Liar, Liar
William (Billy) Bishop
Though Bishop is known as a Canadian war hero, some debate otherwise. He was occasionally a self-absorbed embellisher of the truth, and did not exceed very much academically. He was not able to meet the entrance requirements for the University of Toronto, so he went to the Royal Military College in Kingston and was required to repeat the first year because of lots of various minor academic misconduct (like cheating) that didn't qualify for expulsion.
A docudrama called The Kid Who Couldn't Miss questioned some of his claims, and historian Brereton Greenhous believed Bishop lied repeatedly about his accomplishments. There is a lack of substantial evidence to his far-fetched claims, challenging the kills he really made. In one case, what he had claimed to have happened didn't match what was said when receiving an award for it.
A docudrama called The Kid Who Couldn't Miss questioned some of his claims, and historian Brereton Greenhous believed Bishop lied repeatedly about his accomplishments. There is a lack of substantial evidence to his far-fetched claims, challenging the kills he really made. In one case, what he had claimed to have happened didn't match what was said when receiving an award for it.
Sly as a Fox
The Victoria Cross was awarded to him without confirmation of his victories. It is possible that one way that he got away with fabrications was because Commanding Officer Major A.J.L. Scott was willing to use Bishop to promote his squadron and therefore embellished Bishop's reports himself. Additionally, he had influential friends who were high-ranking members of the British society.
Contradictions
Another thing that dampens the view of him as a Canadian hero is the fact that the German Weekly Activity Report bore no record of a second army in a German airfield being attacked in daylight. This goes against and contradicts his reported solo battle of a German aerodrome at dawn. Several other things suggest that the battle didn't happen as well. For example, some of his battle wounds were closely grouped together which suggested they were self-inflicted, and he also supposedly shot up his plane before coming back and crossing Allied lines.
In Brereton Greenhous's words, "...He deserved most of his medals, but not for doing the things he claimed to have done, and was credited with. Rather, he deserved his decorations for flying alone, deep in German airspace, in a fragile butterfly of an aircraft." (Freeman-Shaw & Haskings-Winner, 16)
In Brereton Greenhous's words, "...He deserved most of his medals, but not for doing the things he claimed to have done, and was credited with. Rather, he deserved his decorations for flying alone, deep in German airspace, in a fragile butterfly of an aircraft." (Freeman-Shaw & Haskings-Winner, 16)