"Billy Bishop" backstory

You might have heard or read something last week about the idea of renaming the “Toronto City Centre Airport” the “Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport”. Here’s the backstory, without breaching any confidences.

Four years ago, Toronto’s downtown airport was practically ignored by commercial operators. Have things changed. So far this year, about 500,000 passengers have been through the airport, and the time seemed ripe to come up with a name that would strike a chord with the travelling public. “Port George VI Island Airport” hadn’t stuck. Nor had the “Toronto City Centre Airport”.

As Canada’s greatest air ‘ace’, William Avery “Billy” Bishop, VC is a Canadian hero for the ages, and his ties to the airport and harbour are strong. After the First World War, Mr. Bishop and another Victoria Cross recipient, Billy Barker, ran a flight service from the Toronto harbour to Ontario’s cottage country. During the Second World War, Mr. Bishop helped recruit soldiers at the newly built Port George VI Island Airport, and flew military aircraft in and out of what would become the TCCA.

This is Canada’s 100th year of powered flight, and we thought “The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport” moniker would recognize both the past and the future of Toronto’s downtown airport.

Naturally, the first two steps were to i) check the name, and ii) find and speak with Air Marshal Bishop’s family.

A Google search turned up a simple reality. The recreational airport in Owen Sound is called the “Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport”; the airport is owned by the municipality. With a population of 22,000, Owen Sound is one of those wonderful places that makes Ontario the great province that it is. Unfortunately, according to a local newspaper story from earlier this summer, Owen Sound’s airport was going through a strategic review. It loses money, which Council wants to stop, and it needs $2.6 million of repairs over the next few years. This City review might lead to the sale (or closure) of the site (this from a summer edition of The Owen Sound Sun Times):

This spring the city struck an airport review committee composed of three airport users and three city employees, including city manager Jim Harrold, to investigate the city’s options for the airport. They include selling or leasing the facility, partnering with another party, such as a college aviation program, or running it as a co-operative.

“We are in a state of flux with the airport and we’re trying to look at every option that is available to us. Council gave clear direction that we needed to make sure we’re running a facility that isn’t draining the taxpayers’ money the way it was beginning to seem to be,” said Lovell Stanners.

Ok. Although the name “Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport” is taken, the airport might be on the chopping block. Wouldn’t it be a shame to name TCCA something else, only to find that when the $2.6MM repair bill is considered, the Owen Sound site winds up in a different form. As for “name confusion”, any pilot will tell you that if someone is going to confuse Owen Sound with Toronto (or Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport with Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport), they shouldn’t be flying an airplane.

Buttonville is actually called Toronto-Buttonville Municipal Airport. Sounds close to Toronto Pearson International Airport, doesn’t it?!?! How many pilots have mixed those two up?

Naturally, the next thing to do was formally write to the Mayor of Owen Sound and i) advise her of the potential idea of changing TCCA’s name, ii) take her pulse on how her constituents would feel. Pure courtesy at work, not the desire to seek permission for something that wasn’t their’s to provide. Unfortunately, attempts to arrange a call over a period of a couple of weeks were met with the reality of her overseas summer holiday.

The response from Mr. Bishop’s family (his son is a vibrant 86 year old) was quick and exuberant. An honour, they thought. A call to the Billy Bishop Museum in Owen Sound generated their support to commemorate Mr. Bishop’s life in some lasting way down at the current TCCA site, should the name change go ahead.

When I met Arthur Bishop in person, he told me some wonderful tales of his Father’s three decade connection to the Toronto harbour and the then Port George VI Island Airport. After WWI, Billy Bishop moved to Toronto and spent much of his time with Billy Barker. Barker was a fantastic pilot who was awarded a Victoria Cross for surviving (and dispatching) five different “duels” during a single flight. Post WWII, both Bishops flew military aircraft out of the airport. Spitfires, in the case of the younger Bishop.

The day before the annoucement, the Owen Sound Mayor returned home. She wanted to know the status of the idea, and let me know that the Globe and Mail had called her and she’d had some fun at Toronto’s expense.

I described to her the reality: no one wanted to put the elected officials of Owen Sound in a position of 1) having to vote in favour of the idea, or 2) having to oppose the honour. In the case of #1, one would understand local politics well enough to know that the perception of “giving up” something would make it impossible for the Town Council to vote in favour of the idea. While in the case of 2) as Mr. Bishop’s family loved the idea, and the BB Museum saw it as a way to draw attention to their site in Owen Sound, it would be unthinkable for Owen Sound’s elected officials to publicly go against the wishes of Mr. Bishop’s son.

It is his family name, after all.

In the end, it comes down to a simple judgment call. Pilots won’t be confused, and since there are no commercial services flying into Owen Sound, the urban myth of people going to Sydney, Nova Scotia when they thought they were flying to Sydney, Australia won’t be repeated here.

When you stand in the departure lounge in Frankfurt, the screen telling you what time you flight is leaving says “Toronto”. It doesn’t say “Pearson”. Names are relevant to the locals. In places like Ottawa, for example: for a Porter flight, the screen with continue to read “Toronto City”, versus “Toronto Pearson” and nothing else. But, in a land that doesn’t do enough to celebrate 200 years of military bravery dating back to the War of 1812 (if not before), Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is the right thing to do.

It might be just one person’s name, but it reflects the entire generation of people who fought during World War I, giving Canada its independence and global identity.

MRM
(disclosure – this blog, as always, reflects a personal opinion and in no way represents the views of the TPA, its Board/Staff or the federal government)