In January 1936, Bishop was appointed the first Canadian air vice-marshal. Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, he was promoted to the rank of Air marshal in the Royal Canadian Air Force. In January 1940 he was appointed Director of Recruiting for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was so successful in this role that many applicants had to be turned away. Bishop created a system for training pilots across Canada and became instrumental in setting up and promoting the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, which trained over 167,000 airmen in Canada during the Second World War. In 1942, he appeared as himself in the film "Captains of the Clouds", a Hollywood tribute to the RCAF.