Billy Bishop
Nickname(s) "Billy","Bish"
Born 8February1894
OwenSound,Ontario,Canada
Died 11September1956(aged62)
PalmBeach,Florida,US
Allegiance BritishEmpire
Canada
Service/branch CanadianExpeditionaryForce
RoyalAirForce
RoyalCanadianAirForce
Yearsofservice 19141918
19361944
Rank LieutenantColonel(RAF)
AirMarshal(RCAF)
Commandsheld No.60SquadronRAF,No.85Squadron
Battles/wars WorldWarI
WesternFront
BattleofVimyRidge
WorldWarII
The airplane, regarded by military authorities in 1914 as little more than a novelty, became
over the next four years a military necessity. Remarkable technical advances in aerial
warfare enabled the aircraft to fulfill ever-expanding functions. In the early stages of the
war aircraft were used largely for reconnaissance, to observe enemy troop movements and
spot artillery, and to obtain photographs and motion pictures. Then came the bombers and
fighters as airmen sought to destroy railroad centres and industrial targets far behind
enemy lines, to destroy Zeppelin bases, and to hunt submarines at sea.
The war in the air offered to the airman and to the public a glimpse of the fame and glory
once expected of war, at a time when mud and shells turned battlefields into nightmares
of horror and revulsion.
The flyer became a new kind of warrior - a chivalric, twentieth century, knight-errant.
Men went up in rickety planes with few instruments and no parachutes. The fighter pilot
was one of the elite, one of the most daring, and his job was one of the most dangerous.
What started out as a hazardous adventure developed into a science of killing. One third
of all the fliers died in combat, among them 1,600 Canadians.
Canadian airmen played a particularly significant and brilliant role in the air. No less than
25,000 Canadians served with the British air service as pilots, observers and mechanics, in
every theatre of the war. Canadian airmen won more than eight hundred decorations and
awards for valour including three Victoria Crosses. The names of such Canadian flyers as
W.A. "Billy" Bishop, W.G. Barker, Raymond Collishaw and A.A. McLeod became household
names in Canada, and they left a record of daring and devotion that was famous
everywhere.
