RCAF Pat Bay Memorial
The Royal Canadian Air Force Pat Bay memorial plaque is mounted on a rock to the left of the visitor entrance of the BC Aviation Museum. It was erected and dedicated by the Aircrew Association, Vancouver Island Branch and unveiled on May 19th 1994 by His Honour the Honourable David. C. Lam, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. The plaque is in memory of the 15 units that served at Patricia Bay in the years 1939-1945. These included operational squadrons flying coastal patrols, and RCAF
The idea of the plaque originated with retired Air Canada Captain W.L. (Bill) Marr, AFC, and was financed by Air Canada Captain R.W. (Bob) Macrae, AFC. They were students on the first course run in August 1940 at #8 Elementary Flying Training School, Sea Island (Vancouver) under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).
In his later capacity as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the British Columbia Aviation Council, Marr proposed placing plaques at various wartime airport sites. The first project was Sea Island Airport in Vancouver and this was the second. Stu Meikle, a member of the Aircrew Association, secured the site and the stone on which the plaque was placed.
The Aircrew Association was formed in 1977 to foster comradeship amongst those who had operated military aircraft in service of the UK, the Commonwealth and their allies. Vancouver Island was one of the branches in Canada.The majority of the members were aircrew from WWII. Over the years, the membership declined and the central Aircrew Association disbanded in 2011; the Vancouver Island branch continued independently for almost 10 more years. The archives of the branch are preserved at the BC Aviation Museum.