Dick Manton, Yvette Pasquet and Jules Pasquet are the Gay Triangle.
When this series of adventures took place and were so documented, nearly a century ago, the unofficial name for the trio had a substantially different meaning than it does today.
As it was used then, the "Gay" indicated fun-loving and adventurous, most decidedly non-stodgy. That adjective definitely relates perfectly to all three, especially Dick and Yvette, for to them the sedate world without the thrill of danger and possible desmise would be too hard to bear. The excitement they achieve in their escapades make those days spent in between tolerable. The "Triangle" merely points to the fact that there are three people in the team.
When we first meet the three, they are not yet a partnership.
Dick Manton is an Englishman who had excelled at flying during WWI and loved every minute he was in the air. When he was on land, he devoted his time to his even greater passion for motor engines. There was no vehicle within his reach that he did not study and know perfectly and no manual about such mechanisms went unread. When he was invalided out of the military from a bullet wound in an air battle, he returned to his previous life making cars (more on that in a moment).
Yvette and Jules Pasquet are sister and brother, Alsatian by birth but made indigenous when invading Germans overran their small country and she watched as her father and older brother were murdered by a particularly cruel German officer. From that moment, their, and especially her, hatred of all things German erupted and years later when they seek Manton's help, it is every bit as strong.
The Pasquets, when we meet them, have been for some time members of the French Secret Service, engaged in all manner of operations that would either help France or hurt Germany and its former allies. Manton, living in Anglia in England, is bored out of his mind and more than ready to answer the call for help from the French pair, especially since he had become smitten with Yvette when first meeting during the War.
Together they travel about Europe on several exciting missions and in most of those operations, they make use of the Mohawk.
That impressive and totally unique vehicle is the personal invention of Dick Manton. It is a motor-plane in that it could be a normal automobile, albeit of strange dimensions, or converted into a monoplane.
"The body, of gleaming aluminium, was of unusual width, and was lifted high above the delicate chassis and spidery bicycle wheels that seemed almost too fragile to bear the weight of an engine."
When converted, "From each side shot out long twin telescopic rods. These, swiftly joined together by rapidly unrolled strips of fabric, soon resolved themselves into the wings of a tiny monoplane. From a cleverly hidden trap-door in the front of the car, appeared an extending shaft bearing a small propeller, whose twin blades, hinged so as to fold alongside the shaft when not in use, were quickly spread out and locked into position. A network of wire stays running from the wings to the fuselage of the car were speedily hooked up and drawn taut."
This one-of-a-kind vehicle does not dominate every action the Triangle makes for they have many moves of their own. It certainly does come in handy, though, when they have to get around (or over) roadblocks.