Mr. Speaker, 100 years ago, Canadian pilots played an extraordinary role in the air war over the Western Front. Consider this: there were 171 Canadian flying aces. Together, these pilots downed a total of 2,099 enemy aircraft. Twenty-four Canadian aces had over 20 victories apiece, third among all the nations of the world. Among the best of the best, of the dozen pilots of all nations with more than 50 victories a piece, four were Canadians.
This parade of heroes should have produced a litany of household names, but other than Billy Bishop, who today is not forgotten? For example, how many Canadians know that Manfred von Richthofen, Germany's Red Baron, the ace of aces, was shot down by Canadian pilot Roy Brown in April 1918? The Roy Brown Society has been established to commemorate this heroic Canadian. The society hopes to lead a pilgrimage to the site of this most famous aerial dogfight in history on the 100th anniversary of its occurrence in 1918.
In the meantime, let us all remember all of our great heroes of the air war over the Western Front.