The Great War
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Select the portrait to enlarge it.Photo: William Rider-Rider, Public domain

Canada

Billy Bishop

1894–1956 Fighter pilot, No. 60 Squadron, 1917; commander, No. 85 Squadron, 1918

Born in Owen Sound, Ontario, Billy Bishop entered the Royal Military College of Canada in 1911 and left in 1914 to take a cavalry commission. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, serving first as an observer, and in March 1917 joined No. 60 Squadron, flying the Nieuport 17. On 2 June 1917 he reported a solo attack on a German aerodrome, and the Victoria Cross that followed rested on his own account. In 1918 he commanded No. 85 Squadron and finished the war credited with 72 victories, the most of any Canadian. Because few claims were witnessed, historians dispute the total; Brereton Greenhous put it at about 27. In the Second World War Bishop helped promote the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He died on 11 September 1956.

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Sources

Sources

Wikidata Q2035406