Title: Major Raymond Collishaw in the cockpit of his Sopwith Camel when commanding No. 203 Squadron
Place: Allonville, France.
Date: July 1918.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Unknown

National Archives of Canada, negative no. PA-002788

Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on 22 November 1893, Raymond Collishaw joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915. Only a year and a half later, he received the French Croix de guerre, his first of numerous awards. During his career, he is credited with having shot down 60 enemy air planes while in France. In addition, under his command, No. 203 Squadron destroyed 125 aircraft. He remained in the Royal Air Force after the First World War and his service included postings in South Russia, the Middle East, England and other parts of the globe. During the Second World War, Collishaw commanded the Desert Air Force and his leadership and tactics resulted in the almost complete destruction of the numerically superior Italian air force in the North African theatre. He retired in 1943. After the Second World War he made his home in West Vancouver, where he died in 1976.