Dear Mr. Revell
(I don't know whether to address you as Alex or not. In my mind, you are the professional, I am the amateur, so I try to show you the respect you deserve. You can still call me "Al")
I can understand Mr. Fry's feeling toward the Canadian Senate. I can understand his feeling toward Mr. Warne. I can understand his feeling toward Bishop. I can understand, he'd likely have a problem with me, if he had still been alive when I first published my web site.
I would guess that I have just been too absorbed into the Bishop mystique to let go very easily. When people present me with their point of view (some call it evidence), and such that looks strong on the face of it, I look to others with more knowledge in this area. They usually have (more than) enough to convince me other wise.
To say I don't have any doubts about Bishop, would be a lie. But, I've seen enough, read enough, and been told enough (reliably, I think) that while I can admit that he likely did not have 72 ACTUAL victories, it's difficult for me to be persuaded that he purposefully lied about his claims. For similar reasons, I can't buy the story that he shot up his own machine. Dave Bashow covers that pretty good in his book, "Knights of the Air." As well, Bob Bradford covered it pretty well in a letter to the Canadian Senate.
Am I wrong? I don't know. I hope I'm not. I may one day be presented with irrefutable evidence that says I'm wrong. I hope that never happens. But until it does, I feel an obligation to do my best at restoring some amount of diginity to
Billy Bishop's memory. It may be a losing battle. But I don't intend to go down without a fight.
But, I will never refer to any of the men who flew in WWI as a coward. They proved that they were not, long ago.
My Very Best Regards to you Sir,
Albert Lowe