The Unorthodox Engineers — Colin Kapp

The Unorthodox Engineers are a misfit bunch of engineers, commanded by maverick engineer Fritz van Noon and including, amongst others, a convicted bank robber as quartermaster (on the entirely-sound grounds that he was likely to be the most capable person for the job). They solve problems of alien technology and weird planets in the future.

The Unorthodox Engineers contains:

The Railways Up on Cannis (1959)
The Subways of Tazoo (1964)
The Pen and the Dark (1966)
Getaway from Getawehi (1969)
The Black Hole of Negrav (1975)