He won his first gallantry award, the Military Cross, on April 7, 1917. He pursued an observation balloon to the ground and lit it on fire. An Albatros tried to interfere and he shot it down too. Balloons were tough targets, being well defended by anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and fighters. The next day he single-handed attacked a flight of six Albatroses, knocking down three.

By the time April was over (5 weeks after he had arrived at the front) he had defeated 17 aircraft and was the Squadron's leading Ace. He earned the Distinguished Service Order for his prowess. Only the Red Baron bettered his score, downing 21 British aircraft that month. Bishop's Squadron faired less well, by far. This was the month they called "Bloody April", they had a loss rate of 105% for the month. Thirteen of the original 18 pilots were shot down, along with 7 of their replacements. But Bishop had become a superb aerial killer and had been promoted to Captain. He wrote to Margaret: "You have no idea of how bloodthirsty I've become and how much pleasure I get in killing Huns."

Before going on leave after his first tour as a fighter pilot, Bishop shot down two more Germans, making his score 19. That same day Albert Ball, the leading British ace was killed. Bishop was shook up again, for he and Ball had plotted to make an early morning raid on a German airfield when he got back from leave. But he didn't forget the plan. Now Bishop was the leading, surviving (an important point) British ace.

Lady St. Helier had the ability to capitalize on her newest protege, Captain William Avery Bishop, M.C., D.S.O. She introduced him to everyone in London society, including Princess Marie Louise, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir. F. Smith, the Attourney General and Bonar Law, the Chancellor of the Exchequor and later Prime Minister of Canada. He stayed until May 22, 1917. His exposure to the hierarchy, and his celebrity status had excited him, and instilled in him a sense of identity and responsibility.

Four days after his return to the front he downed his 20th aircraft, an Albatros and the day after his 21st a lone two-seater Aviatik scout. Shortly after this the Germans changed tactics and had reconnaissance aircraft travel in three's guarded by plenty of anti-aircraft guns. When the Allies showed up the recon aircraft dived away and the AA guns opened up on the Allies. However, 60 Sqdn was given the task of going after the decoy two-seaters. Bishop complained to Jack Scott about this hazardous duty and proposed going after German aerodromes. Jack Scott didn't like the idea but agreed to let Bishop do what he wanted.

The Raid on Estourmel Aerodrome

Early in the morning of June 2, 1917 Bishop was up and ready to raid the Germans. He tried to get Willy Fry to come with him, but Fry had a serious hangover from the night's party and refused to get out of bed. So Bish went alone. He flew over the lines and headed for Cambrai towards the aerodrome he had chosen for his attack. He arrived just as the sun came up and found no activity and no planes at all. The place was deserted. He circled around for a bit thinking and waiting to see if anyone would show up. No one did.

He left anfry, flying at random trying to find something to shoot up. He was about to head for home when he saw the buildings of another aerodrome to one side. He banked sharply and headed for them. It was Estourmel, the home of Jadgstaffel 5 headed by Staffel Fuhrer Lt. Werner Voss. Seven aircraft, a two-seat Rumpler recon. plane and six Albatros scout aircraft (reported by Bishop to be DIIs, although Voss's Staffel no longer used the type), were lined up, motors running waiting for the pilots and observer.

"Lone Wolf" original painting by Rich Thistle.

Bishop banked and dived, coming in perpendicular to the flight line and fired a 97-round drum of 0.303 bullets into the aircraft, killing one mechanic. Then he pulled off doing a series of slow-speed turns waiting for an Albatros to come up to challenge him. The ground troops got several machine guns into action and nearly hit Bishop.

A rookie pilot warming his engine accepted the challenge and took off. But his engine wasn't fully warmed up and he couldn't get enough power to take off easily. Bishop swooped around onto his tail and fired dropping the aircraft onto the field. Another Albatros took off and Bishop circled around to his 6 o'clock and fired but missed the pilot. The German swerved and hit a tree, mangling the wings and dropping the aircraft. Neither pilot was injured.

Now his real troubles began. Two Albatroses took off together. Going for the nearest plane he began a circling contest for a firing position. With two opponents this is usually suicide, however, one German pilot stayed out of the action, presumably he thought to give his compatriot the honour of downing the arrogant Brit. The Nieuport was a tighter turner than the DIII and Bishop finally got in a clear shot, dropping the DIII onto the field. He swung head on towards the fourth German and fired the entire drum of 0.303 ammunition at him. missing completely. But this seems to have unnerved the German pilot, he swung away and landed.

Bishop pulled away from Estourmel with a jammed gun, afraid the Germans on the ground would have telephoned nearby Jastas for help. Near the front lines he spotted a flight of DIIIs and stayed immediately beneath them until he could make a run for the front lines. The Germans rarely chased an Allied pilot across the lines. He made his way back to his base. Unharmed and jubilant. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for this audacious action. But he earned the distrust of some of his comrades, they believed he had become too ambitious and may have made up the attack.

There were many rumours and stories spread about his feat that day. One was that French informants behind the German lines confirmed the attack, and reported that the Rumpler was a write-off and the status of the other pilots. This is, as far as anyone can tell, a false story. Another was that a balloon observer spotted the action, but that too was just a story.

