest Swinton was the father of the tank, but Churchill made it happen because of his vision and influence, even after he had been sacked from the Admiralty over the Gallipoli episode.

Of late Mr Churchill has been instrumental in bringing to our notice two names, an Austrian corporal one Adolf Hitler and an Italian named Benito Mussolini who has inspired the former with his 'fascist' movement of which you may have seen mention in the newspapers of late."

"Excitable bunch those Eyeties" observed Toad "About as much military use as tits on a bull from my experience." He'd had the misfortune to be ordered to take a couple of their airmen in tow to learn how the RFC did things. "So which of these men do you suspect are responsible for the school spy or spies?"

"Thats where things get a bit sticky, you see this Hitler chap at present seems to be a bit of a lone voice in the wilderness. However of late he's championing the cause of the German worker, the ordinary chaps who are very unhappy with their lot thanks to the French and their vindictive demands in the Treaty."

"No one bears a grudge like a Frog, that's a fact!" observed Toad who had plenty of wartime memories to draw on.

"Quite so, which is why we suspect its the Germans who are behind this damned spying but some of our technical secrets may well be benefitting the Italian aircraft makers judging by some reports on their progress. However my own suspicion lies with a shadowy cabal of industrialists whose existence I have yet to confirm."

TOAD TALE PART 7 - A PESSIMISTIC CONCLUSION
"Our diffident American allies were the real winners of that damned war thanks to their immense resources." growled the Colonel, pouring a generous Scotch in their glasses,

"Those Italian aviation advances you mentioned, might have been behind their Schneider Trophy wins of recent memory" observed Toad "the Flight was very suspicious despite my reminding him that they've always been very good with thin walled alloy die castings which results in weight savings that can make all the difference with aircraft.

Their electrical stuff has always been poor but they're using Bosch ignition parts now which are a cut above the rest including Lucas, sad to say. I think I'll accept that drink now sir, thankyou. To His Majesty" he said raising his glass.

"And confusion to his enemies" the Colonel added "here's mud in their eyes damn them! While we're on the subject of booze, the United States is now suffering under the self inflicted curse of Prohibition which is resulting in rampant organized crime, bootlegging, and violent gang conflicts. To add to their woes their nation is also facing recession, and the final wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic."

"Not that we're much better off." said Toad gloomily refilling his glass at a nod from the Colonel who was already on his third.
"With flags waving and brass bands playing, we're marching towards disaster" said the Colonel bitterly.