Both sides needed heroes. The british part of the Entente was reluctant at first in making their aviators public, because a lot of them died. Which would have had a negative impact on the public perception of the war. Considering what especially the british army was ordered to do, they sure did not want to know others about it, class system and military pressure in full swing.
The Bishop flight is regarded as a tale by almost all recent WW1 historians including most participants at the Aerodrome forum. On the other hand stranger real incidents have happened. I'd still say boasting and showing off (used for propaganda), but you never know for sure. Boasting about such excursions was probably looked down upon, the way of commenting on the job was (and is) very different between US and British people.
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>^..^<*)))>{ All generalizations are wrong.
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