Squadron Commander Raymond Collishaw in a Sopwith Camel, July 1918. [CWM/19930012-308]

The amazing aerial feats of ace Raymond Collishaw

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

Brave, wily and lucky. Canadian pilot Raymond Collishaw served brilliantly in both the First and Second World wars.

As a first officer in the Canadian Fisheries Protection Service with years of sea experience, Collishaw of Nanaimo, B.C., expected to be welcomed into ranks of the Royal Canadian Navy during the First World War.

But that service didn’t snap him up, so he joined the Royal Naval Air Service instead. He went on to become a Great War Canadian air ace, then served in WW II, as well.

Canada didn’t have its own air force during WW I, so Collishaw was among some 35,000 Canadians who served as pilots, observers and aircrew with the British flying services. He began his training in Canada but went to Britain in January 1916 to complete his qualifications.

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The Canadians at Sword Beach: Part 2

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

In the heat of battle, mistakes are made.

The annals of history brim with instances where chaos has bred even greater chaos, where the fog of war can cloud the judgement of those on the ground. Nor are such fateful miscalculations the only consequence of combat-induced confusion. As arrows or bullets pour into ranks, as careful orders are drowned out by a cacophony, and as soldiers fight by instincts that consume headspace, post-engagement recollections falter or differ significantly between witnesses.

Memories fragment like shrapnel. It is thus the role of historians to pick up the pieces, to interpret these echoes in time, and when the evidence permits, to draw their own conclusions on what exactly happened—and when.

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