Air Commodore Alan Duncan Bell-Irving began his military aviation career as a Canadian flying ace in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. He served in the RCAF during World War II.Bell-Irving was originally assigned as an observer/gunner. He was shot down during September 1915 but escaped unscathed. In December, he was wounded in action. After becoming a pilot, he was assigned to 60 Squadron and shot down his first enemy plane on his twenty-second birthday, 28 August 1916.