During World War I, William Tipton became an Air ACE credited with 5 victories (4 airplanes and 1 balloon) in aerial combat. He was shot down and captured by the Germans on August 22, 1918, and was held as a Prisoner of War until the Armistice on November 11. He served as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, and was killed in a P-47 accident at Adena, Ohio, on December 12, 1945.