FORTUNE OF WAR

This is the true story of what happened to W. E. Johns the night before he was shot down in France on 16th September 1918 and how he met a beautiful French girl called Marcelle. Marcelle was to become the inspiration for the character of Marie Janis, the love of Biggles' life in the Biggles stories.

A FLYING START

Mary and Rex Laken go on a flying honeymoon and argue on the way. As a result, Mary goes out and attempts to climb the Seshalhorn Mountain on her own. When Mary gets into difficulties on a narrow ledge, Rex has to use their aeroplane to save her. 

COFFEE FOR TWO

Almer Waine joins a gentleman's club and gets chatting to a man about indiscretion and divorce. The man tells Almer his views about the best way to conduct a secret affair. When the man's lover drives past and signals to him, Almer Waine informs the man that the woman concerned is his wife.

ENCOUNTER

This story, written in the first person, concerns a man who has broken down in a remote area south of Grenoble. Going to a lonely house, he meets a man called Edward Frayle. Frayle tells our hero the story of a certain Lady Morella Wyntersen and the fate of her previous husbands. The story is of particular interest to our hero.

WHEN THREE HAS FAILED

Ellison Westerley has sent three agents on a secret mission and all have failed to return. Roger Livvock, who was the father of the last agent to go, is an old friend and colleague of Westerley's and he asks for a chance to go on the mission. This he does but I have to confess that I don't understand the enigmatic ending of the story! If anybody does, please e-mail me and explain it!

THE STORY TELLER

An American sits in the clubroom of a flying club and tells the story of his escapades with his old friend, Dick Sylvester, known as 'Pug'. The story is one of impossible and unbelievable heroics. What the American doesn't know, is who is in his audience. 

WINGED JUSTICE

Dick Wilde Junior makes his way through the Australian backwoods and comes across an aeroplane that has landed and been hidden in the forest. Dick takes the opportunity of sheltering in the cabin of the plane and he is awoken the following morning by the sound of conversation. Dick is astonished to hear two people discussing how they murdered an old man who has struck gold in the locality. Dick puts sugar in their petrol tank to ensure the men are unable to fly away from justice. When the men do take off, their plane is forced to land and it is easy for the police to arrest them. Dick has a particular interest in bringing the men to justice. The man they murdered was his father.

QUESTIONABLE CARGO

In the pilots' room of an airport, after hours, the pilots exchange stories. The narrator tells the story of the time his was asked to bring some strange freight into the country and not land at a customs airport. His passenger had been attacked by a leopard in Africa and wanted to bring back the dogs that had saved his life. When the narrator has finished his tale he has a big surprise coming.

THE COWARD

This is a true story from when W. E. Johns was a First World War bomber pilot. When his usual gunner is out of action, Johns has to take a raw recruit up, who shows a distinct lack of moral fibre. Johns gives the lad a chance to redeem himself but the lad fails. However, the tale has an unexpected and astonishing end that proves that the truth really can be stranger than fiction.

WORRALS TAKES A HAND

Worrals investigates the disappearance of her friend Frecks. Worrals flies to Najula in East Africa and meets a man named Batson from Equatorial Airways. Frecks had previously flown out in her own plane to work for the company as they were advertising for pilots with their own planes. Batson has lost four pilots in three months shipping gold for the Nova Mining Corporation at Situri. Worrals agrees to fly for the company and flies out to Situri. Meeting a man called Lane, he insists on flying back with Worrals and two of his companions. One of them, Tyson, pulls a gun on Worrals in mid-air and forces her to land in the Maratovo Reserve. This is a diamond-bearing region owned by the Government, where nobody is allowed. Landing, Worrals finds that a local native, called Sam, is holding Frecks and two of the other pilots prisoner. Worrals puts water in the fuel tank of her plane to stop the villains escaping because Tyson is actually a pilot, even though he has a drink problem. Lane is going to shoot Worrals but a detachment of the African Rifles arrives and arrests the bad guys. Worrals had made arrangements in advance, before agreeing to fly for the company, and had arranged a signalling system to give her position.

A MATTER OF OBSERVATION

Cedric Lockwood and his sister Mary like to do a spot of bird watching on the remote Norfolk foreshore. They are suspicious of the regular landing of an aircraft by a remote abandoned windmill. Informing the local police, they are able to break a perfume smuggling racket.

WORRALS WORKS IT OUT

THE DINGO TRAIL

Alexander MacKail and his Aboriginal friend, Joe are out hunting dingoes when they find a dingo that has been killed by a strange piece of metal which has fallen off an aircraft. Their enquiries lead them to a company called Warcraft Disposals. This company is smuggling the metal by concealing it in the struts of aircraft. Alexander suspects the lead like metal is in fact, painted gold, but the truth is something much more sinister. 

THE BADGE

Havaldar Tulsi Ram is a Hindu who once served in the British Army, in the Shikaris. When he is captured by Pakistan troops and threatened with execution, he has cause to be grateful to the fact that he always carries his old Army badge with him and the fact that Muslim soldiers also served in the Shikaris.

PEARLS AND PRIMROSES