William Bishop

William Bishop is the leader of the NATO 108th Task Force, and one of the main characters of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. A flight veteran with many years of experience, he is a Lieutentant Colonel of the United States Air Force, and the flight commander of the Warwolf Squadron.

Biography
Bishop was born in the United States in 1979.

Some time in his life, most likely in the 2000s, Bishop was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and became a test pilot for new aircraft. In the middle of a normal test mission, William found himself daydreaming, drifting back to his first days in Bosnia. During his time as a test pilot, he was often hounded by his flight commander.

East Africa insurgence
Years after his time as a test pilot, Bishop returned to his ordinary roles in the USAF, now leading the Warwolf Squadron. In 2015, an anti-government insurgency known as the SRN mounted an offensive throughout East Africa, their sheer strength forcing the local governments to call the United Nations for help, who in turn called upon NATO. In response to the situation, NATO commissioned the formation of the 108th Task Force, a multinational special forces group led by French-born general Pierre La Pointe, whom Bishop was in good terms with. Some time that same year, Bishop and the members of the 108th boarded a US Navy aircraft carrier and sailed towards East Africa, preparing to settle down in a NATO airbase. One morning, William suffered a nightmare, wherein he and the Warwolf Squadron was defending the city of Miami from an SRN attack, led by former Russian Air Force colonel Andrei Markov, known as "the Shark". After taking down the final invading squadron, Akula hits Bishop with a missile head-on, forcing the latter to eject from his F-22A. The dream ends with Markov smashing into a helpless William, as José Gutierrez, Bishop's wingman, knocks into his room's door, waking up completely sweaty as a result of his dream.

Characteristics and personality
A veteran in the United States Air Force, William Bishop is the leader of the NATO-employed 108th Task Force, and the flight leader of said unit's Warwolf Squadron. His calmness under heavy stressful situations, alongside his experience and his combat skill have earned him the respect of the 108th's other members.

Trivia

 * Bishop was first shown with a little facial hair, but it was later removed because facial hair is forbidden in the USAF. The same counts for his wingman, José Gutierrez.
 * According to Jim DeFelice in his official site, Bishop is partly based on an F-105 Thunderchief pilot he knew from Vietnam, whom he would often share stories with. As well, he states that he drew a "mental image" of Bishop from Bruce Willis's role in "Tears of the Sun".
 * Bishop is the first player character in the Ace Combat series whose face has been unambiguously revealed. All previous player characters were (if depicted at all) always shown either with an object obscuring their face (e.g. Chopper's elbow concealing Blaze's face on their photo) or with their flying helmets on (e.g. Mobius One in the final cutscene of AC04).
 * Bishop is the second first player character that speaks, second to Ace Combat 2's Scarface One.
 * The description of The Last Ace in Amazon explains that Bishop has fought through three wars in his life. The first war described is the Bosnian War, but the other two are not mentioned. In Assault Horizon's "Nightmare", Guts's dialogue implies that Bishop also saw action in the Iraq War, confirmed by The Last Ace. The third war, discovered only by reading one small section of said book, takes place in Libya, though it might not be the Libyan uprising in the Arab Spring.
 * The cutscene where Bishop and Markov make a head-on pass is most likely a reference to when Cipher and Pixy  make a head-on pass in last mission of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.