The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post

alex_revell · 22 March 2001, 08:34 AM

Bishop Part 2.

In May 1916, while in hospital, B was befriended by a Lady St.Helier, who claimed she was a friend of his father, although B senior could only conjure up a ‘vague recollection’ of having met her. On his release from hospital, Bishop became one of Lady St Helier’s ‘lodgers’ in her house in Portland Place. Why an aristocratic lady, with important connections, would take a complete stranger into her social circle on the grounds of having once met his father is unclear. Those were extremely class-conscious days and although B was good fun to be with and charming he was also reputed to be a little gauche. Suddenly, ‘indefinite home leave’ is arranged for this quite unknown and unimportant Lt. On B’s return to England his difficulties in being accepted for pilot training are suddenly swept away by Lady St H pulling strings and B is welcomed with open arms by the War Office for pilot training.

After his first sortie with 60 Sqdn, having been with the sqdn a week (and already being familiarly addressed by his CO as ‘Bish’) Bishop is asked by Scott to lead a Flight - which includes himself, Horn, and ‘Grid’ Caldwell - on an offensive patrol, because, as Scott puts it, ‘the rest of us are a bit bushed’. Here we have a new pilot in the squadron, of unknown quality, who has not even had time to ‘learn the country’, being asked to lead a patrol of experienced airfighters. Why would they entrust their lives to this unknown quality, in his inexperience he might get them all killed, or at best, lost.
Five days after his first fight in the air, B leads a patrol which, with one exception, a Flt Commander, is made up of new, novice pilots. What was Jack Scott thinking of to take this kind of risk with new and inexperienced pilots. The patrol lost two pilots killed.
After only one month of flying at the Front, B is made a Flight Commander and promoted to Captain. This is most unusual to say the least. Most people served a six months, or slightly longer, tour of duty at the front, gaining valuable experience - if they survived – before being sent back to HE. They were then promoted to Captain and if they had shown promise, posted out to France again as a Flight Commander. I can think of no other pilot who was promoted to Captain and given a Flight after serving one month of his first tour of duty. People such as Ball, McCudden, Mannock, Bowman, to name just a few, all had to find their feet and learn the art of airfighting in their first tour of duty before going on to become successful airfighters and Flight Commanders in their second. Compare their claims during their first tours with that of B, who claimed 14 victories in his first month at the Front! In his first month at the front, Richthofen only scored five victories, even though he was flying a vastly superior aeroplane to his opponents. B’s promotion is incredible.

22 March 2001, 08:34 AM	#2 (permalink)
alex_revell Shot Down Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 1,378	Bishop Part 2. In May 1916, while in hospital, B was befriended by a Lady St.Helier, who claimed she was a friend of his father, although B senior could only conjure up a ‘vague recollection’ of having met her. On his release from hospital, Bishop became one of Lady St Helier’s ‘lodgers’ in her house in Portland Place. Why an aristocratic lady, with important connections, would take a complete stranger into her social circle on the grounds of having once met his father is unclear. Those were extremely class-conscious days and although B was good fun to be with and charming he was also reputed to be a little gauche. Suddenly, ‘indefinite home leave’ is arranged for this quite unknown and unimportant Lt. On B’s return to England his difficulties in being accepted for pilot training are suddenly swept away by Lady St H pulling strings and B is welcomed with open arms by the War Office for pilot training. After his first sortie with 60 Sqdn, having been with the sqdn a week (and already being familiarly addressed by his CO as ‘Bish’) Bishop is asked by Scott to lead a Flight - which includes himself, Horn, and ‘Grid’ Caldwell - on an offensive patrol, because, as Scott puts it, ‘the rest of us are a bit bushed’. Here we have a new pilot in the squadron, of unknown quality, who has not even had time to ‘learn the country’, being asked to lead a patrol of experienced airfighters. Why would they entrust their lives to this unknown quality, in his inexperience he might get them all killed, or at best, lost. Five days after his first fight in the air, B leads a patrol which, with one exception, a Flt Commander, is made up of new, novice pilots. What was Jack Scott thinking of to take this kind of risk with new and inexperienced pilots. The patrol lost two pilots killed. After only one month of flying at the Front, B is made a Flight Commander and promoted to Captain. This is most unusual to say the least. Most people served a six months, or slightly longer, tour of duty at the front, gaining valuable experience - if they survived – before being sent back to HE. They were then promoted to Captain and if they had shown promise, posted out to France again as a Flight Commander. I can think of no other pilot who was promoted to Captain and given a Flight after serving one month of his first tour of duty. People such as Ball, McCudden, Mannock, Bowman, to name just a few, all had to find their feet and learn the art of airfighting in their first tour of duty before going on to become successful airfighters and Flight Commanders in their second. Compare their claims during their first tours with that of B, who claimed 14 victories in his first month at the Front! In his first month at the front, Richthofen only scored five victories, even though he was flying a vastly superior aeroplane to his opponents. B’s promotion is incredible.