Billy Fiske 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 . Early life . 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 . Fiske and Ryan visited Aspen , then a faded mining town decades removed from its boomtown years in the 1880s . Many of the abandoned properties around town were available for very low prices . Fiske bought an option on one , and he and Ryan had blueprints drawn up for a ski lodge . For the next season , they hired guides , including Swiss ski champion André Roch , then studying at Reed College in Oregon . The lodge opened at the end of 1937 , and a few weeks later the Boat Tow , an early ski lift , opened . These events are considered the beginning of skiing in Aspen . Fiske then worked at the London office of Dillon , Reed & Co , the New York bankers . On 8 September 1938 , Fiske married Rose Bingham , Countess of Warwick , in Maidenhead . Bobsled career . In 1928 , as driver of the first five - man US Bobsled team to win the Olympics , Fiske became the youngest gold medalist in any winter sport ( he was not eclipsed until 1992 by Toni Nieminen ) , aged just 16 years at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St . Moritz , Switzerland . His American team - mates were Geoffrey Mason , Nion Tucker , Clifford Grey and Richard Parke . Fiske competed again at the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid , New York , USA , where he was given the honour of carrying the flag for the United States at the opening ceremony . The format of the race was altered to a four - man team , but again Fiske and his team - mates , Clifford Grey , Eddie Eagan , and Jay O ' Brien took gold . Fiske was invited , but declined to lead the bobsled team in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch - Partenkirchen in Germany . It is believed by some that this decision was due to his disagreeing with the politics in Germany at the time , which may also explain his later decision to join the War - effort in 1940 . Fiske was also a Cresta Champion , and was well known for jumps from the Badrutt ' s Palace Hotel ' s bar chandelier in St . Moritz . World War II . Shortly before the outbreak of World War II , Fiske was recalled to the New York offices of Dillon , Reed & Co , but on 30 August 1939 he returned to England aboard the " Aquitania " accompanying a bank colleague who was also a member of No . 601 ( County of London ) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron . Fiske was one of seven US aircrew personnel who fought in the Battle of Britain , although due to the neutrality of the United States , Fiske pretended to be a Canadian . He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was promoted to the rank of Pilot Officer on 23 March 1940 . Fiske undertook his flying training at No . 10 Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Yatesbury , Wiltshire , before moving to RAF Brize Norton , Oxfordshire , for advanced flying training . As an American citizen , he " duly pledged his life and loyalty to the king , George VI , " and was formally admitted into the RAF . In his diary , a joyous Fiske wrote , " I believe I can lay claim to being the first U . S . citizen to join the RAF in England after the outbreak of hostilities . " On 12 July 1940 , Fiske joined No . 601 Squadron RAF at RAF Tangmere , West Sussex , the so - called " Millionaires ' Squadron " , carrying out his first sorties with the squadron on 20 July , when he flew two patrols . On 16 August 1940 , in the midst of the Battle of Britain , No . 601 Squadron RAF were scrambled to intercept a squadron of German dive - bombers . Fiske was flying a Hawker Hurricane - code number P3358 . The Squadron destroyed eight Junkers Ju 87 Stukas , but after just 15 minutes of flying time , a German gunner put a bullet through Fiske ’ s fuel tank . With his aircraft badly damaged and his hands and ankles burnt , instead of bailing out , Fiske nursed his Hurricane home , gliding over a hedgerow to the airfield . Although he landed his aircraft safely back at Tangmere , Fiske had to be extracted from the aircraft by ambulance attendants . Shortly after , his fuel tank exploded . Fiske was taken to Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester for treatment , but he died 48 hours later from surgical shock . Fiske was 29 years old . Fiske ' s funeral took place on 20 August 1940 . Six members of Tangmere ' s ground staff carried Fiske to his final resting place . As his coffin , covered in the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes , was borne on a bier to Boxgrove Priory Church and buried . Of Fiske ' s role in the Battle of Britain , Bill Bond , founder of the Battle of Britain Historical Society , wrote : Fiske ' s Flight Commander , Sir Archibald Hope , added : Memorials and tributes . Fiske is buried in St Mary and St Blaise churchyard in Boxgrove , Sussex . The inscription on his gravestone reads simply : " He died for England " . The funeral was publicized for propaganda purposes . A memorial stained glass window was dedicated to him on 17 September 2008 at Boxgrove Priory . At the dedication service , a number of former colleagues attended and his green Bentley was on display . Fiske is listed on the Battle of Britain Monument in London and the Battle of Britain Memorial , Capel - le - Ferne . On 4 July 1941 , a plaque was unveiled in the crypt of St Paul ' s Cathedral , London . The inscription reads : " An American citizen who died that England might live " . The decision to unveil this plaque on American Independence Day was probably a political one ; the United States had not officially joined the war and the British Prime Minister , Winston Churchill , was keen to popularise Fiske ' s story . The plaque was unveiled by Sir Archibald Sinclair , the Secretary of State for Air . He said at the ceremony : " " Here was a young man for whom life held much . Under no kind of compulsion he came to fight for Britain . He came and he fought and he died . " " Other tributes to Fiske include a memorial tablet dedicated to him in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine , New York . The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation also created the " Billy Fiske Memorial Trophy " as a posthumous tribute to him . The trophy is awarded to the national champion four - man bobsled team each year . In addition to a 2005 documentary ( " American Warrior : Billy Fiske " ) , Red Valley Productions performed a new play based on his life called " Billy Fiske : King of Speed " at the Alexandra Theatre , Bognor Regis from 20 – 25 July 2010 .