Bott then trained as a pilot, being appointed a flying officer on 1 June 1917. Posted to No. 111 Squadron RFC stationed in the Sinai Desert, he was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 22 December. Flying the Nieuport 23 "bis" No. B3995 he destroyed two enemy reconnaissance aircraft on 14 and 15 April 1918, but on 22 April he was shot down and taken prisoner by the Turks. Taken to Constantinople by train, Bott, accompanied by Captain Thomas W. White of the Australian Flying Corps, who had been captured in November 1915, escaped and travelled by ship to Odessa, Ukraine, then to Varna, Bulgaria, and overland to Salonika, Greece, arriving there just as the armistice was declared. He was later awarded a Bar to his Military Cross "in recognition of gallantry in escaping from captivity". Bott left the RAF after the war, being transferred to the unemployed list on 18 February 1919.