The Home Page, The Hub or The Nexus, call it what you will, this is where everything branches off. All titles will be dated and organized with the author's name beside it, later on I will catalogue the whole thing by each of the catagories, name, date and title.
William (Billy) A. Bishop was born on February 8, 1894, in Owen Sound, Ontario, The second of William and Margaret Bishop’s three children. Though he had a tough childhood, owing to his lisp and the fact that he favoured swimming and riding, as opposed to hockey and lacrosse and he was often the victim of pranks and jokes, He did not tolerate these for long as he showed no fear in attacking the pranksters with much energy. Eventually, his fists won him the acceptance on the school grounds that his preferred sports hadn't. As a teenager, he met Margaret Burden, a granddaughter of Timothy Eaton, a department store tycoon. It was love at first sight, and he swore that he would have her as his bride.
In 1911, a 17 year old William was sent to Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario. Because of his skill on a horse, and his military education, he was quickly put into the Mississauga Horse cavalry detachment of the 2nd Canadian Division. Though held back due to pneumonia when his division left for the war, this was extremely fortunate, as his regiment faced very heavy casualties in their first days, while he was still home, recovering. On recovery, Bishop was transferred to the 14th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, a new detachment being formed in Ontario. Before leaving for war, he proposed to Margaret Burden, and to his joy, she accepted.
Once in England the Battalion was sent to Shorncliffe on the Kent coast. When slogging through the mud of the trenches one day, Bishop saw a bi-plane land to get its bearings in a nearby field and decided at that moment, that he would fight the enemy another way, in the air. Indeed, later he described what he felt, and said "It landed hesitatingly in a nearby field as if scorning to brush its wings against so sordid a landscape; then away again up into the clean grey mists. How long I stood there gazing into the distance I do not know, but when I turned to slog my way back 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 and in the summer sunshine. I was going into the battle that way. I was going to meet the enemy in the air."
He transferred to Royal Flying Corps, and soon was on his way to becoming an observer, one who sits in the back of a two seated airplane and takes pictures of enemy territory, locating artillery, trenches, strongholds and aerodromes. Upon obtaining the single-winged O of the observer, he was permitted to actually go out on reconnaissance missions, with a pilot to fly him around. He soon tired of this, and decided that he wanted to actually fly the plane. In February of 1917, after learning how to fly, and earning his full set of wings, Bishop was posted to No. 60 Squadron, an RFC station near Arras, France. In his first dogfight, he was against “Tail End Charley” a notorious German fighter. Diving after Charley, he managed to plant some bullets into his fuselage and watched him spin out of control and hit the ground. This was Bishop’s first kill.
After being promoted to the rank of Flight Commander, He won his first gallantry award, the Military Cross, on April 7, 1917. The next day he single-handedly attacked a flight of six Albatroses, knocking down three. After downing 17 planes by the end of April (second only to the Red Baron with 21 kills), he earned the Distinguished Service Order, his second medal.
On June 2, 1917, Bishop set off alone on an early-morning patrol. Although he found his original target to be deserted, he went looking for another, and found a German airfield where seven aircraft were warming up on the ground. Emptying a drum of ammunition into them, he then took down 3 of their planes as they were trying to take off, and chased another one back to earth. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award in the Armed Forces for valour in the face of the enemy.
Bishop’s carrier ended on a routine patrol, when he was hit by ground fire. Hit gas tank was punctured and set aflame, but he managed to get to allied territory before landing upside down in a tree. This made the Canadian Government command that he come home, in order to preserve their nations greatest war hero.
Obviously, from Bishop’s accomplishments, he is the most deserving to be in this series, as he is the single greatest world war one hero to come from Canada. His 72 kills are more than anyone save the red baron who finished with 80 kills, though the red baron was eventually shot down and killed, this never happened to William.
Heres More:
My Reflection
The impact wheel served to show me what the major factors in my life are. The right brain and left brain test, and the how am I smart package, showed me that I am almost completely right brained and that I Excel where thinking and logic are needed. The Myers/Briggs tests show me that I am an Extrovert, I rely on intuition, I am feeling rather than thinking, and I am more perceiving than judging. My truest colors are green and orange equally, with some blue and very little gold. The occupations that were suggested were all along the computer sciences and the technological lines, and many engineering jobs. My most valued attribute is Morals, with knowledge and wisdom coming in a close second.
All of these tests suggest that I think with my heart, doing what I believe is right, and that I think logically. I believe that if one must have a good set of morals, and I seek knowledge and the wisdom to know what to do with the acquired knowledge.
The knowledge of these attributes will lead me to get a job I want and would like to do for my life. Using websites like career cruiser, I have learned that my main skills center on logic, and therefore I should go into a profession using that, like computers. Throughout my future, I will remember that these are the main skills I have, and to apply them whenever possible.
