This table is an attempt to set a date to the various Biggles stories by an analysis of the textual evidence.
| Story | Date | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| The Boy Biggles | 1912 | Stated in the text. |
| Biggles Goes to School | 1913 | In the text, Biggles says he is fourteen and a half. |
| Biggles Learns to Fly! | September 1916 | Stated in the text. |
| Biggles' First Flight | September-October 1916 | After two weeks of training, Biggles travels to France over the course of a few days and flies his first patrol on the first day he reports to 169 Squadron. |
| Biggles the Scout | September-October 1916 | One week after joining 169 Squadron, which he did after about two weeks of training. |
| Spy in the Sky | December 1916-February 1917 | Snowing. |
| Crashed Flyers! | April 1917 | See discussion here. |
| Knights of the Sky | April 1917 | Inferred from its position in the story sequence |
| The Laughing Spy | April 1917 | Mention of "early spring frosts". |
| Biggles' Bulls-Eye | April 1917 | |
| Biggles Buys the Sky | April 1917 | Bristol Fighter is just being introduced. |
| Biggles' Big Battle | April-May 1917 | Timing of the Battle of Arras 1917 |
| Biggles' Surprise Packet | June 1917 | See discussion here. |
| Biggles' Revenge | June 1917 | Follows Surprise Packet, slightly more than a month after. |
| The Dawn Patrol | June 1917 | Follows Biggles' Revenge. At the end Mullen sends Biggles off on his leave to go and visit his friend Mark Way. |
| Biggles Goes Ballooning | June 1917 | Takes place before Runaway Tank below. |
| Biggles and the Runaway Tank | June 1917 | Stated in text as "middle of June". |
| Flying Luck | ||
| Biggles and the Mad Hatter | ||
| Biggles' Sky High Hat Trick | June-early August 1917 or March 1918. | See discussion here. Overall March 1918 fits better and we just have to accept that this story is out of sequence. |
| The White Fokker | June-July 1917 | Biggles has just become an acting flight commander. The Fokker DVII and D.H.9 are anachronistic here so either:
|
| The Packet | June-July 1917 | Biggles has just been promoted to captain |
| J-9982 | June-July 1917 | |
| The Balloonatics | June-July 1917 | |
| Camouflage | June-July 1917 | |
| Spads and Spandaus | June-July 1917 | Summer. Conflicting evidence. See discussion here. |
| The Zone Call | July 20 1917 | This is a timeline fix. Stated in text |
| The Decoy | Interpolated. Batson is killed. | |
| The Boob | Aug 1917 | |
| The Battle of Flowers | Aug 1917 | |
| Biggles and the Flying Camera | Aug 1917 | Algy "had joined the squadron not long before" |
| Biggles' Sky High Spy | Aug 1917 | |
| Biggles' Paperchase | ||
| Biggles' Flying Wardrobe | There are some problems here because Batson is present and had "only just joined the squadron" and Algy is present also. | |
| Biggles' Borrowed Plumes | September-October 1917 | After Algy arrives. Major Benson arrives in this story. |
| Flying Crusaders | September-October 1917 | After Algy and Major Benson arrive. Appearance of Albatros D.V. |
| The Funk | September-October 1917 | Algy has been in France for 6 weeks. |
| Biggles Flies East | October 1917 | In the foreword it is stated that Biggles had been in France for 12 months. |
| On Leave | November-December 1917 | See analysis here. |
| Fog! | ||
| Biggles' Christmas Tree! | December 1917 | From context |
| Biggles Carves the Turkey | Christmas Eve 1917 | From context |
| Biggles' Xmas-Box! | Christmas Day 1917 | From context |
| Biggles and the Joker | January 1918 | icy cold wind; mention of a possible spring offensive. This story comes after the previous two Christmas ones. |
| The Professor | January 1918 | Slight fall of snow |
| The Joy Ride | January 1918 | Sandwiched between two stories set in Winter of 1918 |
| The Bridge Party | January-February 1918 | Biggles kicks the ante-room fire into a blaze. |
| The Bomber | late Nov 1917 - Feb 1918 | Mention of the "new" Sopwith Dolphin |
| Biggles' Night Out! | February 1918 | "stars were shining brightly in the frosty air...." |
| Biggles "On the Spot" | February 1918 | Any time between October 1917 - May 1918. The middle of the range is selected here. |
| The Carrier | February 1918 | Stated in text. |
| Biggles' Day Off | March 1918 | Just before the German Spring Offensive launched on 21st March 1918 |
| Scotland for Ever! | 21st March 1918 | First day of the German Spring Offensive launched on 21st March 1918 |
| Biggles' Sky High Hat Trick | Shortly after 28th March 1918 | Text states that it is "shortly after" Captain J. L. Trollope's feat of shooting down 6 enemy aircraft (later found to be 7) in one day. This took place on 28th March 1918. |
| The Bottle Party | April 1918 | 6 weeks before The Professor Comes Back |
