Punch Dickins

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Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins OBE, DFC (12 January 1899 - 2 August 1995) was a pioneering aviator and bush pilot. Northern Indians called him "Snow Eagle;" northern whites called him "White Eagle;" newsmen called him the "Flying Knight of the Northland." But whatever they called him, they couldnt find enough words to do justice to his extraordinary skill as an aviator, his devotion as a father and husband and the indelible mark he left on the history of Canadian aviation and the north.

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[edit] Early Years

Clennell Haggerston Dickins was born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba and moved with his family to Edmonton, Alberta in 1909, when he was ten years old. The nickname, "Punch" came at an early age, reputted to be either when his brother, Francis, first called him Punch, according to Punch's son, John. Other reports say his maternal Aunt Nell dubbed him a fat little punch because his clothes wouldnt stay over his tummy. In interviews in later years, Dickins said he wasn't sure how he acquired the nickname, but admitted he had it longer than he could remember.

[edit] First World War

Punch went to Peace Avenue school, a temporary school. When he was 16, he enrolled in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta, but when war broke out, he quit to enlist as an infantryman in the Canadian Army. Punch was part of the 196th Western Universities Battalion where he had already served for one year as a company clerk. While in Europe, he joined the Royal Flying Corps. Punch was transferred from the 21st Reserve Unit to the RFC School of Instruction at Acton.

Punch became a bomber pilot with 211 Squadron flying from the front line base at Petit Synthe, France. Punch learned to throw the Airco DH9 "medium bomber" around and emerged as a skilled and able pilot, eventually shooting down seven enemy aircraft. Using the French system of designating a pilot with five victories as an "ace," Dickins was one of the few bomber pilots to reach that plateau. He attributed his success to having a skilled gunner, 2nd Lt. Jock Adam, but the pair of them worked as a team. Dickins and Adam would complete 73 missions by the end of the war. Punch was awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) at age 18, in 1919. The dispatch that accompanied the award noted that 2nd Lt. C.H. Dickins had completed aerial assignments under fire with "persistence and gallantry."

[edit] Inter-War Years

Punch Dickins remained in France until March 1919 before he was demobilized or released from military service. He opted to return home with elements of the Canadian Expeditionary Force returning from an expedition to Siberia. Reaching Edmonton in May, 1919, Punch tried to put his life back together. After the months of constant combat flying and confronting life-and-death over the raging battlefields, he yearned for a return to a normal existence. Enrolling briefly in engineering at the University of Alberta until he received an offer from General Motors, Punch may have left aviation forever when he received the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross in July.

By 1921, Punch applied for and was issued Commercial Air Pilot’s Certificate (No.161) as well as the Air Engineer’s Certificate (No. 213) by the Air Board. Punch Dickins returned to military service following World War I, joining the new Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924 and serving until 1927. As a celebrated veteran, Punch was welcomed into the new organization and assigned the rank of Flying Officer. One of his first duties was to prepare a report for the Edmonton Post Office on the use of aircraft as mail-carriers. As a test and demonstration pilot, he was charged with the service introduction of a new fighter, the Siskin. The lure of commercial flying soon drew Dickins into a life as a northern flier.

Leaving the military for civilian aviation, he joined Western Canada Airways. When Western Canada Airways began operating in Manitoba and Northern Ontario, one of the first pilots it hired was Punch Dickins. He piloted the first aircraft on the prairie airmail circuit of Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. Soon, he and a small legion of “bush pilots” were also establishing a new frontier- the North. His wife, "Connie," wrote a revealing account of their life in the north, I Married a Bush Pilot.

Punch Dickins became a legend in the Arctic; flying more than 1,000,000 miles across the uncharted north, often in treacherous weather conditions. Flying over northern Canada was a daunting task, with few landing strips, unreliable weather repporting and navigation aids nearly useless as flying so close to the magnetic north pole made compass navigation unreliable. Punch, like many other pioneering bush pilots, used dead reckoning and hand-drawn maps to plot his way across the north of Canada.

