Billy Bishop: Canadian Hero. Rev. ed.

J.L. Granatstein is a professor of History at York University and author
of Pirouette: Pierre Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy.

Billy Bishop—the hell-raising kid from Owen Sound who was thrown out
of the Royal Military College (though rmc records say this wasn’t so)
and who, given the chance to fly in the Great War, became the ace of
aces—continues to fascinate. This is a good story about a hero for a
country that has too few.

Why the fuss? A National Film Board docudrama charged that many of
Bishop’s “kills” in combat were faked, and the producers actually
cast doubt on the episode that won Bishop his Victoria Cross. Defenders
sprang into action at once, heatedly countering each charge. The truth?
Who knows. McCaffery’s biography treats the complaints fairly, but
essentially decides that they were immaterial. Bishop was a hero, a
superb flying marksman, whatever the truth of the charges. In fact, this
is probably the best way to resolve the matter.

The book, however, is less than satisfactory. While there is some good
research, there is evident lack of historical knowledge, not least about
Canada. The stories of Bishop’s time at rmc, moreover, verge on the
silly. Read the book for its account of a dramatic era and its fairness
on the issues under dispute; but don’t believe anything else in it.