Billy Bishop: Canadian Hero

by Dan McCaffery

Billy Bishop was fiercely ambitious, driven by an undisguised hatred of his enemies. He played hard and fought even harder. A highly skilled pilot and a crack shot, "top gun" of the Allied air forces, by 1918 Bishop was the most highly decorated war hero in Canadian history.

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/>He remains the most controversial. Some of Bishop's fellow pilots were repelled by his grandstanding and suspected he was deliberately inflating his number of "kills." Since then, the claim has been repeated by many others. This issue is at the heart of Billy Canadian Hero.

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/>In this updated second edition, author Dan McCaffery reviews the evidence in support his account of what Bishop really did in the skies over France, setting the record straight about one of this country's most famous and controversial figures.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Susan Rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this read about a Canadian flying ace. The narrative was engaging and fascinating, and the subject matter appeared to be well researched. The story of Billy Bishop is sticking with me, and I've gone on and researched his planes as well as the Lewis gun, etc. The only downside was the number of editing mistakes in the book (repeated phrases, etc.) however I found the subject so fascinating and the author's style so engaging that I just let those go. The crux of the story was there and I caught myself wishing I could go back in time to hang out with Billy and his mates. Engage in an aerial dogfight? Maybe not…but to know the type of men who did "back in the day" would be a fascinating study of character.

[James Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better documented biography than the other I read.