Quote:
Is there a bottom line figure of how many of "The Bishops"
claims are verofied(sp) for sure
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THAT depends on your definition of "verification." He had witnesses for over 20 of his claims, yet, the Guys at Grub Street could only match corroborative losses with 2. Neither of which were witnessed!!
Dan McCaffrey actually matches many of Bishop's claims with German casualties in his book, "
Billy Bishop: Canadian Hero." But I honestly think that there may be problems with McCaffery's list.
From the RFC/RAF point of view, they confirmed 72 of his claims.
Some like to argue that Jack Scott, Bishop's CO in 60 Squadron, liked to confirm Bishop's claims out of hand. Yet, according to Dan McCaffery and his cohorts, which include Joe Warne, Bishop had at least 5 unconfirmed. Four of those were gained while he flew under the command of Jack Scott.
And, according to other anecdotal evidence, when Bishop returned to England in September to receive his medals from the King, he had 47 confirmed victories, and 23 UNconfirmed.
With regards to the "evidence" that Mr. Greenhous presents. I have to agree that I think the Kofl report was correct. Bishop did not raid a German Aerodrome on 7 June, 1917, nor did he shoot down 4 German aircraft on that day. In fact, I don't think Bishop even flew any combat missions on 7 June, 1917.
VBR,
Al Lowe