The Other Billy

[Barrett]

Knowing how you guys work, I realize this is probably a hopeless effort, but I'd like to address Billy Mitchell instead of Billy Bishop, or even Billy ("Call me Will") Barker.
Contrary to popular opinion, Mitchell did not receive THE Medal of Honor. He got a posthumous congressional gold medal (I've seen a photo of the medallion) as sort of a consolation "Gosh, you were right after all" award.
The question has been raised as to how much he actually flew. Anybody got a lead on his total flight time, or at least Great War hours?
I shall be pleased (nay, astonished!) if this thread does not lapse into:
American politics
Canadian whiskey
English literature
French egotists
German aerodromes
Irish movies
Swiss actresses
Alligator wrestling
<g>

[mike_baram]

Now that you mentioned alligator wrestling.......

You mean to tell me that Billy Bishop wrestled alligators? Was that only after he relocated to Florida, or did he acquire this taste in France (on the Riviera?). In any event, it's threads such as these that make visits to The Aerodrome worthwhile-- there's simply no way knowing what one may pick up!

[Barrett]

I knew it; I just KNEW it...

Hi Barrett,
I presume you've looked through Billy's book "Memoirs of World War I" ? Flying hours are very hard to come by for ANY WWI pilot and the book doesn't go into specifics, but it does give some indication of his flying experiences. In Chapter 7 he describes "Viewing the Great Battle from the Air", when he went - as a passenger - in a big French three-seater (either a Letord or a Caudron, I'd guess) to view the Front on April 24, 1917. In Chapter 23 , in February 1918, he says "Adjutant Fumat brought up my airplanes from Chaumont, including a new Spad, a single seater". He describes how he took off after a Rumpler near Neufchateau, but when he was taking off one of the wheels "broke". He managed to land without crashing, and never found the Rumpler. On the next day he took Lt. Col. Hentzlemann, acting chief of staff of the 1st Army Corps, over the lines in "my two-seater" (probably the same Spad XVI that's in the USAF Museum ?). He typically makes sure to point out that "This was the first time that any American General Staff Officer had flown over the enemy lines, and the first time an airplane bearing the American insignia had been piloted by an American over the lines". On March 14 (Chap. 24) he started flying to Paris but got lost in the fog and almost landed in Germany. He mentions flying all up and down the front in that chapter. On page 210, in June during the fighting leading up to Chateau-Thierry , he says, "Each day I flew along the front, alone and without protection, because if I took several planes along with me we would be slowed up, easily noticed and certainly brought to combat". He describes test-flying a Clerget-engined Sopwith Camel too. On page 265 he mentions (in October) flying to see the effect of a bombing attack on Damvillers. Most of his flying seems to have been recon in nature - I doubt that he went over the lines looking for a fight at all. But then, that wasn't his job, was it ? He did most of his fighting with Pershing and other brass.On page 282 he describes how he entered his career in alligator wrestling.

Hope that helps. Get the book (interlibrary loan should do it) if you haven't seen it. It's full of self-promotion but it's still a good read.

Greg

I'm kind of tired from wrestling alligators, where are the Swiss actresses ? (And the Canadian Whisky ?)

Many people don't know that, thanks to Billy Mitchell, the U.S. "first line" squadrons, were equipped with one of the worlds best fighters in 1919; the Fokker D-VII. I've seen USAF vintage photos of them wearing U.S. colors and markings. Apparently a couple of years later the planes were purchased by Hollywood for use in films.

Do you have a source for this, Tony? I've always wondered where the Fokkers used in Hollywood came from.

It's a fact, though, that most of the "Fokkers" we see in films from that period are actually modified Travelaire 2000s.

In need of history lesson...what do you mean by "Gosh, you were right after all". What was he right about?

Michael; I did have a large history of the USAF fully illustrated that covered by year every aircraft that the USAF adopted and every one they were thinking about adopting. There were prototypes, short runs, and literally planes I've never seen before or since. How many people have heard of a Loening two seat monoplane fighter ? The D-VIIs were listed with photos for 1919. There was also a short description on how they were used to equip the US first line squadrons, how they got there, and what happened to them afterwards. The book may well be still available. I saw a couple of very old airwar films, one of which was "Wings" by Howard Hughes. Veteran movie stunt pilot Paul Mantz was playing MvR or an MvR clone. I remember wondering where they got the D-VIIs. Yes these were clearly recognizable as the real thing and were not newer planes dressed up to look like them.