'It is my opinion that Biggles is dead,' asserted the Air Commodore. 'I had already sensed that, Sir, but I don't believe it,' retorted Algy. When Biggles undertakes a lone mission to rescue an Italian princess from Mussolini's Italy he doesn't know he's walking into a trap. Against all the odds he gets the princess to the aircraft ready to fly them back to safety, but he never reaches the plane. He's last seen wounded and surrounded by the enemy, but Algy, Ginger and Bertie refuse to accept that he's dead until they see the evidence themselves.