During World War II, Boundary Bay Airport (then known as Royal Canadian Air Force Station Boundary Bay) served as a key military training and air defense base in Delta, British Columbia, Canada.
Wartime History and Role
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP): Constructed starting in 1941, the base was built to train pilots and aircrew for the war. It initially hosted No. 18 Elementary Flying Training School, where students flew De Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes.
Shift to Air Defense
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the focus shifted to coastal defense because the West Coast was considered vulnerable to Japanese attack.
No. 18 EFTS was disbanded in May 1942, and operational fighter squadrons rotated through the base to protect Vancouver and the surrounding coastline:
No. 133 Squadron (Hawker Hurricanes)
No. 14 & 132 Squadron (Curtiss Kittyhawks)
Operational Training Unit
In April 1944, No. 5 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was established at the station to train crews on heavy bombers (such as Liberators) before they moved out to detachments like Abbotsford.
Post-War Transition
The base wound down operations after the war, served as an RCAF demobilization center, and was officially decommissioned in 1946.
I knew one of the RAF members trained at Boundary Bay, my dad a navigator on the bombers.
My dad and mom would immigrate to Vancouver in 1954.
