Tom Swift and His Odean Airport; or, Foiling the Haargolanders by "Victor Appleton" (Harriet Adams) (1934)
A mainstay of juvenile (read: boys') adventure novels, Tom Swift, inventor and adventurer, had just about run his course by 1934. Gone was the sense of fun and excitement that marked the earlier books in the series, gone was the inventive plotting and coincidence theater that had romped through the series, and gone was Howard R. Garis, who, after writing the first thiry-five books in the series, hung up his Swiftian spurs. In his place was Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, the daughter and successor to juvenile book packager Edward Stratemeyer. Harriet took over the series with 1933's Tom Swift and His Television Detector, following it with 1934's Tom Swift and His Ocean Airport and 1935's Tom Swift and His Planet Stone. And there the series died its long-deserved death. Well, almost. A few years later, Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope (1939) appeared, followed by Tom Swift and His Magnetic Silencer (1941) -- both ghosted by Thomas Moyston Mitchell, and both appearing as Big Little Books (large type on the verso pages and a full page drawing -- albeit crude -- on the recto pages; presented in atrociously written-down language), with both books a stain on an already tarnished reputation.
Harriet Adams "was responsible for over 200 books over her literary career." For the most part, she did not write them, providing instead outlines to various ghost writers and overseeing the production of the books. She claimed to have written all of the Nancy Drew books published during her lifetime, but t'weren't so. (Nancy Drew, by the way, was created by her father, and the majority of the books were ghost-written by Mildred Wirt Benson.) She was, however, involved in updating the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books in the 1950s and 1960s, removing stereotypes and streamlining plots. She also evidently touched up some manuscripts, the degree to which is not known. Despite all the bluster and publicity, the full degree of her writing chops remains up in the air. IMHO, Tom Swift and His Ocean Airport did not add to her luster.
Tom now appears to be in full control of Swift Enterprises (or Swift Construction -- the name changes at the whim of the writer), the large research and manufacturing firm basically devoted to his inventions. His father, referenced briefly here, does not appear at all. Also not appearing at all is Tom's new wife Mary, who had been his long-time girlfriend; in fact, she is only mentioned twice in passing, and not by name. (Sidenote: many theorize that Tom's marriage a few books before marked the death knell of the series.) Tom's best friend, Ned Newton, is now Tom's business manager; if memory serves me, Ned is also recently married (to Mary's best friend), but no mention is made of this. Also present is Koku, a giant warrior -- large on strength, small on brains --from a mysterious South American tribe, who serves as Tom's devoted bodyguard, and Eradicate Sampson, the colored Steppin Fetchit-ish comic relief, now very elderly, yet still prideful. Also in the mix is Mr. Wakefield Damon, an older friend who spends his time blessing everything ("Bless my brakeshoes!" "Bless my vest buttons!" "Bless my fountain pen!" ad nauseum); he serves no purpose whatever except evade his wife and to accompanyy Tom on his various adventures.
When we open, Tom is attempting to invent a noiseless wireless transmitter (transmitters tending to be noisy and full of static); Tom believes this will be a big money-maker. Tom is interrupted by a visit from an old friend, aviator Jerry Mason, who is about to attempt a solo airplane voyage of 10,000 miles without stopping to refuel. Mason fears an evil rival, Zeb Lang, is trying to sabotage his efforts in order to claim the trip and the glory for himself. Sure enough, after Mason takes off, Lang follows him in a much larger ship and crowds him out of the sky, forcing his to crash in the ocean and (presumably) drown. Tom hears all this on his radio shortwave. Mason is undoubtably dead, his plane gone; Zeb Lang and his plane also vanish, never to be heard from. It is a bit off-putting to read, but Tom is remarkably blase about his friend's death. Ho hum, so he's gone. But Tom does stop to think that Mason might have been saved if he had a place to land his plane mid-ocean -- an ocean airport, if you will. Tom determines to build such an ocean airport in order to save any other pilots who might happen to crash in that exact spot in the middle of the ocean. I admit I had a hard time grasping that logic and motivation.
Enter Emil Gurg, supposedly a talented engineer with impeccable credentials, who easily talks his way into an important job with Tom. Ned is suspicious of the guy from the git-go, but Tom appears to have been hit with a stupid stick and sees nothing suspicious. Around this time, author Adams throws in mention of master criminal the "Leopard" from an earlier book. I'm not spoiling anything by admitting that that is a false flag and absolutely nothing comes of this plot thread -- much like Zeb Lang, he's here and then he's gone.
