Primary Line Secondary Line
1934 *Al Calavicci is born, June 15, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx first timeline. From "A Leap for Lisa"
1939
*Al's mother abandons her husband xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and children, and his father puts Al and his sister Trudy in an orphanage so he can find work in the Middle East.
1940
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Al Calavicci born, June 15, second timeline, estimated from "Rebel Without A Clue"
1944
*Al's father returns from the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Middle East buys a house for the family, then contracts cancer and dies. Al is disillusioned with the Church and God, because this happened despite praying passionately against it, as his father had told him to do. After being returned to the orphanage, Al runs away and meets Charlie "Black Magic" Walters, and travels with him for several months. Black Magic tries to find a new family for him, but is arrested in New Orleans (for shooting pool in a "Whites Only" pool hall) before he can do so, and Al is sent back to the orphanage. From "Pool Hall Blues."
1945
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx see primary line, 1939
1950
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx see primary line, 1944.
1952
*Al's plebe year at Annapolis, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx from 1934 birth date.
1953
Sam Beckett is born, Sat, August 8. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1956
*Al graduates from Annapolis. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1957
Katie Beckett born Al's plebe year at
Annapolis could be
*+Al, as an ensign, is either '57-58 or
tried for the murder of '58-59, depending on
his commander's wife; whether he met Jack
his (Al's) married Kerouac in the spring
lover, Lisa Sherman, or fall of '58
dies in a car crash -- ("Rebel" timeline)
until Sam changes it. These
events are irreconcilable
with the secondary timeline,
unless the circumstances and
date are changed (eg: making
Al a midshipman instead
of an ensign, on some kind
of summer assignment)
1958
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx see 1957, secondary
1961
Al marries Beth in June. Al graduates from Annapolis in
the spring, or possibly
in spring of 1962. (see 1957)
("Rebel" timeline)
1962
Al flies missions over Cuba xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx during the Cuban Missile Crisis
1963
Sam learns to drive a tractor in xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx November.
1966
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx +Samantha Jo (Sammy Jo) Fuller, Sam Beckett's daughter, is born to Abigail Fuller. March?
1967
Al's A-4 is shot down over the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx highlands in Vietnam, and he is taken prisoner by the Viet Cong; he will be missing in action for (at least) six years. It is possible that this happened in late 1966, as the only information we're given is that he was missing for "over two years" in April of 1969.
1969
+Beth, believing Al is dead, +Sam goes back to his family for remarries in June. Her second Thanksgiving, and wins a basketball husband is a lawyer named Dirk game that he lost the first time Simon. Sam erases this event in around. His attempts to change his "Mirror Image," but the results family's lives are unsuccessful. are not known. Tom Beckett comes home for Thanksgiving before shipping off to Vietnam.
1970
+Tom Beckett dies in Vietnam on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx April 8; Sam changes his fate by saving him from a traitor's attack. Sam graduates from high school at the age of sixteen.
1972
Sam graduates from M.I.T. with John Beckett dies, according to his bachelors' degree after "The Leap Home." only two years. Sam plays the piano at Carnegie Hall (may be 1973; he was 19)
1973
*(+?)Al is returned from Vietnam xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and repatriated, according to "M.I.A." and "Lee Harvey Oswald" (in which he mentioned six years as a POW). In "The Leap Home: Vietnam," 1975 is given as the repatriation date. Elizabeth Storm (novelist, "Pulitzer") suggests that Sam changed the length of time Al spent as a POW, and it was later covered up by the government, which wanted the public to believe all the POWs were returned in 1973.
1974
Katie Beckett elopes with Chuck, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx who turns out to be an abusive alcholic. She is seventeen.
1975
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx *Al returns from Vietnam, according to "The Leap Home: Vietnam." See 1973 for a possible reconciliation of this gap. It may also only have been temporary, and something done between "LH:V" and "LHO" brought the repatriation back to its original date.
1984
Sam Beckett meets Donna Elesee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx when she is coming off of Star Bright Project.
1995
Sam Beckett steps into the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Quantum Leap Accelerator -- and vanishes! (est., May, since Al is watching a basketball playoff during the first Leap)
In the first category is almost everything connected to Star Bright Project. We know that Donna met Sam in 1984, when she was coming off of Star Bright, so clearly it was going on *before* 1984. Since they are in the same field, chances are they would have known each other before that point if Sam was already working there. Since we know that Sam works for awhile at Star Bright, it is safe to assume that it also went on *after* 1984, with Sam working on it (perhaps he replaced her?). During this nebulous span of time, probably crossing the majority of the early- and mid-80s, Al met Sam, and Sam and Donna got married (post-"Star-Crossed," of course).
Even more nebulous hints are given for Al's four marriages after Beth (all we know is that they are after 1973 -- or 1975 -- and before 1995, but how long each marriage was and when each one occurred is completely open for interpretation), and the date of Thelma Beckett's move to Hawaii (after John dies).
In the "no hints" category, Katie's marriage to Jim Bonnick, and their move to Hawaii, the dates of Sam's various graduate degrees, Al's time at MIT or in the space program, or the birth dates of Al's daughters after "Mirror Image."
Al's time in the Apollo program is something of a debate. The only manned Apollo mission that occurred when Al was not a POW was Apollo-Soyuz, in 1975, but he describes a mission which occurred in 1969 (*please* correct this if I'm wrong). It would perhaps be better to assume a fictional mission -- both for convenience and out of respect to the *real* heroes of the Apollo series, whose names are on easily accessable public records, and who deserve better than to have a completely fictional addition to their crew get equal glory, even in a fictional setting. But this bothers strict historians, who would rather assume that he can't have been both an Apollo astronaut and a Vietnam POW, so Sam must have changed his history at some point. This in turn annoys character-writers, who think that neither experience is disposable in the characterization. And this... Well, you get the picture. As the Big Don says, "Don't investigate this too closely." It might be better to just keep it nebulous, unless the date of Al's mission is very important to your story. (Possible solution: Al's NASA mission was hush-hush, and the general public never heard of it?) The best clue we have, if we assume a fictional mission, is that it was in the seventies, since Al said disco was when "[his] astronaut days were behind [him] and Star Bright Project ahead of [him]," so, unless we really play games with the history of manned moonshots by placing it before '67, we are probably talking about a date between '75 and the launch of the first shuttle.