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Bell Irving Street is named after Alan Duncan Bell-Irving.
Photo by Florence Gordon
Richmond street names: Bell Irving Street
By Issac Zhao
Published 2:34 PDT, Wed August 31, 2022
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Air Commodore Alan Duncan Bell-Irving was a First World War flying ace. Bell Irving Street, a small road on Sea Island, is named after him.
Bell-Irving had seven aerial victories during his time with the British Royal Flying Corps. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Bell-Irving was born on Aug. 28, 1894 in Vancouver. He was later sent to the same boarding school in Scotland attended by his father and brothers. At boarding school, he served in the Officers Training Corps.
In 1914 he enlisted in the military, as did all five of his brothers. That year, Bell-Irving was stationed in the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), and the following year he became a second lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. In 1915, Bell-Irving served with the Royal Flying Corps and was wounded in action in December.
In 1916 he trained as a pilot and was tasked with flying a single-seater plane in France. He was awarded the Military Cross after shooting down an enemy observation balloon.
He became an ace in September 1916, after shooting down his fifth enemy aircraft during aerial combat. He was shot down but unwounded in October, but in November 2016 he was shot down by a German flying ace and seriously injured, marking the end of his active combat career.
He was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross in 1917 as well as the Croix de Guerre, a French military decoration.
Too injured for further front line duties, Bell-Irving worked at the School of Special Flying in England. He returned to Vancouver and married Mary Falconer in 1919.
During the Second World War, he was the commanding officer of the No. 1 Bombing and Gunnery School and later the RCAF Central Flying School, both in Ontario.
He helped form the first Air Cadet Squadron in Canada, which still parades as the 111 Pegasus Squadron in Vancouver. One Royal Canadian Air Cadets squadron bears his name.
Bell-Irving died in 1965, aged 70, and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver.
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