Hello, it is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the upcoming shutdown of Vintage Air Photos. My hosting provider has increased rates for storage and the very large images this website uses now cost more in a month than the website makes per year. I will try to keep the website up for several more weeks but I imagine Vintage Air Photos will go offline mid-October. If there are any images you would like to keep viewing, now would probably be a good time to make a purchase. Thanks for all the views over the years.
This is a higher altitude shot of the area east of Mission during the big flood of 1948. The flood affected Nicomen Island, Deroche, Dewdney, Dewdney Peninsula, Hatzic and Mission Flats. A total of 13,135 acres of agricultural land were flooded by the Fraser with 514 houses lost to flood waters.
This is a higher altitude shot of Fort Langley during the big flood of the Fraser River in 1948. Water completely surrounded the city and Fort Langley was cut off from the rest of the world for almost two weeks.
This is the Queensborough area of New Westminster from 1950. To help you get your bearings, the photo was taken from the Queensborough side looking North-West back towards New Westminster. Ten years after this photo, the saw mills were replaced by the Queensborough Bridge.
This is the city of Mission from 1947. No Mission Bridge yet. That wasn’t completed until 1973. Before then, people used to drive across the train bridge to get from Abbotsford to Mission. Check out the line of cars doing just that…
In 1948, a cool spring and warm summer led to a sudden melting of the winter snow pack that caused major flooding throughout the Lower Mainland. On June 3rd the Hatzic dyke, just east of Mission, gave way.
This is New Westminster overlooking Poplar Island and the site of the Scott Paper mill. In 1946, when this picture was taken, it was still called the Alaska Pine Company. You can also make out 6th Ave and 12th street.
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