Billy Fiske

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Billy Fiske 1940

William Mead Lindsay "Billy" Fiske III. (Born June 4, 1911 in New York City , New York ; † August 17, 1940 in Chichester , West Sussex , Great Britain ) was an American bobsledder and fighter pilot .

Fiske was born into a wealthy New York banking family who moved to France in 1924. In 1928 he attended Trinity Hall College in Cambridge when he and other Americans formed a bobsleigh team and competed at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz , Switzerland .

16-year-old Billy, believed to be fearless, was chosen to lead the five-man sled and immediately won the gold medal with his team. Billy Fiske is still the youngest American athlete to ever win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

Four years later he won another gold medal as a driver of the four-man bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , New York , where he was the flag bearer of the American team. At his own request he no longer took part in the Olympic Games of 1936, but that year and in 1938 he still won the “Grand National” on the famous Cresta Run skeleton track in St. Moritz , Switzerland .

Billy Fiske married Rose Bingham (a divorced Duchess of Warwick) in 1938 and joined the British Royal Air Force in 1939, shortly after the start of World War II . Together with other comrades, he ignored the initial neutrality of the USA and was one of the first Americans to fight in World War II.

On June 16, 1940, Billy Fiske was seriously wounded while on a mission over England ; but he still managed to land his hurricane successfully. The following day he succumbed to his injuries; he was the first American to fall in World War II.

filming

Producer Michael Mann planned the film adaptation of Billy Fiskes Leben under the title The Few (planned German title: "Above the Clouds") for 2008 . The script (based on the book by Alex Kershaw ) should have been written by John Logan . At one point in production, Tom Cruise was under discussion for the lead role.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Fiske, Billy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fiske III, William Mead Lindsey (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American bobsledder
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , NY , USA
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1940
Place of death Chichester , West Sussex, UK