Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Bertram Dickson RHA (21 December 1873 – 28 September 1913) was a pioneer Scottish airman and the first British serviceman to qualify as a pilot. His exploits in the air, watched by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

and Lord Kitchener, indirectly led to the creation of the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

. Bertram Dickson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 21 December 1873. In 1892 Dickson accompanied the geographer Sir Thomas Holdich to the

Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

to define the border between Chile and Argentina.Undiscovered Scotland - Bertram Dickson
/ref> After officer training at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, Dickson was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Royal Artillery in November 1894. He was promoted to lieutenant in November 1897 and in November 1900 he was promoted to captain. The following May, Dickson was seconded for service with the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. By 1908, Dickson was in the Ottoman Armenian city of

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

serving as the

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

and vice-consul. At the beginning of 1910, he enrolled at the Farman flying school at Mourmelon, and gained Aero-Club de France license no. 81 on 12 April. Dickson took part in the Lanark flying meet in August 1910, where he won the £400 prize for the greatest aggregate distance flown. In September 1910, Dickson flew one of the two Bristol Boxkites that took part in the British army manoeuvres on

Salisbury plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

: his aircraft was captured by the opposing team when he landed to report the result of his reconnaissance by telephone. First air-plane collision 1910

On 1 October 1910, while in Milan, Dickson was involved in the first mid-air collision between two aeroplanes. An Antoinette monoplane, piloted by René Thomas of France, rammed Dickson's Farman biplane. Both pilots were injured in the crash. Although Dickson survived, he never fully recovered from his injuries, which contributed to his early death on 28 September 1913.The Early Birds of Aviation - Bertram Dickson
His body was buried in the Highland village of

Achanalt Achanalt (Gaelic: ''Achadh nan Allt'') is a railway halt in Strath Bran, Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish council area of Highland. It is served by a railway station on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. History ...

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...

References

External links

The Early Birds of Aviation - Bertram Dicksonbertram-dickson.com - biographyWebshots - Collection of photographs relating to Bertram Dickson
Wayback retrieval; 2012)
Champagne, Berceau de l'aviation du Monde
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Bertram 1873 births 1913 deaths British aviation pioneers Royal Horse Artillery officers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Scottish airmen Scottish aviators Military personnel from Edinburgh Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1913