Later Years and Legacy
His memoirs were titled Air Command, A Fighting Pilot's Story and were published in 1973.
Collishaw died on 28 September 1976 in West Vancouver, British Columbia at the age of 82.
As early as the 1950s, there has been debate over whether his kills had been understated, due to the Royal Naval Air Service receiving less credit than the Royal Flying Corps. Some historians credit him with 81 (unofficial) kills, which would place him at the top of First World War flying aces, ahead of the "Red Baron" and top British Empire ace Billy Bishop. If the application of stricter victory verification was applied, however, his score would invariably be considerably less (as with all RAF, RFC and RNAS aces' scores in the First World War).
"A man who flew with him claimed that he would often "give" a victory to a new, green pilot, just to bolster his confidence. The new pilot would be taken out by the renowned Collishaw to "bag one". Anxiously following the leader, he would find himself diving on the tail of a German reconnaissance plane. Trying to control the machine, so that the nose would stay still, he would find his gun-sight wobbling all over the sky. He would press the firing button, spraying bullets like a lawn sprinkler. Then suddenly Collishaw would appear alongside; there would be a short, deadly burst, and the new pilot would turn sick as he saw the enemy plane catch fire and plunge to earth. He would fly back to the aerodrome, where the flight commander would clap him heartily on the shoulder and insist "You got one! Grand show, old boy!" The new pilot, unable to speak, would nod timidly, and thereafter he would fly into battle with Collisaw anywhere. That was - according to the story - part of Collishaw's great quality of leadership."
Royal Canadian Air Cadets 205 Collishaw squadron, named after him, is in his home town of Nanaimo, and 204 Black Maria squadron, named after his aircraft, is located in Kamloops.
On 2 October 1999, the terminal at Nanaimo Airport was named the Nanaimo-Collishaw Air Terminal in his honour.
Read more about this topic: Raymond Collishaw
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