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William “Billy” Fiske, a former bodsled Olympian, was one of the few Americans to fly during the Battle of Britain. Fiske, who had become an Anglophile while studying at Cambridge prior to the war, pretended to be Canadian in order to join the RAF. From July 20, 1940 until his death on August 17, 1940, Fisk flew 42 sorties and claimed three Messerschmitt Bf 110s. He was one of the first American pilots KIA during World War II and is commemorated on a plaque in St Paul’s Cathedral in London with the words, “An American Citizen, Who Died That England Might Live”. (Getty Images)
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