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Simple Arithmetic was an Air Police era short story which was first published in the December 1955 edition of Boy's Own Paper. It was not collected and republished in any anthology put out during the lifetime of W. E. Johns and therefore remained relatively unknown until it was collected and published as part of Biggles Air Ace by Norman Wright in May 1999 and again in April 2008.

Synopsis[]

Marcel Brissac asks Biggles if five empty British 2-gallon cans of aviation spirit found in a farm ditch in France means anything to him. At first, Biggles thinks not, but then he remembers a piece of trivia from a case in the recent past....

Plot[]

See article under Norman Oliver Birch for a summary of the plot.

Characters[]

The Special Air Police/Scotland Yard[]

  • Biggles
  • Algy Lacey
  • Ginger Hebblethwaite
  • Bertie Lissie
  • Gaskin - mentioned

Others[]

Aircraft[]

Places[]

Visited[]

  • The Cevennes in France

Mentioned[]

  • Stanton - the Stanton Flying Club
  • Florac - town in the Cevennes where Birch was known to go for holidays

Research Notes[]

References to the past[]

Johns' readers would have been familiar with the Cevennes which were featured in Worrals on the War-Path, although Biggles did not appear in this story.

Incongruities[]

References[]

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