Researching William Bond

Bond was wounded while serving in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Dardanelles in 1916. After transferring to the Royal Flying Corps, Bond was posted to fly Nieuport fighters in No. 40 Squadron in early 1917. He flew Nieuport No. B1545 to five victories in a month, beginning on 10 May and ending on 9 June 1917.

He was appointed flight commander in July. On the 22nd, he was killed in action over Sallaumines while flying Nieuport No. B1688. Cause of his death is disputed; he is said to have either fallen to the guns of a two-seater observation plane from FA 235, or to anti-aircraft fire.

After his death, his wife Aimee (later Aimée Stuart) wrote An Airman's Wife about him.

Bond was born in 1884 in Brownsville, Tennessee to Judge John Rascoe and Jennie (née Taylor) Bond. He attended schools in Brownsville before attending Bethel College and Vanderbilt University, graduating from the latter in 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He taught school and studied law at the Cumberland School of Law before opening up a law practice in Haywood County in 1910. Bond was elected as a Democrat to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1917 to represent Haywood County. He served in that capacity until 1921, when he was elected to the Tennessee Senate, this time representing Haywood and Fayette County (21st District). During his term in the senate, from 1921 to 1923, Bond was also selected to serve as speaker which he served until the completion of his term in 1923.

Bond married Rosa Montedonico of Italy on February 28, 1916. He had four children with her, Rosa, in 1918, William West, Jr. in 1919, Emanuel "Monte", in 1923 and Aurelia, in 1927. He was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and was active in the freemasons organization. Bond died in May 1975 in Brownsville and he is interred in Oakwood Cemetery in that same city. His wife, Rosa died in 1982.

He was born in Petersburg, Virginia, the second son of Thomas Baker and Mary (Langhorne) Bond. After completing high school in 1911 he joined a heavy construction company. When the United States entered World War I, he volunteered for the Army, joining a Virginia National Guard unit. He completed officer training while serving in Europe and demobilized with the rank of lieutenant in 1919.

He resumed working in the civil construction industry until contacted by George Conrad Westervelt of Curtis Aviation, (soon to become Curtiss-Wright Corporation) in 1929 to manage construction of a new aircraft factory in Baltimore. The plant was completed but due to the Black Tuesday stock market crash of 1929 the facility stayed idle.