Biggles Hits the Trail was the title given to one of the very early books in the series about the dashing aviator, first published in the 1930s and written by the author Capt. W.E. Johns. Using what records we can explore online, we shall hit a trail of our own and track the prolific writer from his birth in 1893 in Bengeo, Hertford through his First World War entry into the world of flying, to his eventual death in Richmond upon Thames in 1968 aged 75.