In August 1914, Canada went to war without an air force. Not a small one. Not a token one. None. The country that had pioneered powered flight in the British Empire sent its young men overseas to fly other people’s airplanes, in other people’s uniforms, for other people’s wars.
What happened next is one of the most extraordinary and least-told stories in Canadian military history.
This episode follows five Canadian airmen: Billy Bishop, the most decorated pilot in the British Empire whose most famous action may never have happened; Raymond Collishaw, who outscored almost everyone and came home almost unknown; William Barker, Canada’s most decorated serviceman of the entire war, now largely forgotten; Wop May, the rookie who accidentally became the last man the Red Baron ever chased; and Alan McLeod, eighteen years old, who climbed out onto the wing of a burning aircraft at five thousand feet and flew it home.
Along the way, you’ll hear the actual voices of men who were there: a 1969 CBC interview with Collishaw and two of his Black Flight pilots, and a 1989 oral history with Mack McGill, a workaday RFC pilot who flew the front at twenty thousand feet and remembered, seven decades later, that the engine was no good after a few hours.
SHOW NOTES / SOURCES
Primary recommended reading
- Tim Cook, At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914–1916, and Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917–1918 (Penguin Canada, 2007 and 2008). Cook’s two-volume Canadian Expeditionary Force history is essential for institutional and cultural context, including the place of airmen in the broader Canadian war effort.
- G.W.L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919: The Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War (Queen’s Printer, 1962). The official institutional history.
- S.F. Wise, Canadian Airmen and the First World War: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Volume I (University of Toronto Press, 1980). The definitive scholarly account of Canadian aviators in the RFC, RNAS, and RAF.
Primary sources used in this episode
- W.A. Bishop, Winged Warfare (1918) — Bishop’s autobiography. (Now public-domain; freely available via Internet Archive.)
- Bishop’s letter to Margaret Burden, summer 1917 — quoted in the Globe and Mail, “Billy’s Battle,” April 20, 2002.
- William Fry, Air of Battle — memoir of the deputy flight leader who declined to accompany Bishop on the June 2, 1917 raid.
- Wop May’s combat report, April 21, 1918 — 209 Squadron records, reproduced at wopmay.com (Wop May family archives).
- Wop May’s address to the 12th Calgary Scout Troop, February 19, 1952 — transcript reproduced at wopmay.com.
- Alan McLeod’s letters home — preserved by the McLeod family; quoted in RCAF “Portrait of Courage” feature, 2017, and in Library and Archives Canada material.
- Reverend Dr. David Christie’s tribute to Alan McLeod, Manitoba Free Press, November 7, 1918.
- Raymond Collishaw, Alfred Williams “Nick” Carter, and William Melville “Mel” Alexander, CBC-TV interview, 1969 — Collishaw (the squadron and Black Flight commander), Carter (A Flight commander), and Alexander (Black Flight pilot, Black Prince) reminiscing about the 10 Naval Squadron and the Black Flight era. Source for Carter’s first-person account of shooting down a German aircraft into the Ypres canal and retrieving a piece of the wreckage; source for Alexander’s first-person account of his kill in the July 6th, 1917 dogfight (the day of Collishaw’s six victories), including his “you don’t stick around after that to see what happens” line and the period photograph he holds on camera. Available via CBC Archives (cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.3627782).
- “Mack” McGill (likely William W. McGill, RFC), interviewed by James Pope, 1989 — late-life oral history with a non-ace Canadian RFC pilot who flew the Sopwith Dolphin on the Western Front in 1918. Source for McGill’s first-person account of flying at 20,000 feet, the cold in the open cockpit, and the unreliability of the Dolphin’s geared Hispano-Suiza V8. From Chris Charland’s “Classic Interviews,” a James Tallimar project for TimeKeepers Canada. (youtube.com/watch?v=W3ouuITIh84)
- William W. McGill (RFC) oral history, 1978 — extensive interview recorded by the University of Victoria with a Guelph-born RFC pilot describing his training pipeline (Long Branch, School of Military Aeronautics, Camp Mohawk, Deseronto, Camp Borden, Texas) and overseas service from February 1918. Almost certainly the same man as “Mack” McGill in the Pope interview. Available via University of Victoria Library.
- Raymond Collishaw with R.V. Dodds, Air Command: A Fighter Pilot’s Story (William Kimber, 1973) — Collishaw’s own memoir, the source for the “fiercest and most harmless” quote and the “sad moment when my squadron had to strike the Royal Navy ensign.”
- Victoria Cross citations — London Gazette, August 11, 1917 (Bishop); May 1, 1918 (McLeod); November 30, 1918 (Barker).
- Roy Brown’s Bar to Distinguished Service Cross citation — London Gazette, June 18, 1918.
- Wop May’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation — London Gazette, September 1918.
- Raymond Collishaw’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation — London Gazette, August 3, 1918.
- Denny May tells the story of his father, Wilfred ‘Wop May, – who was chased by the Red Baron just before the legend was shot down. Video by Ed Kaiser, Edmonton Journal, Feb. 28 2018
On the Canadian Aviation Corps
- History of the Royal Canadian Air Force (institutional history) — for the formation and dissolution of the CAC; the Burgess-Dunne biplane; the September 16, 1914 authorization, the October 1, 1914 delivery, and the May 1915 dissolution.
On Bishop
- Brereton Greenhous, The Making of Billy Bishop (2002) — the skeptical case.
- Peter Kilduff, Billy Bishop VC: Lone Wolf Hunter — the defensive case.
- Philip Markham, “An Investigation of the Aerodrome Raid,” Over The Front, Fall 1995.
- Paul Cowan, dir., The Kid Who Couldn’t Miss (NFB, 1982).
On Barker
- Wayne Ralph, Barker VC: William Barker, Canada’s Most Decorated War Hero (1997).
- Ted Barris, “The Making of Billy Barker,” Air Force Magazine, November–December 2017.
On May
- Sheila Reid, Wings of a Hero: Canadian Pioneer Flying Ace Wilfrid Wop May (1997).
- The Wop May Chronicles family archive (wopmay.com).
On Collishaw, Carter, and Alexander
- Raymond Collishaw with R.V. Dodds, Air Command: A Fighter Pilot’s Story (William Kimber, 1973).
- Mike Bechthold, “Raymond Collishaw,” The Canadian Encyclopedia (Historica Canada, 2008; revised 2019).
- Legion Magazine, “The amazing aerial feats of ace Raymond Collishaw” (2025).
- John Harris, Knights of the Air: Canadian Aces of World War I (1958) — source for the famous “giving” victories anecdote about Collishaw’s leadership of new pilots.
- Calgary Aero Space Museum, Nick Carter file (PDF, archived).
- Alfred Williams Carter Distinguished Service Cross citation — London Gazette, August 29, 1917 (for actions of 22 and 24 July 1917).
- William Melville Alexander Distinguished Service Cross citation — London Gazette, September 14, 1917 (for actions of 16, 20, and 21 August 1917).
- CBC-TV profile of Collishaw and the Black Flight, 1969 — featuring interviews with Collishaw, Carter, and Alexander.
On McLeod
- Veterans Affairs Canada online biography.
- RCAF, “Portrait of Courage: Alan Arnett McLeod, VC” (2017).
Memory and Valour is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
