Billy Bishop Many people have been born that have struck a chord with the world. Some people have become legends, patriots and even heroes. Though one person stood out among the rest, this one was not made a hero, but was born to be one. He was a hero at what he strived to be in life and he has captured the attention of the public like no other solider has done before or since. This great Canadian Air Force Ace became one of the legendary figures in 20th century air warfare. With his daring and dramatic dogfights in France, he achieved a record of 72 kills in his many encounters. His role on the ground during the Second World War training pilots changed and inspired a whole new generation of fighter pilots. This man is known as Billy Bishop, the legendary and great Canadian hero who captured and won the respect of his enemies, comrades and the world. William Avery Bishop was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on the 8th of February in 1894. Billy was accepted into the Royal Military College in August of 1911. He spent three years as a cadet, even though he failed his first year exams and broke the strict disciplinary code of behaviour on several occasions. Billy was near the point of being expelled, when he was commissioned on September 30th of 1914 and headed off to the European war. He didn’t make it to England that year since he was in the hospital suffering from pneumonia. When Billy recovered, he left on June 9th in 1915 to fight in the war. During his days in the Infantry he saw a Royal Flying Corps plane fly overhead. This possessed Billy to get away from fighting on the ground. He applied for a transfer as an observer to the RFC, because an application to be a pilot would have taken too long. “ The on... ... middle of paper ... ...st victories like no other individual. Billy Bishop emerged from Owen Sound, Ontario and struggled through his training days. He proved himself as a great war hero and earned his spot among those most honoured and remembered. Bibliography: Bishop, W. A. (1965). The Courage of The Early Morning. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. McCaffery, D. (1990). Canadian Hero. Halifax: Formac Publishing Canadian Air Force Office of Public Affairs. (1996). The Flying Career of William Avery Bishop. [WWW Document] Retrieved May 2nd, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/comment/bishop.html Lowe, A. (1998). Air Marshal William Avery Bishop. [WWW Document]. Retrieved May 2nd, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.billybishop.net/zone/bishop.html Taylor, C. J. (March 1987) Knights of the Air. Horizon Canada, 54 (5), 1280-1285
World War one saw many great airmen, but there were two that stood out among the rest; Captain Edward Rickenbacker and 2nd Lieutenant Frank Luke, Jr. These men both demonstrated courage and bravery that ultimately asked them for their life. Both men received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their deeds of bravery, as well as earning the title of Ace. An Ace is someone that has shot down at least five enemy planes. Rickenbacker was nicknamed “Ace of the Aces”, while Luke was the first of only two men to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Luke honored his country through his actions. Frank Luke Jr demonstrated superior characteristics that lead him to make a valuable contribution to World War I through bravery, skilled flying skills, and selflessness.
Later on in his developing career, Currie met with a woman named Lucy Charworth-Musters, who would one day be his wife. With a paying job as a teacher, he decided to enlist in the militia as a lowly gunner in the 5th Regiment at the Canadian Garrison Artillery. In 1901, Currie married Lucy and found a better-paying job at an insurance firm at Matson and Coles (Dancocks, 1985). With great devotion to his wife and two children, the militia was still one of Currie’s priorities and he became a commander of the 5th Regiment of Artillery, winning the Governor-General’s Cup for efficiency (Hyatt, 1987). On the 4th of August in 1914, the British ultimatum to Germany expired and Canada was now automatically at war (Hyatt, 1987).
Billy Bishop’s path to greatness was not an easy one. He encountered many challenges throughout his young life that recognized him as a fiercer fighter pilot and a true hero. Billy Bishop faced an incredibly tough task to achieving his dream of becoming Canada’s greatest ace. Bishop had a tough life at Owen Sound Collegiate. He would be the subject to many jokes and preferred the company of girls. However his anger and fists won him acceptance on the school ground. He was a good natured boy born on February 8th, 1984. In 1911, at the age of 17, his parents sent him Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario due to his mediocre marks in school which his father knew would not allow him to get accepted to the University of Toronto. He was not an academic student and in his third year of high school was found cheating on a class exam which would later be the subject to many controversie...
