Bishop And B.1566

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Bonjour mes amis!

I was fortunate to obtain a copy of Nieuports in RNAS, RFC and RAF Service produced by Cross & Cockade International, having been compiled by Ray Sanger ... without doubt a great book! The volume is replete with detail and anecdote as well as photographs and art. Among the many facts learned was the that, apparently, the oft celebrated Nieuport B.1566 flown by Billy Bishop was not a Nieuport 17, but, actually a Nieuport 23, albeit with the upper wing of the 17 type.

Another fact assumed to elemental proven to be false! Of course we all know that the career of Bishop is rife with controversy, so, perhaps we should not be surprised that yet another assumption has been left open to revision. As a result I began to look through various volumes and was struck by the realization that, with the exception of Manfred von Richthofen and Fokker Dr.1 425/17, there may have been no other pilot and aircraft combination of The Great War more often illustrated than that of Bishop and B.1566.

So, as with recent threads, I have endeavored to compile some of the many images of the man and the machine.


War in the Air by C.R.W. Nevinson

C.R.W. Nevinson wrote that the painting, created in 1918, depicted on the aerial fights of Billy Bishop. It would seem that, having been commissioned to create the image for the Canadian War Memorials, Nevinson found the task of imagining aerial combat so difficult as to been made ill. The painting is, I believe, currently part of the collection of the Canadian War Museum.


An Incident On The Western Front by Louis Alexander Weirter

Louis Alexander Weirter was a talented man who developed methods and devices for field sketching and range and altitude measuring. During The Great War he served as a balloon observer and as such claimed to have seen Billy Bishop in combat. Some controversy exists about just what incident the painting An Incident On The Western Front is purported to depict: the winning of the Victoria Cross or one particular combat at significant altitude.

An essay about the painting and the artist written by Philip Markham may be found in Over The Front, Volume 10 Number 3 Fall 1995 (which also includes an article which note the markings of B.1556 by Markham and Greg VanWyngarden).

It is interesting to note the similarity of the two paintings, perhaps a coincidence, but, the work by Nevinson is know to have been completed before the work by Weirter.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Enocre ...


Canadian Nieuport "17" German Albatros "D-3" by Charles H. Hubbell

Charles H. Hubbell may well have been the most prolific of aviation artists and was particularly renowned for creating calendars based on aerial themes. Stanley Ulanoff gave the image the title V-Strutter vs V-Strutter in Illustrated History of World War I in The Air, first published in 1971, but it may be that the remarkable painting was given no specific title.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore ...


Cover to Winged Warfare, 1981 edition, painting by August 'Sonny' Schug, cover design by Juan S. Deguzman


Cover to Winged Warfare, 1990 edition, incorporating the painting Bishop and the Baron by Peter Mossman

The biographical work Winged Warfare written by Billy Bishop, first published in 1918, has provoked controversy, but, also numerous pieces of commissioned artwork. Two are illustrated here; the upper work is by August 'Sonny' Schugthough, the lower is the work of one of the most celebrated of aviation artists to work in Canada: Peter Mossman (whom, it would seem, painted the subject of the the perhaps spurious combat between Bishop and von Richthofen more than once ...).

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


Cover to The Courage of the Early Morning by W.A. Bishop. 1989 edition, incorporating an illustration by Stephen Quick

The Courage of the Early Morning was written by the son of Billy Bishop, Arthur Bishop. The edition depicted includes artwork by Stephen Quick whom, I believe, works as a self described pop artist often incorporating aviation themes. It is interesting to note that aircraft obviously based on types flown by Jasta 5 are elements o the image.

Kirk

[Barrett]

I sorta-kinda recall the Hubbel painting on the box top of a GW board game loooong ago. It might have been called "Ace."

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


An illustration by Joseph A. Phelan from Heroes & Aeroplanes of the Great War 1914-1918

The ever popular work by Joseph A. Phelan, Heroes & Aeroplanes of the Great War 1914-1918 (also published as Aeroplanes and Flyers of the First World War) included an evocative image of Bishop and B.1556.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


The cover to Billy Bishop Hero of the Air, Story Of Canada No. 2, 1967, written and illustrated by Jack Tremblay


Interior illustration from Billy Bishop Hero of the Air, Story Of Canada No.2 by Jack Tremblay

"A BeaverBook for young Canadians" ... there you have it ...


From ... of Men and Planes by John Gordon, 1968, illustration by Claude Rousseau

Surprisingly accurate depictions of aircraft, remarkably inaccurate depiction of events ...


The C.A.H.S. Journal, Vol 9 No.3 Fall 1971, detail of the cover illustration by Peter Mossman

An earlier rendition of Bishop in combat with an Albatros D.III by Peter Mossman.

The above are typical of the many depictions to be found in Canadian publications in the years prior to public controversy.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


Illustration from icare, revue de l'aviation française 120, 1987 1 Trimestriel, artist unknown

Unfortunately I do not know the name of the artist who rendered the illustration of Bishop about to attack that was included in the issue of icare about Canadian airman in The Great War.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


Cover to Famous Flyers 2 William Avery 'Billy' Bishop by David Baker, 1990, with a painting (that wraps 'round the rear of the cover) by Michael Roffe

A lovely depiction by Michael Roffe of the airman and the aircraft for a book which also included a painting by Roffe of Bishop about to attack a German airfield with B.1566.

Kirk

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Encore


Dawn Attack by Robert Bradford

Robert Bradford may well be the most respected of all aviation artists in Canada and Dawn Attack makes plain the talent of the man. The painting was used as the illustration to the cover of Nieuport 17, Windsock Datafile 20 by J M Bruce published in 1990.

Kirk