Eric Leslie Gandar Dower

Eric Leslie Gandar Dower

2 July 1894 - 4 October 1987

Pioneer of the first British-Norwegian airline

Eric Gandar Dower was brought up by his grandmother separately from his four brothers and, throughout his life, maintained an independent spirit. A combination of flair and ambition saw him translate his dream of flying into the launch of the first ever passenger flights across the North Sea. Eric became interested in flying during the First World War. Serving initially in the Army, he soon transferred to become a Naval Pilot.

He loved the theatre and after the war he founded his own theatre company, much to his father’s disapproval. He stipulated that Eric would be disinherited if his acting continued beyond the age of 28. To redeem himself Eric went to the University of Cambridge to study Law. There he met Robert Cowell Smith from Banchory, Aberdeenshire, who encouraged Eric to start a flying school in the north-east of Scotland.

By 1929 Eric had bought his first aircraft, a Blackburn Bluebird IV, which he flew to Aberdeenshire on 22 March 1931. He landed in a field next to the village of Dyce and declared to the waiting crowd that he would “build an airport and found an airline here and start routes to different places”.