Edward Bishop was one of my classmates in Class 44H at Tuskegee Army airfield. Bishop was our class leader and being that we were the upper-class he was the Cadet Capt. Bishop was a model soldier, in his dress, his appearance and in his performance. That summer, I don’t remember, if was in July or August, we were scheduled for a night cross-country. The only thing I remember about that cross-country was that we were to fly over Atlanta and then turn to fly to Tuskegee. We were practicing following light lines, which was a form of navigation then. They did caution us before the flight that on making the turn at Atlanta we should pick up a heading first, and then as the lights around Atlanta diminished, we would be able to pick up the light line.

Apparently Bishop took the wrong light line out of Atlanta and headed more westerly rather than somewhat southwesterly. He apparently became lost and after some time ran out of fuel and bailed out. It was at night so he could not make a forced landing. Bishop appeared before a flying evaluation board, which recommended his elimination from the program. However Bishop was reinstated and continued in the flying program. The day before graduation we heard that Bishop was again eliminated from the program. We received no details and I did not see Bishop anymore at Tuskegee.

Sincerely,
Tuskegee Airman Lt Col George Hardy

It appears that Edward Bishop did not graduate from advanced flight training at Tuskegee Army Air Field, and that the photograph was taken before graduation, since there were 23 who graduated in the single engine class 44-H, and Bishop is not listed among them.