The Lost Airmen of the Empire memorial honours Allied Airmen who gave their lives at the Patricia Bay Air Station during the Second World War. The memorial site, Hospital Hill, was home to the medical facilities for the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Patricia Bay during the Second World War. Air Station Patricia Bay was the second largest training airbase in Western Canada. Personnel at the Air Station were trained for positions as pilots, navigators, armourers and mechanics. During this time, 177 service men and women lost their lives in training around the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Aircraft failure and pilot error resulted in air crew crashing into places such as Salt Spring Island, Mill Bay, Whitby Island, Tofino, the mountains of Vancouver Island, Patricia Bay, Satellite Channel and Active Pass, to name a few. At times, the air crew would be interred together at the location of their respective crash sites; others simply vanished and were never found.
The memorial was selected by the Victoria Airport Authority and a working group to increase the awareness of the proud military history of the airport. The names of the lost airmen were water jet cut into twenty-five Corten steel Cooper’s Hawk feathers. The Cooper’s Hawk is a predator known for its extraordinary agility in flight and ferocity in hunting. Symbolically the feathers create an allegorical narrative about the spirit of these fighting men who were training to be Canada’s airborne warriors. The eight feet high feathers were arranged chronologically in a military matrix with some removed, representing the randomness and divergent accident locations.
Victoria Sculptor Illarion Gallant completed the memorial in the Fall of 2016. It was dedicated on June 1, 2017, with over 300 people in attendance. The ceremony included a ceremonial military band complete with bagpipes and drums, and a fly past of both modern and vintage military aircraft including a PBY Canso, that actually served at Pat Bay during the war.
The approach to the memorial from the path is flanked by the original gate-posts of the hospital and a row of red maple trees on both sides. At the end of the lane is a seating area, made from salvaged bricks of the airfield’s original administration building. The central seating area holds a time capsule where community members can place sealed letters they have written to Veterans. The memorial cost was $160K.
The memorial commemorates and acknowledges the contributions and sacrifices of the 180 people who perished while at the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Patricia Bay during the Second World War. There are three civilians listed, including one who was an American citizen and resident. The public can drive to the memorial or access it from the Flight Path, a 9.3 km paved pedestrian/bike path which runs around the perimeter of the airport.
For biographies, crash details and burial sites on each of the 180 names, visit the British Columbia Aviation Museum.