Tom gets the cooperation of the US goverment to built his ocean airport. The only thing is that Tom needs a specific type of lumber to build the airport's platforms, and that lumber doesn't exist. Oh. Wait. It does. i It comes from a rare tree grown only in the small country of Haargoland -- which happens to be where Emil Gurg comes from. Alas, the country is currently being run by a party which refuses to let the country export the rare lumber, citing it as a national resource. Not to worry. Tom blithely agrees to support a revolution and a government takeover in order to get the lumber. But no killing, mind you, the revolution must be entirely bloodless. And so it is. The government is overthrown, Tom buys his lumber frpm the new government, and it is being shipped to New York. Easy peasy. What Tom has forgetten (or maybe just did not want to admit) was that revolutions spawn counter-revolutions, and this one is very bloody on both sides. Tom washes his hands of the matter. He bought the lumber. It belongs to him. And any political repercussions are not his fault...or his business. Tom's utter lack of moral aawreness is upsetting and, to be frank, disgusting.
By the way, the entire plan and design of the ocean airport is stupid and unworkable. But when did that ever stop a plot from moving forward?
Anyway, Tom and the gang (minus Eradicate, who was too old for the journey) are in the middle of the ocean, building their airport. A massive series of underwater earthquakes nearly scuttle the project. In a better thought-out story, this would have some major consequences, but here it is just another plot thread going nowhere. The landing area is composed of large platforms held together by a strong magnetic poser (luckily, Tom had build a large enough magnet to do the trick a number of books earlier). In case of a violent storm, the platforms would be separated to float safely off, to be pulled together later by the magnets. It is interesting to note that during the construction of the airport, Tom (actually Harriet Adams) completely bungles his understanding of a "fatham" as a unit of measuremnt. Also, the area of the Atlantic Tom and the gang are is populated by a large body if basking sharks, and we are told (er. misinformed -- thank you, Harriet) that these sharks are much, much larger than the breed really is; this adds a sense of danger when Tom jumps overboard and one of the (non-maneating) sharks goes after him, only to be punched in the nose (snout?) by Koku.
Anyway, evil Emil Gurg (remember himn?) has been messaging the Haargoland Navy so they can send a warship to take over the ocean airport and claim it for their country. The bad guys do just that and Tom and the gang are taken captive. Tom, howver, has perfected his wireless device (remember that?) and has messaged Washington to send help. A US warship arrives and beats the tar out of the Haargoland warship, but not before the bad guys toss a bomb onto the airport to destroy it. Tom, being Tom, rushes out and throws the bomb overboard seconds before it explodes.
So all ends well. The ocean airport is a success and America will allow any friendly country to use it. Haargoland, not wanting a war, meekly submites to America's might. Emil Gurg, who it turns out to be a professional (small "c") communist, will be caught, tried, and hung if he ever steps foot in America gain. And, it turns out that Jerry Mason (remember him?) is alive; he had been picked up by a ship with no radio and was unable to contact anyone for months. Zeb Land, however, is still missing and presumed dead, pieces of his plane scattered across the ocean. Tom, instead of reuniting with Mary, settles down to a game of checkers with Ned.
Oh, my sweet Jesus!
You may ask, as I did, why an ocean airport, which is basically an aircraft carrier? Especially since crude aircraft carriers have been around since 1910, and larger ones were in steady production in the 1920s. To which the only possible answer would be, "Yeah, but," But what? "But, yeah." In other words, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
One has to approch the Tom Swift books which an appreciation of the time they were written and the audience for whom they were intended. which means accepting that they were racist, sexist, jingoistic, and somewhat amoral. (In one book, Tom and Ned kill a hundred or so natives, without the slightest bit of conscience.) These are people you not want to emulate, even though you might enjoy reading about them.
Tom Swift is the epitomoe of the early 20th century view of an inventor -- he began as tinkerer with nothing but a high school education and a flair for handiwork. It's only later that he developed some scientific knowledge. But Tom, being Tom, soon can do almost anthing:
"Do you think I'll lose my hand, Mr. Swift?"
"Certainly not, I'll doctor you." This Tom did with great skill, thereby earning the undying friendship of the unfortunatate sailor.
And:
"...All the navigating instruments seem to have been affected by some mysterious electrical force of Nature."
"Perhaps I can put them in shape again," offered Tom.
"Have you ever had any navigating experience?" asked Captain Benson somewhat skeptically.
"A little," Tom said quietly.
Then...
It would take too long to detail how he sought out and found the trouble in compasses, gyroscopes, range-finders, magnetos, galvanometers, dynamos, resistance coils, relays and the hundred other complicated pieces of machinery and apparatus which make up the navigating vitals of a modern warship.
People seldom say things in these books. They exclaim, cry, shout, answer, comment, ejaculate, demand, ask, continue, remark, speak, state, suggest, announce, order, admit, gasp, chuckle, invite, roar, and what have you.
For someone who truly enjoys bad books, I am loath to admit that this is a bad bad book. Tom, for all his flaws, deserved better.
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