[3] He began his aviation training at Mohawk, Canada, in September 1917, and was subsequently stationed at Taliaferro Field, Texas, from November 1917 to January 1918.

[3] In November 1921, Bissell was ordered to Washington for duty in the office of the Chief of the Air Service, as assistant to Brigadier General William Mitchell, serving in that capacity for four years.

[5] In January 1924, he was detailed as advanced agent for the round-the-world flight in British Columbia, Alaska, the Aleutians, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces.

[8] In May 1946, he became military attaché to Great Britain,[5] and in October 1948, returned to the United States, where he was assigned to the officers' pool at Bolling Air Force Base, D.C.[3] The following month he was transferred to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with station at Wiesbaden, Germany, where he remained until he returned to the United States in April 1950, for an assignment to Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C.[9] He retired on October 31, 1950 at the rank of Major General[10] immediately after a hospital stay[11][12] following a 72-day whirlwind European vacation.

Bissell once tried to intimidate the Flying Tigers into staying in service by claiming that if they left, as soon as they got back to the United States they'd be drafted into the US Army as privates.

Throughout Bissell's tenure in India, Chennault complained of broken promises about planes, flyers, spare parts and supplies.

To resolve the personal animosity, Stilwell ultimately agreed to have Bissell removed from the China Burma India Theater.

In his role as General George Marshall's assistant chief of staff for intelligence, he is known for having ordered the suppression of evidence that the Soviets were responsible for the Katyn massacre of Polish officers.

[15] While a prisoner of the Germans, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel John H. Van Vliet [de] spent some time at the site of the Katyn massacre, and concluded from what he saw that the Soviets were responsible for the atrocity.

On May 22, 1945, immediately upon his arrival in Washington, D.C., after being freed from captivity, Van Vliet filed a personal report with Bissell indicating what he had found.

[16] When called to account for his actions before a Congressional Committee investigating Katyn in February 1952, Bissell contended that he was merely carrying out the spirit of the Yalta Conference.