Before he became an aviation pioneer in New Zealand, Captain Euan Dickson lived an action-packed and perilous life during the First World War.
He was born in Sheffield, England in 1892 and moved to New Zealand in 1912 as an engineer for A & G Price in Thames. But when the war began to intensify in 1916, he sailed back to Britain to enlist in the Royal Naval Air Service (later the RAF). Before long he was in the cockpit of the legendary Airco DH.4 day bomber.
Flying out of bases near Dunkirk, Dickson completed over 175 daylight bombing raids against German airfields, railway junctions, and naval bases across occupied Belgium, leading more than 100 of them. This was a hazardous calling: nicknamed the “Flying Coffin” due to its exposed fuel tank, positioned directly between the pilot and gunner, Dickson not only unflinchingly completed his bombing missions, but turned his bomber into a lethal defensive weapon. With the help of his observers, he was credited with destroying or shooting down 14 enemy aircraft. It was an astounding feat for a bomber pilot.
Dickson’s courage was legendary. In March, 1918, seeing an Allied plane swarmed by 12 fighters, Dickson turned his aircraft directly into the enemy formation and charged them, despite running entirely out of ammunition. He effectively scattered the attackers and saved his comrade’s life.
He also notably survived dogfights against Germany’s most elite aerial units, including being shot down in combat by Manfred von Richthofen’s famed “Red Squadron” (the Red Baron’s unit). Dickson survived the crash and returned to the skies, eventually becoming one of only three original pilots in his squadron to survive the war.
For his daring service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) & Bar, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) & Bar, and the French Croix de Guerre.
After returning to New Zealand in 1919, he took up the post of Chief Flying Instructor for Sir Henry Wigram’s Canterbury Aviation Company at Sockburn (later Wigram Aerodrome). He had brought four Avro 504K biplanes with him and immediately began pushing the boundaries of New Zealand aviation. On August 25 1920, he took off from from Christchurch in his Avro, battling severe headwinds and refuelling in paddocks along the Kaikōura coast and Blenheim, finally braving the unpredictable Cook Strait. Flying over Wellington at 3,500 feet, he surprised city crowds and MPs spilling out of Parliament before touching down at Trentham, thus completing the first successful aerial crossing of Cook Strait.
Captain Euan Dickson, Mr C.H. Hewlett and Mr J.E. Moore
AEPK W2774 19953 Box 1 35 (R11174482)
collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search#/?q=11174482
In 1921, Dickson made another first, flight New Zealand’s inaugural scheduled air mail service between Christchurch and Timaru. He was also among the first pilots to fly scenic circuits around Aoraki / Mount Cook.
Dickson later settled in Auckland, where he built a successful career in the automotive and coachbuilding industry before passing away on March 10 1980 at the age of 87.
He was cremated at Purewa and his ashes scattered to rest on our lawn. He is memorialised in the Book of Remembrance.
Euan Dickson
Aged 87
Cremated and Scattered at Purewa
Entry in the Book of Remembrance
