Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport plaque, 2024.  

Plaque Text

Opening in 1939 to take advantage of the rise in commercial aviation, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport was built to integrate an aircraft terminal with a modern port.

The Advisory Airport Committee, led by the First World War flying ace William "Billy" Bishop, began to investigate locations for the city's main airport. On August 8, 1935, Toronto City Council approved construction of an airport on the site of a former
amusement park at Hanlan's Point.

Completed in 1939 by the Toronto Harbour Commission, the airport began operations under the name Port George VI Island Airport. It had two runways, several taxiways, a wood-frame terminal building, and facilities to accommodate planes designed to land on the water.

On February 4, 1939, H.F. McLean, in a Stinson SR-9F Reliant, piloted the first flight to land at the new airport. The first commercial flight carried Tommy Dorsey and his swing band from New York on September 8, 1939.

During the Second World War, the Island Airport became a training base for the Royal Norwegian Air Force, and later, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Regular airport operations resumed in 1946.

In recognition of the flying ace's 72 credited victories and service in the airforce, the airport was renamed Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in 2009.