Mk V Anson RCAF Station Hamilton – Mount Hope, Ontario
Image Credit: Ban Galbasi
Richard (Dick) Hiscocks was born in Toronto in 1914 and won numerous prizes for his model aircraft while a teenager. He enrolled in the University of Toronto’s inaugural Engineering Physics program and graduated in 1938 after spending his summers working at de Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC). His next stop was a job in the design office of de Havilland Aircraft in Hatfield, England after which he went to Ottawa in 1940 to work in the structure’s lab of the National Research Council.
Hiscock led a team studying how wooden parts could be used in wartime aircraft production, which led to the development of the molded wooden fuselage of the Anson Mk V aircraft. At the end of the war, the NRC sent Hiscocks to Europe as part of an international team reviewing German aeronautical advancements and to interrogate German scientists.
The knowledge Hiscocks gained during the war proved extremely valuable when he rejoined DHC in 1946 to lead the aerodynamics team developing the DHC-2 Beaver. He was responsible for designing the Beaver’s high lift wing and full span flaps which gave the Beaver excellent short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance. Hiscocks worked on all subsequent DHC’s famous STOL aircraft (Otter, Caribou, Buffalo, Twin Otter, Dash 7 and Dash 8) until he retired as Vice President of Engineering in 1979. After retirement he worked as a consultant for several Canadian and US aviation companies, including kit-plane manufacturer Murphy Aircraft in British Columbia.
– Kenneth Swartz
Today, students from Centennial College, Toronto Metropolitan University, Queens University, McMaster University, York University and the University of Toronto are working together on collaborative DAIR projects, developing skills and helping to build an even stronger aerospace industry for Ontario and Canada.