Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Read about Canada's forgotten top gun in this weekend's newsletter!

13 Jun 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

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In this short YouTube monologue, the narrator tells a dramatic WWII anecdote about Canadian commander Raymond "Billy" Collishaw, who allegedly had only a single fighter plane to defend against advancing Italian forces. To compensate, Collishaw repeatedly moved the aircraft between bases, flying low over enemy forts not to attack but to irritate and confuse the Italians, causing them to waste resources chasing a phantom. The narrator claims this psychological harassment was effective, positioning Collishaw as a larger-than-life figure comparable to the Red Baron and Billy Bishop, whose story remains largely unknown. The video concludes with a call to action, urging viewers to subscribe to the creator’s newsletter for the full, detailed account of Collishaw’s exploits.

Chapters

One plane. That's all the Canadians had. It was World War II and the commander, Raymond Collishaw, had that one plane to work with. The rest were stuck in training. Meanwhile, the Italians were advancing. Collishaw's job was to hold them off, so— my favorite story from that era— he moved that single fighter constantly from base to base to base, making sure that the enemy saw it every time. He'd have it fly low over their forts, not for recon or to bomb them, but just to piss them off. And somehow it worked. The Italians got paranoid, started chasing ghosts. Instead of going on missions, they were assigning soldiers to keep watch for this fucking plane that keeps showing up. Raymond Collishaw. Bigger than the Red Baron. Bigger than Billy Bishop. And nobody knows his story. But you will if you subscribe to my newsletter, because this weekend I've got his whole badass Canadian story. You can find my newsletter under my bio link.