BERTRAM DICKSON
1873-1913
 
 
 
 
Bertram Dickson
from
Webshots News
 

 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
via email from Pete Jones, 7-1-07
Hello Ralph,
      I want to alert you to an early aviator called Bertram Dickson. He was born December 21 1873 in Edinburgh, Scotland and died September 29, 1913 at Lochrosque Castle Scotland. Dickson was a Captain in the British Army but left the army when aeroplanes became popular about 1909. Dickson's claim to fame in early aviation is being involved in the world's first mid-air collision during an air meet in Milan Italy on October 2 1910. The Farman biplane he was flying was rammed from above by René Thomas flying an Antoinette monoplane. Dickson survived the crash but didn't fully recover his injuries which led to his early death in 1913. In 1911 he fully saw the need for Britain to have a military flying organisation and went to lengths to impress Home Secretary Winston Churchill. Churchill as it turned out was a flying enthusiast and in 1912 the Royal Flying Corps was formed which in time became the Royal Air Force. These are just some of the things in flying Captain Bertram Dickson accomplished during his short aviation career. Pictures and other information on Bertram Dickson, such as a great photo of his burial site in Scotland, can be found on the following outstanding website:

Captain Bertram Dickson
Undiscovered Scotland: The Ultimate Online Guide
 

 
 
 
 
Bertram Dickson
Bertram Dickson flying at Tours in France during the
Aéro-Club de France's aviation week in April/May 1910
from
Captain Bertram Dickson
Undiscovered Scotland: The Ultimate Online Guide
 

 
 
Royal Aeronautical Society
Certificates from 1910 – 1950

via email from John Terry, 9-11-08
 
 
Certificate
Fr 71
13
24
45
56 *
63
Name
Capt. Bertram Dickson
Hon Alan Kelburn Boyle
James George Weir
Lt. Reginald A. Cammell
Arthur Haynes Aitken
William Hugh Ewen
Date of Birth
21/12/1873
8/10/1886
23/5/1887
10/1/1886
14/12/1880
1/12/1879
Place of Birth
Edinburgh
Oakfield, Ayr
Cambuslang
Inverness
Helensburgh
Shanghai
Date of Certificate
12/05/1910
14/06/1910
08/11/1910
31/12/1910
14/02/1911
14/02/1911
Plane
Farman
Avis monoplane
Bleriot monoplane
Bristol Biplane
Bleriot monoplane
Bleriot monoplane
Location
Chalons France
Brooklands
Hendon
Salisbury Plain
Beaulieu
Hendon
 

 
 
"Wings over Stonehenge"
Contributed by Ted Mustard, 8-20-10
Dear Ralph

I am a volunteer guide for the National Trust at the Stonehenge Landscape over which so much of the early military aviation in UK took place between 1909 and 1914.

This year a fellow guide and I decided to celebrate the centenaries of the stirring events that took place near Stonehenge in 1910 by developing aviation history related walks that folllow in the slipstream of our early aviators. We have entitled our walks "Wings over Stonehenge".

So far this year we have celebrated the centenary of the first flight of the Bristol Boxkite by a walk on 30 July.

The next planned walks are scheduled for 25 and 26 September and will commemorate the centenary of the 1910 "Autumn Manoeuvres" during which Captain Bertram Dickson, the actor Robbie Loraine and Lieutenant Lancelot Gibbs fly their own, or borrowed, aeroplanes to scout for the Red and Blue Forces. Robbie Loraine even had a wireless telegraphy set fitted in his Boxkite and "Morsed" his rec'ce reports to a receiver at the Bristol & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Ltd's hangars at Larkhill. (These hangars are still standing in their original location and form the keystone of our walks.)

Winston Churchill was an enthusiastic ground observer of these scouting trials and used his influence, among other's, to galvanise the British Army into buying its second and third aeroplanes (Boxkites delivered in 1911 to No 2 Company, Air Battlion, Royal Engineers at Larkhill).

Thank you for your stirling efforts to record information from this illustrious period in our aviation heritage. Your website is an invaluable research source. We hope to have relatives of the above three aviators join us for the September walks (we have two of Captain Dickson's great nephews so far). If we can glean any more information for your website we will forward it.

Please let any of your friends who are planning to visit Stonehenge know that there are not just stones to see. We would be delighted to guide any groups of aviation entusiasts who come this way.

Yours sincerely

Ted Mustard
(Sqn Leader, RAF Retired)

The Butts
Middle Woodford
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP4 6NG
UK
 

 
 
ONLINE RESOURCES
     If you search for "Bertram Dickson" +aviation, using the Google search engine, (7-3-07), you will find about 132 links. The one suggested by Pete Jones is perhaps the most valuable. In addition, I think you will enjoy visiting the one cited below.
 
 
First British Military Pilot,
Captain Bertram Dickson 1873 - 1913
     On this page of the Webshots News website, you will find 8 beautiful photographs which have been uploaded by Jim O'Brien. Included is a photograph of the burial ground marker on which is the story of his career. The photo can be enlarged so that the text is easily readable.
You can access the site by clicking on the title above.
 

 
 
Flightgobal/archive
serious about aviation

WELCOME
The Flightglobal Archive invites you to explore 100 years of aviation history as it appeared in the original pages of Flight Magazine from 1909-2005.

* Every issue of Flight Magazine published between 1909-2005, digitally scanned and fully searchable
* Thumbnail browser interface allowing for rapid issue viewing
* Save and print your favourite articles
* Topic pages, plus unique archive photo and cutaway galleries
* 100% FREE ACCESS – forever. In fact we’re positively encouraging you to link to, copy and paste from, and contribute to the development of this unique record of aerospace and aviation history
* Read our FAQs

The Flightglobal Archive is a collaborative and ongoing project. We welcome your input in growing our topic categories and discovering hidden gems within the depths of time. If you find something of interest that you want to share with us and other Archive visitors then let us know

     You will find a wealth of material in this incredible resource. You can access it by clicking on the title. Am example of one of the many photographs which are available is seen below
 

 
  July 23, 1910  
   
  Capt. Bertram Dickson (Henry Farman) Hon. Alan Boyle (Avis) Cecil Grace (Short)  
   
  G. A. Barnes (Humber) Robert Loraine "Jones" (Henry Farman) J. Radley (Blériot)  
   
  Leon F. Morane (Blériot) E. Audemars (Demoiselle) L. Wagner (Hanriot)  
 
THE FLYING MEN AT BOURNEMOUTH AND THEIR "MOUNTS"
569
 

 
 
 
 
Bertram Dickson died September 29, 1913
 

 
 
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