Billy Fiske
| William Meade Lindsley Fiske III | |
|---|---|
Pilot Officer W.M.L. Fiske, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, (RAF photograph, c. 1940)
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| Birth name | William Meade Lindsley Fiske III |
| Nickname(s) | Billy |
| Born |
4 June 1911 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | 17 August 1940 (aged 29) Royal West Sussex Hospital, Chichester, United Kingdom |
| Buried at | St Mary and St Blaise churchyard in Boxgrove, Sussex |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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| Service/branch |
 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
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| Years of service | 23 March 1940 – 17 August 1940 |
| Rank | Acting Pilot Officer |
| Unit | No. 601 Squadron RAF |
| Battles/wars | |
| Relations | Beulah and William Fiske (Parents) Jennison Heaton (brother-in-law) |
| Olympic medal record | ||
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| Men's bobsleigh | ||
Representing the  United States
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1928 St. Moritz | Five-man |
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1932 Lake Placid | Four-man |
William Meade Lindsley "Billy" Fiske III (4 June 1911 – 17 August 1940) was the 1928 and 1932 Olympic champion bobsled driver and, following Jimmy Davies, was one of the first American pilots killed in action in World War II. At the time Fiske was serving in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was one of 11 American pilots who flew with RAF Fighter Command between 10 July and 31 October 1940, thereby qualifying for the Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939–45 campaign star.
Between his Olympic career and his military service, Fiske was instrumental in the early development of the Aspen ski resort. He and a partner built the first ski lift and lodge in the remote Colorado mountain town. Others would continue their work after the war.
Fiske was born in New York in 1911, the son of Beulah and William Fiske, a New England banking magnate. He attended school in Chicago, and then went to school in France in 1924, where he discovered the sport of bobsled at the age of 16. Fiske attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1928 where he studied Economics and History.
In 1936 Ted Ryan, an heir of Thomas Fortune Ryan, brought some photographs of mountains near Aspen, Colorado, to Fiske. They had been given to Ryan by a man trying to interest him in investing in a mining claim. Fiske and Ryan, however, saw in them ideal terrain for downhill skiing, and the ski resort the pair had been talking about establishing in the United States, similar to those in the Alps where Fiske had competed in the Olympics.
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