John-Marc Falcon is a former RAF pilot, born in the Westmount neighborhood of Montreal, Canada to English parents. Falcon trained with the Royal Flying Corps of Canada (a training organisation) in 1917 at Long Branch Aerodrome in Ontario. Canada would not have its own air force until the RCAF was established in 1920, so like all other Canadian (and many American) airmen he was then sent to England to serve with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC, later renamed the RAF).

It was in the UK that he met Jonas Kensington. Their squadrons fought alongside one another in France for a short while. Kensington saved his life when three Albatrosses ambushed his scout plane while on reconnaissance over no-man's land in Belgium. He survived with a bullet wound in his leg. After he recovered, Falcon was transferred all the way to the Middle East, far from the killing fields of the Western Front.

Originally based out of Egypt, Falcon's squadron flew sorties against Ottoman/German aeroplanes during Allenby's year-long and ultimately successful Palestine campaign. Despite being pilot of a recon machine he scored one kill over the Second Battle of Gaza and two kills during the Battle of Megiddo in 1918. Eventually, Allenby took Damascus and eventually Aleppo, effectively knocking the Ottomans out of the war when they sued for peace.

During that time he met and became friends with Col Thomas E. Lawrence, an eccentric Oxford-educated archaeologist and later author in military service. Tom instilled in him an interest in archaeology and history, the Middle East and its peoples. John-Marc is not an archaeologist himself but eagerly makes friends with anyone who is, and has a general interest in antiquities. Once the war was over he remained in the RAF, based in Baghdad and Mosul during the RAF's administration of Iraq. (After the war, it was believed the far-flung Empire could be more cost-effectively administered by the RAF from the air.)

He resigned the service and moved to the UK in 1921, determined to make a living in the fledgling aeronautical industry. He dabbled in barnstorming, although it isn't as popular in the UK, so at present he largely by on mail carriage to the Continent and taking on students for flight training. His dream is to establish a trans-African or at least trans-European air transport company.

That dream is still in the future. He does own a small flying school and transport company based in Lympne Aerodrome in the SE UK on the Dover cliffs, although at present it is a mostly one-man operation. At present he owns a Bristol F2 dual-control trainer (registration G-ECMR) and a Vickers Vimy Commercial transport (G-EBCC) stored in a single hangar at the aerodrome. Both the "Brisfit" and the Vimy are WWI surplus aircraft. The latter is actually a long-range night bomber converted to peacetime use by the replacement of the entire fuselage with one capable of carrying passengers and cargo. The fuselage was originally built for a Chinese warlord. This warlord did not finish paying for an order of 100, and so subsequently dozens of the 42 complete but largely unassembled aircraft were sold off piecemeal for parts.

John-Marc rents a small stone farmer's cottage on Aldington Road, about a 5-minute walk along a lane through farmers' fields to his hangar at the aerodrome. It was a squadron leader's billet during the War and was kept up once the tenant departed. He has an agreement with the neighboring farmer to use his fields (while fallow) for the odd landing, and there is a barn that he occasionally uses to store the Brisfit. The barn also has a small workshop for repairs and airplane parts fabrication. For personal transport he owns an unreliable Ford Model A flatbed truck and a Triumph motorcycle.

Lympne (pronounced like "lime") is a small faming village in Kent lying on top of the Dover cliffs, overlooking the ocean. It was originally a fort built by the Romans and their ancient fortifications and road still remains, as well as an 11th century Norman church. A castle was built at Lympne in the 15th century and restored in 1900. Smugglers once used the clifftop village to keep a lookout for "Excise Men" and warn those at sea.

Traveling to London he usually flies in the Brisfit or takes the train from the village of Westerhanger, 2 miles to the north. He still keeps in regular contact with Jonas via mail, and when he visits home (which is often) he always makes a detour to look Jonas up.

His partner, friend, mechanic and sometimes co-pilot and navigator is a German aviator (and former Imperial Navy Zeppelin crewman) is Karlheinz Bergmann. He met Bergmann while making a delivery from Croydon Aerodrome to Tempelhoff in Berlin, and the other man followed him to England. As the #1 item of contemplation for Zeppelin crew was pondering the merits of jumping to a quick death or burning up in a slow one, it's all-too easy to imagine how shot his nerves are from the War, and why he'd want to escape his demons.

Falcon is a medium-sized young man with reddish-brown hair, and a friendly manner. He is a lapsed Catholic from a good middle-class English-Canadian merchant family. His accent is mid-Atlantic and somewhat hard to place, a legacy of a few teenage years spent in a prestigious English boarding school (Gordonstoun). Returning to Canada he attended McGill University in Montreal, and his Arts degree earned him a commission of Flight Lieutenant in the RAF during the World War. He often dresses like an aviator now: cap, leather jacket, wool pants, leather boots and silk scarf. (He also has a lined waterproof leather flight suit, flight cap and goggles.) For business dealings he wears a three-piece suit with walking stick and hat. He wears his old uniform or at least forage cap when he figures it might do him some good. Currently, he is unattached, as his fiance back in Montreal married someone else during his long RAF service.

His card:

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RANdom is a ficitonal telephone exchange for Kent. Falcon doesn't have a telephone at home; instead the number rings through to the airfield's office, where they will usually take a message. If it's important they will fetch him if he's at his hangar or even send someone around his home via bicycle.