Biggles_slash

What ho chaps ^_^ It's time for me to attempt to pick some more brains! At some point, this brain-picking may actually turn into a fic. Gosh. Now, although Bertie is (for some mysterious reason probably related to monocles) my favourite member of the team, I've never actually read his first appearance in Spitfire Parade. (Largely because I've already *got* Biggles In France, and I don't particularly prioritise getting hold of a second copy with the proper nouns changed, thank you.) And I've only got a partial knowledge of his later appearances. So I thought I'd send out the distress signal to all you people out there who have much better knowledge of canon than me ^_^

1. Inasmuch as one can tell from a selection of lightly transposed WWI stories - when is Spitfire Parade actually set? Are we given any specific dates? Biggles is already commanding Algy and Ginger in a special squadron in France when he's ordered out to Norway in Biggles Defies The Swastika, which is internally dated to late March / early April 1940 by the German invasion. Do stories in Spitfire Parade take place on both sides of Biggles' mission in Norway, or only after he returns? (For that matter, do we know where 666 Squadron is based?)

2. Presuming that Spitfire Parade is thus set at least a little way into the war - do we get any indication, here or elsewhere, what Bertie has been doing previous to joining Biggles in 666? He had flown before the war, I believe, so presumably didn't need a great deal of training on joining the Air Force. Is there any information about how long he's been in the service, and where?

3. And, more generally - do the events of Spitfire Parade cover the Battle of Britain? Dating the books this precisely is, of course, a nightmare, but do we have much information about what they were doing in late summer 1940?

Thanks very much chaps, looking forward to any help you can offer ^_^