This airport is named in honour of Air Marshal William Avery “Billy” Bishop, VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED. The airport was opened in 1939, and renamed Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on November 10, 2009. It is managed by Toronto Port Authority.
William Avery Bishop was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on 8 February 1894. During the outbreak of the Great War, he was a cadet at the Royal Military College, in Kingston. He enrolled in the 9th Mississauga Horse, Canadian Expedition Force, on 30 September 1914, and he later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Bishop, who already had the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross, became the first Canadian Airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his single-handed early morning attack on an enemy airfield near Cambrai, France. On 2 June 1917, he found seven aircraft on the ground; he attacked and destroyed three, and was later credited with the destruction of the remaining four aircraft. Bishop continued air operations until August 1917 and returned to the front in June 1918. He emerged as the British Empire’s second highest scoring ace, with 72 official victories.
In the Second World War, Bishop was an Air Marshal in the Royal Canadian Air Force and assisted in recruiting. He later died in Palm Beach, United States, on 11 September 1956.
