Canadian Forces Station Ladner

Canadian Forces Station Ladner is a former military airfield and communications station located beside Boundary Bay and 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) east of Ladner in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, south of Vancouver and close to the U.S. border.

18 EFTS) was the first unit established at the newly created Royal Canadian Air Force Station Boundary Bay.

18 EFTS was disbanded as a direct result of the attack on the American Naval station at Pearl Harbor.

5 OTU was created for the purpose of training Commonwealth crews to fly the American-built Consolidated Liberator.

By 1944 the Royal Air Force had decided to increase bombing operations in southeast Asia and the Pacific and the bomber of choice was the B-24.

Boundary Bay was chosen because of its close proximity to the mountains and ocean which, it was believed, helped to create similar flying conditions that would be found in the future theater of operations.

RCAF Boundary Bay's last official function of the war was to act as a demobilization centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The aerodrome was listed with three runways as follows:[3] The site was left unused until it was transferred to Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in 1949.

Re-established as the Vancouver Wireless Station call sign WVS, the site operated radio equipment for communication and gathering signals intelligence.

The Vancouver Wireless Station had facilities much like other post-war bases, including singles quarters, 150 permanent married quarters, dining halls and messes, a Medical Inspection Room, administration building, gymnasium with a sport field with 2 ball diamonds and tennis courts, a chapel, woodworking and automotive shops, a grocery store (later CANEX), engineering and transport sections and a fire hall.

Following the closure of the base, the site was used by the community of Ladner for picnics, public fairs and auto racing.