The advancements of the BCATP would fall on the shoulders of well-known Canadian World War I ace Billy Bishop. His plan was to gain access to the quickly advancing American aviation industry for BCATP. There was a major impasse: "American Neutrality". This resulted in Bishop contacting his friend Clayton Knight. Knight had many connections in American aviation circles. The committee was responsible for 10,000+ American enlistments in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) before December 7, 1941, the date of the Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.