June 2nd, 1917, over France

8 February 1894 – 11 September 1956

On the ground, fighting on the Western Front had been static since late 1914, with set piece battles by each side achieving gains measured in yards against casualties counted in the tens of thousands.

In 1914, air power was virtually non-existent – aircraft barely able to support the weight of their pilots. First use was for reconnaissance – ‘what is over the next hill?’ – by the pilot taking paper notes. And artillery spotting, dropping target corrections to the artillery.

Then they began to evolve.

Reconnaissance aircraft with cameras. But you don’t want to let the enemy see what you are doing. So scout aircraft (now called fighters) to prevent them. And ground attack, with the development of role-specific design: scouts, reconnaissance and ground-support, then finally bombers.

By 1917, air power was a tangible part of the fighting forces on both sides.

Bishop with Nieuport 17, No. 60 Squadron, August 1916 – July 1917
(RAF Museum PC73/4/580)

‘Billy’ Bishop was the highest-scoring Commonwealth pilot of the Great War, officially credited with 72 enemy aircraft destroyed. In July 1915, Bishop joined the RFC as an Observer and started combat flying in France in January 1916. However, he later transferred to pilot training, gaining his RFC ‘wings’ at Upavon and on 9 March 1917 he was posted to 60 Squadron at Filecamp, France. He was subsequently promoted to Captain and given command of C Flight.

Bishop in Nieuport 17, 60 Squadron (RAF Museum X003/2602/18145)

On 2 June 1917, he embarked on a solo early-morning flight, for which he was awarded the VC. A full account of this action and his later career with the RFC and RCAF is contained in Bowyer’s ‘For Valour, the Air VCs’, a copy of which may be studied in the Reading Room of the RAF Museum, Hendon (see Bibliography).
Victoria Cross medal set
(Tilston Memorial Collection of Canadian Military Medals, Canadian War Museum CWM 19760521-110)

The London Gazette 11th August 1917

‘His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officer: — Captain William Avery Bishop, D.S.O., M.C., Canadian Cavalry and Royal Flying Corps. For most conspicuous bravery, determination and skill. Captain Bishop, who had been sent out to work independently, flew first of all to an enemy aerodrome; finding no machine about, he flew on to another aerodrome about three miles south-east, which was at least twelve miles the other side of the line. Seven machines, some with their engines running, were on the ground.

He attacked these from about fifty feet, and a mechanic, who was starting one of the engines, was seen to fall. One of the machines got oft the ground, but at a height of sixty feet Captain Bishop fired fifteen rounds into it at very close range, and it crashed to the ground. A second machine got off the ground, into which he fired thirty rounds at 150 yards range, and it fell into a tree.

Two more machines then rose from the aerodrome. One of these he engaged at the height of 1,000 feet, emptying the rest of his drum of ammunition. This machine crashed 300 yards from the aerodrome, after which Captain Bishop emptied a whole drum into the fourth hostile machine, and then flew back to his station. Four hostile scouts were about 1,000 feet above him for about a mile of his return journey, but they would not attack. His machine was very badly shot about by machine gun fire from the ground.’

Bishop’s VC is unique in that it is the only such award arising solely from the winner’s testimony: all other VCs have been awarded from the evidence of third parties, usually British, though occasionally German, eye-witnesses.

This absence of independent evidence has given rise to debates over the veracity of Bishop’s combat report, a topic of no little acrimony, including even in the Canadian Parliament. Wing Commander William Mays Fry MC flew alongside Bishop during the summer of 1917 and subsequently wrote a paper challenging Bishop’s claims.

The original typescript is held by RAF Museum (X007-5259/007), which was later published by Cross and Cockade in their Volume 32, No 1 of Spring 2001 and which may be studied in the Reading Room of RAF Museum London.

Statement by Wing Commander William Mays Fry DFC (page 1)
(RAF Museum X007-5259/007/001)

During the Second World War, Bishop was very active, even appearing as himself in a cinema film ‘Captains of the Clouds’ aimed at recruitment to the RCAF. He was instrumental in setting up and promoting the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He finally retired on medical grounds as Air Vice-Marshal Bishop RCAF in 1944.

His VC and Medal Bar is held by the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa.

Grave and Memorial

He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.

Credits:

• Citation: The London Gazette 11 August 1917
• Additional biographical details: For Valour: The Air VCs Chaz Bowyer, Grub Street Publishing.