Was Billy a prevaricator

[Billy_Bishop]

Thanks Rittm.
Besides surviving Bloody April, he also scored at least 12 victories, according to official records.

I guess that should count for something.

VBR,

Al Lowe

Sorry about the delay in responding to the question about Bishop's piloting skills. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm (slowly) recovering from a concussion and am far from at my best.

Bishop himself said that he wasn't a great pilot. I can't quote a source right now (I'm at work), but I recall him writing or telling someone that he felt he was somewhat ham-handed with the controls. His problems with landing have been mentioned; he apparently didn't feel comfortable doing maneuvers more complex than turns and reverses. And his time to solo, Al is misleading: all trainee pilots in the mid-war period were thrown out of the nest and made to solo after 2-3 hours of dual. Likewise Bishop's relatively short time to posting is much more reflective of the demands of the front than it is of any skill he demonstrated. During March and April 1917 pilots were sent to the front with as few as 10 hours' instruction.

None of this really matters, though. As I said before, Bishop's flying skills mattered considerably less than his fighting skills. The RFC (and presumably all air forces) had plenty of exceptional pilots who scored seldom if at all. Calling Bishop a mediocre pilot is not the same as calling him a mediocre fighter; on the evidence, he was one of the best at air fighting. (Unless, of course, you believe that his entire career was a massive fraud committed for propaganda purposes, something that even in my muddled state I can recognize as being too silly to deserve comment.)

[Billy_Bishop]

Michael:
Most of my info comes by way of Stewart K. Taylor. But yes, I have read of Bishop calling himself a bad pilot. But all things considered, I think that it was in the area of landing where he had the most problems. Again, this is from what I've read about him. And his landing problems seem to have cleared up, or he just payed greater attention to detail so that his landings got better.

Once in the air, that is quite a different story. I don't think he deserves to be called a "mediocre" pilot. Most, if not all of his contemporaries considered him to be a tenacious air fighter.

And considering that from what I understand the British didn't publicize their air Aces the way that France and Germany did, until sometime in 1918, the "rumour" about "making" him a hero doesn't hold up.

[Billy_Bishop]

No, he wasn't.

VBR,

Al Lowe