"Ack Ack" (Anti-Aircraft) Artillery

Victoria was unprepared for air attack during the First World War, and when the 2nd Anti-Aircraft battery was formed there in 1921, Canada had no anti-aircraft guns, so the unit used 13-pounder guns on a locally improvised mounting devised by Lt. J. Rycroft. A secret defence report in 1928 condemned this equipment as obsolete and noted that only two sets of height-finding equipment were available and only sometimes worked. When war came in 1939, no new anti-aircraft guns were on the west coast, but Japanese air attacks at Hong Kong, Singapore, and Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, underscored the need to defend the naval base in Esquimalt harbour. As a temporary measure, No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun Troop was rushed from Arvida, Quebec, and soon afterward the first 40mm Bofors guns manufactured in Canada were sent directly from Hamilton, Ontario, to Esquimalt Harbour and manned by 13th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery. On April 26, 1942, these guns were placed in temporary positions at Colwood, Esquimalt, and Rodd Hill, and in June 1942 all anti-aircraft units on Vancouver Island were placed under the newly formed 27th Anti-Aircraft Regiment. With the arrival of more equipment, including the 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft gun, the Victoria-Esquimalt area became well covered with anti-aircraft sites, including Tillicum, Colwood Racetrack, Pat Bay air base, the present site of the Laurel Point Inn, and many others. After the Second World War, emphasis on anti-aircraft defence increased, and several units were formed, including the 8th Anti-Aircraft Operations Room, which trained at Rodd Hill's Plotting Room between 1949 and 1954. In 1951, this unit recruited 31 women, the first women ever to serve in Canada's Reserve Force, and the regiment's connection with anti-aircraft defences ended in December 1954, when the 5th West Coast Harbour Defence Battery was formed.

British Columbia · Canada