Billy Fiske

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For the British politician, see Bill Fiske.

Bobsleigh
Olympic medal record
Gold	1928 St. Moritz	Five-man
Gold	1932 Lake Placid	Four-man

William Meade Lindsley "Billy" Fiske III (June 4, 1911 – August 17, 1940), was an American notable for his achievements in the 1928 Winter Olympics, as well as being a high-profile American pilot casualty of World War II during the Battle of Britain.^[1]

1 Life
2 Documentaries and movie
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Life

Fiske was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a wealthy banking family. At the age of 16, he became the youngest American to win an Olympic gold medal while participating in the 1928 Winter Olympic Games. He was the driver of the U.S. Bobsled team, which was the first team to win a gold medal for the U.S. in that event. He repeated this success in the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. He was also a Cresta Champion and was well known for its jumps from the chandelier at the bar at the Palace Hotel in St.Moritz.

In 1928, he began a degree in Economics and History at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in Britain.

In 1939 he decided to attempt to join the British Royal Air Force to help combat the Nazi advance across Europe. He became Acting Pilot Officer Fiske on April 12, 1940, and 3 months later on July 12 he was assigned to No. 601 (County of London) Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force at RAF Tangmere.

On August 16, 1940 his squadron was scrambled to repel a German dive bomber attack against the Tangmere aerodrome. The mission succeeded and the German bombers were forced to retreat. However Fiske was severely burnt when his Hurricane P3358 caught fire. It is unknown if his plane caught fire because of a bullet in the gas tank or accident. He was still able to land the plane however, Billy Fiske died a day later from shock at the Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester.

Fiske was interred in the Boxgrove cemetery in Sussex, England. In 1941, a tablet in his honour was unveiled in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

In the book The Battle of Britain by Richard Hough and Denis Richards, Sir Archibald Hope (Fiske's Flight Commander) said, "Unquestionably Billy Fiske was the best pilot I've ever known. It was unbelievable how good he was. He picked up so fast it wasn't true. He'd flown a bit before, but he was a natural as a fighter pilot. He was also terribly nice and extraordinarily modest, and fitted into the squadron very well."

The national champion for bobsleigh in the four-man event is named in Fiske's honor.

[edit] Documentaries and movie

In March 2005, The History Channel broadcast a documentary titled American Warrior: Billy Fiske.

According to the Internet Movie Database, a film about Billy Fiske titled The Few is in production and slated for release in 2008.

Ben Clinch, an RAF armourer for Billy Fiske and his comrades during the summer of 1940, said, "I can't see how they can make a film of Fiske's life. It was quite short. He was unremarkable, in the context of the squadron. He was just another pilot as far as we were concerned." Speaking to The Independent, Bill Bond of the Battle of Britain Historical Society argued that whilst Fiske was remarkable as a character, it was important to remember that he recorded no kills. "It is going to be a farce if we have the Yanks shooting down everything in sight, the battle was four weeks old when Billy was shot down. He made several sorties but he didn't shoot anything down, and his impact on the battle was negligible. We are concerned."^[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Moreton, Cole (2004-04-11), “Hollywood updates history of Battle of Britain: Tom Cruise won it all on his own”, The Independent, <http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/news/article55566.ece>

Fiske Family Website
Wallenchinsky, David. (1984). "Bobsled: Four-Man". In The Complete Book the Olympics: 1896-1980. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 559-60.