Captain Robert E. Dodds MC OBE (11 March 1893–8 October 1980) was a Canadian World War I flying ace credited with 11 aerial victories.
On his enlistment papers, he gave his occupation as fruit grower, stated he was single and lived on Rural Route 5 with his mother.
[5] Both of these feats were cited when Military Cross (MC) was published in The London Gazette: Lieutenant (Temporary/Captain) Robert Dodds, 1st Central Ontario Regiment and Royal Flying Corps ...He has destroyed or driven down eleven enemy machines.
[6]On 4 May 1919, Dodds was seconded from 1st Central Ontario Regiment to the Royal Air Force as an acting captain;[7] simultaneously, he relinquished his RAF commission and went on the unemployed list.
[5] Dodds joined the Canadian Civil Aeronautics Division in 1930; he would become heavily involved in development of Canada's airways system, especially as it affected Trans-Canada Air Lines.
[9] There was a Trans-Canada Airlines landing crash of a Lockheed Electra 14 (Registration CF-TCP) at Armstrong, Thunder Bay District, Ontario on 6 February 1941, killing 12; Chief Airline Inspector Dodds as chairman of the Federal Board of Inquiry arranged for removal of the crash debris to Winnipeg to aid in the accident investigation.
[10][11][12] This crash investigation was in addition to his ongoing administrative duties during World War II, providing airfields for use under the Empire Air Training Plan.