When scientist Thurston Kyle’s father was murdered by the Benton gang, Britain’s greatest criminal band, he devoted the next several years of his life to fighting them, helped by his assistant, “Snub” Hawkins. Eventually he designed a winged suit of armour that allowed him to fly and used it to become the vigilante Night Hawk, King of Air. He dismantled Silas Benton’s gang, prompting the crook to flee to Europe, but the relentless Night Hawk pursued him. When Benton disembarked from a train at an Alpine station just inside the Swiss border, thinking he had evaded capture, Night Hawk swooped down and snatched him into the air, then carried him up to a plateau on one of the Jura mountains. Night Hawk then took off his wings and challenged Benton to a fair fight, making it clear there was no safe way to descend without the wings and that only one of them would leave alive. Despite Benton pulling a knife, Night Hawk won the brawl, then, ignoring Benton’s tearful and terrified please for clemency, Night Hawk lifted his foe aloft and hurled him over the edge. Night Hawk went on to target other criminals such as the American gang dubbed “the Destroyers,” recruiting boxer Scrapper Huggins and his friends (the weirdly self-titled “Mr. Kyle’s Kittens”) to help the cause. He even allied with fellow crimefighter Nelson Lee to stop the self-titled Master of the World. He eventually outfitted Snub in a similar suit, allowing him to become Sparrowhawk.
Creators/Key Contributors John James Brearley Garbutt
First Appearance Nelson Lee Library #11 (Amalgamated Press, 5th April 1930)
First Publisher Amalgamated Press
Appearance List Nelson Lee Library #11-17, 32, 36, 40, 43, 51-64, 69-84; Three adventures reprinted in Boys’ Friend Library #352, 362 and 379
Sample Read ○
Description When scientist Thurston Kyle’s father was murdered by the Benton gang, Britain’s greatest criminal band, he devoted the next several years of his life to fighting them, helped by his assistant, “Snub” Hawkins. Eventually he designed a winged suit of armour that allowed him to fly and used it to become the vigilante Night Hawk, King of Air. He dismantled Silas Benton’s gang, prompting the crook to flee to Europe, but the relentless Night Hawk pursued him. When Benton disembarked from a train at an Alpine station just inside the Swiss border, thinking he had evaded capture, Night Hawk swooped down and snatched him into the air, then carried him up to a plateau on one of the Jura mountains. Night Hawk then took off his wings and challenged Benton to a fair fight, making it clear there was no safe way to descend without the wings and that only one of them would leave alive. Despite Benton pulling a knife, Night Hawk won the brawl, then, ignoring Benton’s tearful and terrified please for clemency, Night Hawk lifted his foe aloft and hurled him over the edge. Night Hawk went on to target other criminals such as the American gang dubbed “the Destroyers,” recruiting boxer Scrapper Huggins and his friends (the weirdly self-titled “Mr. Kyle’s Kittens”) to help the cause. He even allied with fellow crimefighter Nelson Lee to stop the self-titled Master of the World. He eventually outfitted Snub in a similar suit, allowing him to become Sparrowhawk.
