William “Billy” Bishop

Air Marshal Billy Bishop was a daring World War I fighter pilot who

won the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, and the

Victoria Cross, and he became the leading Canadian flying ace with

seventy-two air victories.

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When Billy Bishop was fifteen years old, he did something really stupid. He built an
“airplane” out of cardboard, wood, and string, and then tried to fly it off the roof of his
three-storey house.
His sister dug him out of the wreckage, and was surprised to find he was not hurt! But
Billy was a very tough boy. He was known as a fighter at school, and he used his fists to
protect other kids from bullies.
When World War I started, Billy Bishop dropped out of school to enlist in the army. His
trainers were astounded to see what a great shot he was with a rifle; he seemed like a
natural soldier!
But on the battlefields of Europe, Bishop was soon fed up with living in a muddy, filthy
trench. WWI was the first war in which airplanes were used, and when Bishop saw an
airplane land, he quickly transferred to the air force, hoping for more action.
And action was what he got. Billy Bishop turned out to be as natural at flying as he was
at fighting and shooting. After flying scouting missions, he asked to be stationed in
France, where British and German fighter pilots were battling for control of the skies.
At that point in the war, the Germans were shooting down the British by a ratio of five to