Punch Dickins was responsible for a number of landmark flights. He flew one of the first aerial surveys of Canada in 1928 in a Fokker Super universal (G-CASK). On 23 January 1929, Dickins delivered the first airmail to the Northwest Territories. Despite this early success, Western Canadian lost the government airmail contract to Commercial Airways which had its own famous bush pilot in Wop May. He was the first pilot to fly along the Arctic coastline, the first to fly over the Barren Lands in the Northwest Territories, and the first to fly the full length of the Mackenzie River, a distance of 2,000 miles which he covered in 2 days. In 1930, he flew the first prospectors into Great Bear Lake where they discovered uranium, later required for the Manhattan Project. In 1936, Punch conducted a 10,000 mile air survey of northern Canada.

[edit] Second World War

Prior to the Second World War, Dickins became a general superintendent for CPR airline division. When war came, Punch Dickins again entered the military, this time as the head of the Atlantic Ferry Command which flew desperately needed combat aircraft to Britain during the early years of the war. After 1942, Dickins emerged as one of the leading exponents of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. His involvement was one of the reasons why the organization was able to train many thousands of combat fliers in Canada. Punch also managed six flight training schools. He would finish the war years as a vice-president of Canadian Pacific Airlines before joining de Havilland Canada Aircraft.

[edit] Post World War II

In 1946, de Havilland (Canada) company surveyed some 80 veteran Canadian bush pilots to determine the exact specifications of a future utility transport for use in northern and arctic conditions. Punch actively participated in the survey and provided input ranging from specifying an all metal airframe, location of the battery removal hatch to providing doors on both sides of the fuselage for ease of docking. After consultation with company executives, Punch Dickins enthusiatically joined the de Havilland Aircraft Company as a consultant. His expertise in the aviation world was called upon as the post-war design of the Chipmunk trainer came into fruition as a production aircraft. In 1947, as Director of Sales of de Havilland Canada, Punch was instrumental in launching the Beaver bushplane[1].

Perhaps the greatest legacy to bush flying that Punch Dickins has left is his contribution to the remarkable family of de Havilland Canada STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft that have become the world leaders in this field. The DHC series of light transport aircraft for use in the north were heavily influenced by Punch Dickin’s experience as a bush pilot. The rugged little Beaver and its offspring: the Otter, Twin Otter, Caribou, Buffalo and Dash 7 aircraft have been employed world-wide in conditions as harsh and varied as tropical jungles and Antarctic expeditions.

C-FGYN Adlair Aviation Ltd. de Havilland Beaver (DHC2) Mk.I on floats
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C-FGYN Adlair Aviation Ltd. de Havilland Beaver (DHC2) Mk.I on floats

Punch Dickins continued with De Havilland Canada for many years, becoming their greatest sales agent. He travelled all over the world and was responsible for thousands of sales both in civil and military markets.

[edit] Honours and legacy

Near the end of his career, Punch Dickins was honoured as a pioneer of Canada’s rich aviation heritage. He received many awards and was named by the government as one of the most outstanding Canadians in this nation's first century. In the North, which he so loved, Punch was christened "The Snow Eagle" and "Canada's Sky Explorer."

Punch Dickins was the second recipient of the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy in 1928. He was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968, and the Government of Canada named him one of the most outstanding Canadians of the country's first century. He was also a co-founder of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame and was inducted as a member in 1974. Punch Dickins flew until he was 78 years old. His passing in Toronto, Ontario in 1995 marked one of the last of many World War I pilots that had shaped aviation in Canada.

Following his death, his ashes were scattered by his son John from an aircraft along the MacKenzie River. The aircraft was flown by another legendary bush pilot, Max Ward. Punch Dickins left behind an amazing legacy, not only in the many aircraft that he had designed or contributed to their design but also in creating the archetype of the bush pilot. Today the modern counterpart to those early heroes of the sky still ply their trade in the harsh and unforgiving vastness of the Arctic.

A neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta was named Dickinsfield in honor of Punch Dickins.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beaver One, Canadian Museum of Flight

[edit] External links

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