| The Trap | April-May 1918 | Presence of the Fokker D.VII |
| The Professor Comes Back | May 1918 | Just before The Thought Reader. |
| The Thought Reader | June 1918 | Summer. Harvest of wheat in France. |
| Biggles Takes the Bait | April - June 1918 | Mention of a "big Hun salient" (the German 1918 Spring Offensive) and the Fokker D.VII. |
| The Great Arena | late July-early August 1918 | Mention of a "big push" - the British 100-day offensive launched late July 1918 |
| Biggles Finds His Feet | late July-early August 1918 | Takes dressing from the previous story. There is a fluid front with British and German attacks and counter-attacks consistent with the launch of a "push". |
| Affaire de Coeur | October-November 1918 | |
| The Last Show | November 1918 | The Armistice towards the end of the story. |
| The Cruise of the Condor | late 1932 | The mention of the Ju 52 in LAB service constrains the earliest possible date to be Nov 1932. This has the effect of leaving a huge gap between WW1 and his Biggles' subsequent activities, what researchers call "The Missing Years". |
| Biggles Flies Again | After Condor | Commonly thought to be after Condor. In any case, the mention of the Pan American passenger services in The Gold Rush sets 1929 as the earliest possible date. In Biggles Delivers the Goods, Biggles says the Li Chi episode took place in 1934-35. Although this sets up a big chunk of "missing years", it fits nicely with Black Peril where they are still using the same aircraft. |
| The Black Peril | 1934 | Specifically mentioned in Chapter 14. This reference is removed in the Thames editions published in the 1950s. |
| Biggles & Co | Apr - May 1935 | See discussion at Miles Falcon |
| Biggles in Africa | May - June 1935 | Just after Biggles & Co. See discussion here. |
| Biggles Flies West | November 1937 | See discussion here. |
| Biggles in the Jungle | Dec 1937 - Feb 1938 | The winter months. See discussion here. |
| Biggles in Spain | April - July 1938 | See discussion here. |
| Biggles in the Baltic | 3rd September 1939 and a few weeks after | Britain declared war on Germany in Chapter 1. |
| Biggles Sees It Through | A few weeks up to 13th March 1940 | The armistice of the Winter War (13th March 1940) was declared in chapter 16 . |
| Biggles Defies the Swastika | April 1940 | Takes place during the invasion of Norway. |
| Biggles Sweeps the Desert | late summer-autumn 1941 | Appearance of the Me 109F |
| Biggles in Borneo | After May 1942 | Japan completed conquest of the Philippines in May that year. |
| Biggles Fails to Return | Nov 1942 | German occupation of Southern France (Case Anton) takes place just as Biggles & Co. make their escape. |
| Biggles in the Orient | Mar - Jun 1944 | The need to attack a bridge on the Manipur river would indicate a date some time between March and June 1944 during the phase of the Burma Campaign when Japanese troops attempted to invade India by going through Manipur and attacking towards Imphal and Kohima. |
| Biggles' Second Case | 1946 | 6 months have elapsed since Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D. which could have been set no earlier than September 1945. |
| Biggles Hunts Big Game | Nov 1946 - Mar 1947 | See here. |
| Biggles Gets His Men | Oct - Nov 1947 | Not plausible in Oct - Nov 1949, improbable in Oct - Nov 1948. |
| Biggles Foreign Legionnaire | late 1952 | Earliest May 1952, latest Nov 1954. See here. |
| Biggles in Australia | 1953 | Earliest Oct 1952 (when the atomic tests at Montebello Island mentioned in chapter 1 took place), more likely some months after. See here. |
| Biggles on Mystery Island | 1957 | The first of a series of British nuclear tests over Christmas Island took place as part of Operation Grapple in Nov 1957 with subsequent tests leading into early 1958. |
| Biggles Goes Home | Dec 1959 - Jan 1960 | Inferred from mention of Dalai Lama fleeing Tibet. See here. |
| Biggles Sets a Trap | 1961 | Stated in text, esp. Ch. 3 |
| Biggles Takes a Hand | Aug 1961 | Inferred from mention of the Berlin wall. See here. |
| Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns | 1959 - 63 | A range of 1959 - 1963 is plausible. See here. Probably nearer to 1963 than 1959 because it was written later than Biggles Sets a Trap which is set in 1961. |
| Biggles and the Blue Moon | 1963 - 65 | The book references events during the Malaysian-Indonesian Confrontation, an "undeclared" war which saw Indonesia actually landing commandos in peninsula Malaysia. Although Indonesian military actions began in 1963, the first commando landings in peninsula Malaysia began in August 1964. This was probably fresh in Johns' mind when the book, published in 1965, was being written. |