Dawn Bartsch (née Dawson; born 1932) is a retired Canadian bush pilot and flight instructor. [1]
Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally large tires, floats or skis.
Bartsch was born in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, in 1932. [2] She was interested in becoming a pilot from a young age, although careers counsellors at her high school advised her that becoming a female pilot was impossible, and to train as a nurse instead. Nevertheless, she applied to McGill University's aviation school. She was rejected due to her gender, and had to apply elsewhere until a flight school in Vancouver agreed to give her a place in their programme. The teachers were impressed with her aptitude and skills, however on completion of her studies, in 1951, the government inspector refused to give Bartsch the flying test. [2] [3] Bartsch's teacher persuaded the inspector to take her for the test; he later told the teacher that Bartsch flew so well he couldn't refuse her a license. [3] When Bartsch and her flight school classmates were hired to what would become Air Canada, the company changed their job offer on realising her sex, and she was offered a flight attendant position rather than a pilot position. Bartsch declined and found work as a flight instructor in Calgary, Alberta, instead, although at half the pay of her male colleagues. [3] Although more progressive airlines eventually agreed to hire her as a pilot, the Canadian Air Line Pilots’ Association refused to accept women members. [4]
Penticton is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In 2016, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration population was 43,432.
McGill University is a public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1821 by royal charter, granted by King George IV. The university bears the name of James McGill, a Montreal merchant originally from Scotland whose bequest in 1813 formed the university's precursor, McGill College.
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America behind New York City, Guadalajara, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. Roughly 30% of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city.
In the late 1950s Bartsch moved to Dawson City, Yukon, and set up an air transport business in partnership with her father and a fellow pilot, Ron Connelly. The company, Connelly-Dawson Airways, flew mail, fuel and food supplies to remote communities in the Yukon and Arctic Circle regions. [3] Many of the communities lacked airfields, and Bartsch frequently had to land on sandbars and frozen lakes. In the early 1970s Bartsch retired from the business and moved to Hawaii. [3]
Dawson City, officially the Town of the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,375 as of the 2016 census., making it the second largest town of Yukon.
Bartsch continued to fly, in international race events - in 1997 she won a bronze medal in the 1997 World Air Games long distance race. Bartsch also participated in the London to Sydney event, then crossing the Pacific to Hawaii. [1]
1997 World Air Games was an international competition of air sports, held between September 15–21, 1997 in Selçuk, Turkey, hosted by Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK). It was the first of World Air Games organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale once every four years. The games marked the first time more than 3000 participants from 60 countries took part in 16 different championship categories at 7 different locations at the same time.
In 2011, Bartsch was inducted into the Yukon Transportation Hall of Fame and received the Yukon Territory Order of Polaris in recognition of her work in the region. [2] In 2015, Bartsch received the Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award for Pioneers. [1]
Elizabeth Muriel Gregory "Elsie" MacGill, OC, known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes", was likely the world's first woman to earn an aeronautical engineering degree and was the first woman in Canada to receive a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of aircraft construction during her years at Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario. After her work at CC&F she ran a successful consulting business. Between 1967–1970 she was a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, published in 1970.
In 1962, Bartsch married Gordon Bartsch, a pilot she had hired to work at Connelly-Dawson Airways. [3]
Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, was a Canadian flying ace in the First World War and a leading post-war aviator. He was the final Allied pilot to be pursued by Manfred von Richthofen before the German ace was shot down on the Western Front in 1918. After the war, May returned to Canada, pioneering the role of a bush pilot while working for Canadian Airways in Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
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