COLLISHAW & COMPANY

COLLISHAW & COMPANY: Canadians in the RNAS 1914-1918

J Allen Snowie

Nieuport Publishing Inc, 4152 Meridian Street, Suite 105-221, Bellingham, WA 98226, USA.

270pp, 223×265mm, softback.

ISBN 978-0-69200989-5, $39.95+p&p from the above address or nieuportx1@gmail.com.

Surprisingly, more has been written about World War II Canadian Naval Aviators, than those of World War I. Snowie, himself one of the clan, thought he would remedy this, but had not realised the size of the task he had set himself. It took sixteen years and this is the result. The most famous of the 900 plus airmen was certainly Raymond Collishaw, and his story and comments weave in and out of this chronological flow of individual experiences and biographies – rather like a school yearbook. I found it charming and informative – for example the numbers killed in flying accidents nothing to do with warfare is chilling. There is a wonderful chapter about Henry Botterell, the last Canadian World War I flyer who died in 2003. It is interesting that there were enough Canadians to allow them to have a sort of autonomy (Collishaw’s black triplanes) even though they were subsumed into the RNAS. There are six Appendices, and a huge index to track all you need to know about these brave men.

GM Volume 42 Number 1

Andy K

Greetings to everyone. I have just joined the forum and I just found out that this is here. I just wanted to say that I have just orders Collishaw & Company. Canadians in the Royal Naval Air Service 1914-1918. I was given a photo album back in 1976 by a man named Tommy Byers who during WW1 collected photos from people he new before, duringand shortly after the war. There are 380 photos in my album. He has a few photos of Ally Shaw and a photo of Harry Chisam. Both of these men were in the Royal Naval Air Service. I look forward to reading this Book when it comes in the mail. If anyone wants to see any of my photos please feel free to contact me.