Billy Bishop goes to war follows the career and exploits of William A. Bishop, a young Canadian from Owen Sound, Ontario, who won fame and glory as a fighter pilot in World War I. The play creates a remarkably vivid portrait of a young man and his times as he relives his days at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, through his first bumbling attempts and later triumphs with the Royal Flying Corps, and into his twilight years with the Recruitment Drives of World War II.