Another Pro-Bishop Opinion

Hello Mr. Lowe!

First off, well done on a beautiful site. I am a WW I aviation buff, and
am particularely interested in the German and Canadian aces. Needless to
say, I was delighted to find a good site on Billy Bishop (though, truth
be told, I'm more of a Collishaw man.).

In the second place, I would like to put my cents into the Billy Bishop
controversy.

Revisionist history is in vogue these days, but on what evidence did Mr.
Cowan decide to challenge six-decade old accounts? Even Bishop's enemies
let Bishop's record stand. This includes 'Taffy' Jones who, in his
perhaps too influential book, gave his idol 'Mick' Mannock 73 kills just
to put one over on Bishop.

True, Bishop's claims weren't as tightly documented as one would hope,
but then that goes for just about the whole of WW I. After decades of
war, strife, lost memories and misplaced records, it would be a tall
task to fully verify the record of any airman on either side.

If we give Mr. Cowan the benefit of the doubt and say that Bishop was a
pathological liar, how is he going to prove it? Again, especially since
every record we have of Bishop, friend and enemy alike, supports the
contention that he was in every way a remarkable warrior and airman who
accomplished everything he said he did. In the struggle for veracity,
I'm afraid it's Mr. Cowan, not Bishop, who has the hill to hump.

If anything, it is sad that Bishop's name was brought back, not as a
legacy of Canadian achievement, but as a figure to be belittled. If
Canadians had spent the time and effort they used to bash Bishop into
establishing his record, they would have found themselves the heirs to a
remarkable war hero. If there is any real mystery to Bishop's record,
with 72 air victories, 3 balloon downings and 5 probables, it is in his
being a statistical anomaly. In effect, and this is quoting from various
records:

With 72 confirmed victories, Bishop was the leading ace of ALL the
British Commonwealth countries. The official RAF records give 'Mick'
Mannock only 61 victories. The 73-victory figure, again, was cited from
the book about him written by his admirer, and Bishop foe, 'Taffy'
Jones. Mannock was a great air warrior who, like Bishop, deserves better
from the nation he served. But no one benefits from distortion, no
matter how well intended

If you count Bishop's 3 balloon victories, and that would be a stroke of
a pen by the proper Canadian authorities, then Bishop would have 75
victories. Why this has not been done is a mystery. For instance, if
other countries discounted balloon victories, then Belgium would lose
its ace of aces (Willie Coppens, 35 balloons out of 37 total) and the
USA would lose its second-ranked ace (Frank Luke, the 'Arizona
Balloon-Buster', 14 out of 18 victories). As such, Bishop would tie Rene
Fonck as Allied Ace of Aces.

Finally, if it was possible to confirm any of Bishop's probables, and if
that could be done it would be easier than proving him a liar, then, of
course, he would be undisputed Allied Ace of Aces.

If it was possible to confirm all of them, then he would tie Manfred von
Richthofen as the WW I Ace of Aces. And he would have done it without
having being brought down once and shot down once, as the Red Baron was.
Albeit, he probably crashed enough planes to qualify as a German ace!

Bishop's situation is indicative of a greater malaise among Canadians,
and especially Canadian officialdom. The Canadian tendency to denigrate
achievement, especially of a military nature, is only too evident here.
It should be kept in mind though, that only through achievement, our own
and others, do we as individuals and communities learn what is possible
to achieve.

Bishop most certainly achieved what he is said to have and he did so in
the service of his King and Country. His life in peace was not as
clear-cut (whose is?), but he lived it with honor and dignity. Whatever
one's feelings about human conflict, his was a genuinely inspiring life.

Thank you again for your site, and I hope you don't mind the rant!

Sincerely Yours,

James Matsuzaki
Santa Clara, CA

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Created: August 27, 1999
Last updated:
©1999 by Albert Lowe, All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed on this web page are those of Albert Lowe alone. By no means should the use of any reference be construed as to suggest that anyone else mentioned on this site shares those opinions, unless stated explicitly so.
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