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Billy Bishop: Canadian Flying Ace

© Mary M. Alward

William Avery Bishop, also known as Billy Bishop, was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on February 8, 1894. He was the third of four children born to William and Margaret Bishop.

Billy had many problems while growing up. He spoke with a lisp, which made him the object of much teasing and harassment. The school boys didn't like him, so he played with the girls. He didn't participate in hockey, lacrosse or other sports, but stuck to horseback riding and swimming. This did nothing to improve his situation.

Billy never backed down from his peers. Many fights and his "tough guy" nature finally gained him acceptance at school.

When Billy was 17, his parents sent him to the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Not being a great scholar, Billy found life at college challenging. Along with that, Billy's personality caused him a lot of problems.

When WWI broke out, Billy decided to be a soldier. He joined the "Mississauga Horse of Toronto," a Calvary unit with the Second Canadian Division. As his unit left for war, Billy lay in the hospital suffering from pneumonia. When he had recuperated, he was transferred to the 14th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles in London, Ontario.

Before Billy left for England, he proposed to Margaret Burdin, who he had courted for year. She accepted and the couple planned to marry when Billy returned from overseas.

While overseas, Billy and his unit experienced bad weather. It rained constantly and there was mud everywhere. Along with that and the many casualties from Trench Warfare, Billy became homesick and depressed. He longed to return home while he was still alive. Though he'd thought that soldiering would be a "piece of cake," he hated it. He wanted out.

In July 1915, Billy watched a Nieuport biplane land and take off. He wrote to Margaret: "It landed hesitantly in a nearby field as if scorning to brush its wings against so sordid a landscape; then away again into the clear, gray mist. How long I stood there gazing into the distance I do not know, but when I turned back to slog through the mud my mind was made up. I knew there was only one place to be on such a day - up above the clouds in the summer sunshine. I was going into battle that way. I was going to meet the enemy in the air. Instead of being a soldier, I was going to be a pilot."

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