In Mischief by Moonlight, John Norden is an ex-R.A.F. Corporal who had once served in Biggles' squadron during the Second World War as a bowser driver.
After the war, Norden went back to his family business of farming and worked on Five Elms Farm, Shingleton, Suffolk. When he discovered that an aircraft had been landing on his property at least three times, he wrote to Biggles.
Ginger remembered Norden as "an intelligent type" and, like Biggles, was inclined to take Norden seriously. Flying down to his farm, Biggles learnt that the aircraft had landed three times, starting in February, always on nights when the moon was full. On the last occasion, it had left a patch of oil and Norden had stuck a stick to indicate when it landed. Examining the ground, Ginger found a postage stamp which he later confirmed from a catalogue to be worth seven hundred pounds. Gaskin then confirmed that it belonged to the collection of Colonel Rushby which had been stolen some days ago.
Biggles, Ginger and Gaskin set an ambush for the aircraft on the next night of the full moon, May the 7th and caught Charlie, a professional fence well-known to the police as well as his accomplice, a deserter from the U.S. Air Force who was using a U.S. Air Force helicopter for his smuggling runs.