The war was no longer amusing to Bishop, his friends kept dying. He wrote to Margaret: "I am thoroughly downcast tonight. The Huns got Lloyd today, such a fine fellow too, and one of our best pilots. Sometimes all of this awful fighting makes you wonder if you have a right to call yourself human. My honey, I am so sick of it all, the killing, the war. All I want is home and you."

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The closest Bishop came to death was on one routine patrol, he was flying close to the ground when he was hit in the fuel tank by German ground fire. With his plane on fire, he just made it into Allied territory when he crashed into a tree and was suspended upside down. The fire was lapping at his face when it began to rain. The brief storm put out the fire before he was injured. This incident rattled Bishop badly, he admitted in a letter to his father after it

"I find myself shuddering at chances I didn't think about taking six weeks ago." 85 Sqdn He finally got back into action with the new S.E. 5as on May 27, 1918 when he shot down a twin-seater near Passchendaele. The next day he resumed his audacious behaviour by single-handedly attacking a flight of nine Albatros DVIIs and succeeding in downing one of them. Over the next two weeks he downed 17 more airplanes, bringing his total to 70. One of his victories was by wounding and forcing down the German ace Paul Billik with 31 victories. The Canadian government was impressed but fearful that their greatest national hero would get killed in the fierce action over the Western Front. They ordered him home.

On his last day over the front Bishop probably had his second best day of fighting by downing five planes, although he could be credited with only three. He attacked a group of three Pfalz fighters and was attacked by two more. He quickly shot one down and caused two to crash together. He turned on the other two Pfalz's and shot down another. Following this action he continued his patrol and came across an LVG two-seater scout and promptly sent it down in flames. He then swooped low over the trenches and assailed the German troops with his remaining bullets. Now he could go home. The war ended shortly after on November 11, 1918.

Following the war he entered into a directionless period of life, travelling with Margaret across the USA and giving lectures where ever possible. But the public soon tired of this. He and Margaret lived for a time on her wealth until another Canadian ace, Billy Barker, approached him about starting an airline together. As the only thing that either of them were good at, that they knew, was flying and shooting down aircraft, they went into business as the Bishop-Barker Company. They flew chartered flights north from Toronto to the Muskoka cottage country for rich folks. They soon went bankrupt as neither was very interested in just flying people.

Another venture they tried was aerial stunting at the Canadian National Exhibition, but they got carried away with themselves and dove recklessly right at the crowds and zoomed 30 feet over the stands. This was nothing for them, but the crowd panicked and stampeded out of the CNE. One woman had a miscarriage. It took while and a lot of talking to quiet down the affair.

He and Margaret then went to England to look for work. With his contacts, and those no doubt of Lady St. Helier, he took to selling an newly patently type of pipe for a French company. Margaret and he had three children while in England. Eventually the stock market crash of 1929 wiped out their paper fortune. This forced them back to Canada, where a friend of his got him a very good position as Director of Sales and Promotions for Frontenac Oil. Oddly enough, he was very good at sales and did very well in the oil business.

When World War II broke out the Canadian government approached Bishop with an enticing offer. Air Marshal in charge of recruitment. They used his glamour as Canada's premier ace of WWI to draw recruits into the air force. He attacked the job with energy to spare, he was a tireless campaigner for recruiting, being so successful that the airforce turned applicants away. He helped to sell war bonds, conducted many inspection tours and tried to show up at every graduation day to pin on the wings for new pilots. He was fun loving, sometimes to extreme. A few inspections were cancelled due to parties and drunkenness. He even appeared in a Holywood film with Jimmy Cagney playing a disgruntled fighter pilot-trainee. He was so good at conducting reviews that he glanced at his script and winged it for a single take.

For his dedication to Canada and the two wars he fought in and worked through in the service of Canada and the British Empire he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Bath and the Canadian Efficiency Decoration.

"Hunter" original painting by Rich Thistle.

Following WWII he went into semi-retirement. He and Margaret had a very active social life in Montreal. Generally he drank too much, partied too much and took up several hobbies. He tried to enlist in the RCAF for the Korean War but the government turned him down. William Avery Bishop died quietly in his sleep in 1956 while wintering in Florida.

He contributed considerably to the success of the Allied nations in both World Wars. Minister of Air, C.G. Power told him "Your magnificent record in the First Great War fired the imagination of our Canadian aircrews in this war and has inspired them to deeds of courage to rival your own." A great debate has raged over his Victoria Cross action. The basic problem being that he did not prove that he actually conducted the action (the only VC winner not to have done so) and no one saw him do it. The medal was awarded strictly on his say so. Fortunately, or not, there is now no way to prove that he attacked a German airdrome in occupied France on June 2, 1917. The VC will remain his.

His son, William Arthur Bishop enlisted in the RAF as a fighter pilot and survived the war to write books about his father and other military heros. His book The Courage of the Early Morning was a major source of information on Bishop. Other sources include Dan McCaffery's Air Aces: The Lives and Times of Twelve Canadian Fighter Pilots, the official history of the RCAF vol. 1, and all of those books on technical details of aircraft.