Craig & all,
Yes it is possible that he could have been wrongly awarded the VC, however, factual manipulation affects not only BB but many, many other pilots, including
Lothar Von Richthofen and his victory over Ball.
One of the points raised by Greenhous, according to the Star, is that if the questionable raid had taken place there would have to be evidence and other aerodromes would have been warned.
Bahh... who's to say it didn't? There were many documents destroyed in allied bombings in WWII that could infact prove Bishop, or any other pilot, had many more kills. You cannot discount an event based on evidence that does not exist because it could go either way. Although Bishops raid is questionable, he was an excellent, honourablem, and heroic scout pilot (lone wolf style) who survived the war and did shoot down a number of aircraft.
Why discount his reputation based solely on surcumstantial evidence?
As to whether one should trust the "gummint"
Yes at times it should be questioned, however, in most cases when no other documetation is available (as in historical refernces) there is no other choice. Albeit this is soemtimes hard to swallow, just look at the Armenian Holocaust.
cheers,
jbs
ps thanks for letting me rant, this whole topic really really really gets me.