Billy Bishop

Born on February 8, 1894, William Avery Bishop attended schools in Owen Sound until 1911 when he enrolled in Canada’s Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He was an active young man, known more for joie de vivre than for academic accomplishment. When he graduated from RMC in 1914, the overall assessment of Billy’s RMC career was “conduct good.”

He enlisted in the Mississauga Horse at the outbreak of war in 1914 and was posted to England with the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles. Bishop saw his first aircraft while trying to extricate his horse from the mud of the Aldershot plain. Captivated by the concept of freedom of flight, and relative cleanliness, Billy decided to transfer from the cavalry to the Royal Flying Corps. He was trained as an observer and did a full tour of duty in France with 21 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. Unfortunately, from his point of view, the Squadron was based in the northern part of France where, in 1916, there was little aerial fighting.

Toward the end of his observer tour he was injured in a landing accident. Because the injury to his knee became a problem again while he was on leave in England, he entered hospital for repairs and while there, initiated action to be trained as a pilot. In March 1917, he joined the RFC’s 60 Squadron in France to fly Nieuport 17 Scout aircraft. He was soon promoted to Captain and took charge of “C” Flight. Billy Bishop was extremely keen on flying and in relatively short order was given a “roving commission” that permitted him to fly his Nieuport serial number B1566 wherever and whenever he chose.

Billy shot down three enemy aircraft over Vimy Ridge in April 1917 and won the Military Cross. His mechanic, Freddie Bourne, affixed a blue spinner to the propeller of B1566 and from that time Billy was feared on the German front as the “blue-nosed devil.” In May he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in recognition of his outstanding aerial efforts. By the end of May he had scored 22 confirmed victories. On June 2, flying alone as usual, he attacked an airfield some 12 miles behind enemy lines. The event was unusual in that it was the first time an aircraft had been used in enemy territory to attack a force on the ground.

Four enemy Albatros aircraft rose in sequence to deal with Billy’s raid. The first was shot down on the airfield; the second was attacked on its take-off roll and crashed into some trees; the third was pursued and shot down not far from the airfield while the fourth escaped despite the fact that Billy had fired a complete drum of ammunition into it.

Robert Bradford is one of Canada’s foremost aviation artists. Dawn Attack, his rendition of Billy Bishop’s Victoria Cross mission of 1917 shows Bishop in his Nieuport passing an Albatros D III of the German Air Force at the moment the Albatros “crashed into some trees near the aerodrome.” The Albatros shown was the second of the three credited to Bishop during his daring and imaginative raid behind enemy lines. Bishop’s aircraft is already damaged, presumably from rapid-firing airfield defence machine guns. This acrylic on canvas work was donated by the artist, Robert Bradford, to the Billy Bishop Heritage and was unveiled on June 25, 1987 at the Billy Bishop Museum in Owen Sound, Ontario

In 1983 Canada’s National Film Board presented a documentary entitled “The Kid Who Couldn’t Miss.” Disregarding Bishop’s acclaimed record of confirmed victories, the film suggests that many of his successes were imaginary and further suggests that his celebrated dawn attack on the enemy airfield did not actually happen. In a misleading, simulated interview with Bishop’s mechanic, the late Freddie Bourne, the film portrays Bourne as clearly doubting Bishop’s claims. In fact, positive evidence exists that Bourne had no doubt at all concerning Bishop’s exploits.

His dawn attack won Billy Bishop a Victoria Cross which was presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace, August 1917. In addition, Billy received the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order awarded earlier. At the time, Bishop had 42 enemy aircraft to his credit. Late in August, with his score at 47 and with another DSO award, he was returned from France to England.

Billy Bishop was assigned as commander of an Aircraft Gunnery School being established at the time in England. However, since the new airfield was not yet completed, Billy returned to Canada on authorized leave and married Margaret Eaton Burden, a granddaughter of retailer Timothy Eaton. Bishop was then attached to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., where he lobbied for an increase in U.S. aircraft and aircrew production. Keen to get back into the air, Billy was transferred to England in January 1918 and given command of a newly forming squadron, No. 85. In France in June of 1918, he shot down a further 25 enemy aircraft and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Billy Bishop, left, and Billy Barker, born, Dauphin, Manitoba, standing in front of German-made D VII Fokker shortly after dissolution of Bishop-Barker Airplanes Ltd., the company established following World War I by the two Victoria Cross winners to photograph Canadian towns and villages from the sky

After World War I, Billy Bishop VC and Billy Barker VC formed Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited. They operated HS2L flying boats between Lake Muskoka and Toronto Lakeshore. Eventually, Bishop returned to England to become involved with considerable success in several business ventures until the stock market crashed in 1929. Having lost his fortune, Billy returned to Canada to become director and vice president for sales of McColl-Frontenac Oil Company (later Texaco) in Montreal.

Appointed to Canada’s Air Advisory Committee in the mid-30s, Bishop was part of the team responsible for development of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, preparing some 136,000 common wealth aircrew in Canada for action over Europe and around the world during World War II. As director of recruiting for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Bishop travelled extensively, presenting wings or certificates to many graduating courses, and serving as a national inspiration.

Billy retired from business in the early 1950s having been bothered for some time with minor heart problems. He died in his sleep in Florida in September 1956, only 62 years old. In Toronto, following the largest Canadian funeral to that time, Billy’s body was cremated and his ashes interred in Owen Sound’s Greenwood Cemetery.

The late John Fisher (“Mr. Canada”), in one of his famous radio vignettes on remarkable Canadians, gave an example of how Billy Bishop had underlined Canada’s influence in the first Air War. As commander of the fledgling Canadian Air Force in August 1918, Billy had a large red maple leaf painted on the tail of each of his aircraft to signify the national identity of his organization. “Mr. Canada” concluded his vignette by saying, “Thanks, Billy.”