Airmen: An Illustrated History: 1939-1949.” Oct. 2012. Vol. 65 Issue 4, pg. 316-319. 4p. Ebsco Host. Tucker, Phillip Thomas, 1953. Web.2014.
Leroy Anderson was born June 29, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents, as children, immigrated to the United States from Sweden with their families. His father, Bror Anton Anderson, worked as a postal clerk in the Central Square post office. He also played the mandolin. Anna Margareta Anderson, his mother, was the organist at the Swedish church in Cambridge. He lived in the suburbs of Boston for twenty seven years with his parents and brother.
The P-51 Mustang is regarded by many sources as the greatest fighter plane ever created. With the technological advancements this plane achieved, to it’s service record, to it’s importance in winning World War Two, the Mustang is truly one of the greats. The Mustang played a key role in long range bomber support and saved countless bomber crew’s lives, and pilots loved to fly it. The P-51 had the most aerial victories of any American fighter in World War Two and it was flown by some of America’s top aces. The P-51 was a beast of a fighter plane
Armies and Navies have clashed since antiquity, but the airplane that enables aerial combat is barely a century old. Airplanes saw widespread combat in the First World War, and, despite the doubts and financial concerns of military leaders of the time, the brave men who fly them have gained their own dedicated military division, the United States Air Force. Billy Mitchell, through his charisma and an image that endeared him in American culture, was an instrumental figure in developing the modern Air Force.
He was dedicated to promote the idea of using airplanes in battle. Long before anyone else, he vigorously promoted the theory that the airplane would replace the fleet as America’s first line of defense. At first not very many people were willing to accept his theory, but he never gave up the idea of bringing in Airplanes to the United States army. After two years of Mitchell promoting his ideas the Army began to use airplanes in the battles at sea. The bombers that were brought in dominated the battle field and gave the United States a large advantage over their enemies. The outcome of William’s dedication was enormous, now there are over three-hundred thousand pilots serving on active duty today. Without William the air force would not be as large of an organization as it is today.
The book I read was Billy Sunday. It consists of 189 pages and was written by William T. Ellis in 1959.
Haulman, Dr. Daniel L. "Tuskegee Airmen-Escorted Bombers Lost To Enemy Aircraft." Thesis. Air Force Historical Research Agency, 2008. Print.
Lawson, Robert L., and Barrett Tillman. U.S. Navy Air Combat: 1939-1946. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub., 2000. Print.
Many have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen and their accomplishments. They were a group of African American fighter pilots. They proved to be quite vital to the success of World War II. What many people may not know is the Tuskegee Airmen had several squadrons which fought throughout Europe during the war. The most famous squadron was the 332nd fighter squadron, they were commonly known as the Red Tails. Charles McGee was among those men apart of the Red Tail squadron. Charles McGee is one of most notable men in the Red Tails due to his accomplishments throughout the war. I will be explaining his life and all of his accomplishments throughout this paper on famous individuals in aviation.
Alex Kershaw’s “The Few The American ‘Knights Of The Air’ Who Risked Everything To Fight In The Battle Of Britain” doesn’t just tell the story of the seven American aviators who flew for the British as but also their enemies, the Luftwaffe’s point of view. This book is told through this group of Americans and from the viewpoint of the Royal Air Force pilots they fought with but also the perspective of the Luftwaffe fliers that they fought against during the battle. For example, in one part of the book, there was this one German lookout who had commented on how much of an advantage the British had because of their radars that could locate enemy planes while they crossed the English Channel; the lookout considered the radar an “unfair” tool.
Tom Wolfe explains that a career in flying was like climbing one of those ancient Babylonian pyramids made up of a dizzy progression of steps and ledges, a ziggurat, a pyramid extraordinary high and steep; and the idea was to prove at every foot of the way up that pyramid that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff and could move hig...