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Has anybody ever looked into another potential explanation for the lack of German confirmation for Bishop's raid: the possibility that he was lost and mistakenly attacked some French SPAD VIIs on the Allied side of the lines? He reported attacking Albatros DI/DII types, whose wings are similar to the SPAD when viewed from above.
It would not be the first time somebody got lost, or the first time that somebody mistook a friendly plane with square wingtips for an enemy plane with square wingtips. Until I read the earlier posts about the timing of sunrise in the area of the attack, I had no idea just how poor the visibility must have been. If the whole mission was essentially flown while the ground was in darkness, this sort of mistake would be one hypothesis that I would check out before reaching any final conclusion.
I have spent many years investigating accidents and interrogating witnesses to stressful events. With very few exceptions plain old human error explains all but a tiny fraction of the discrepancies in eyewitness accounts, without the need to infer any intent to fabricate. Before you conclude that the man was a liar, be sure that he wasn't just mistaken.
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