Clennell Haggerston (Punch) Dickins OC OBE DFC LLD was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, son of Ambrose Dickins and Jessie (Gouin) Dickins. In 1907, his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta. He attended the University of Alberta until enlistment in the Canadian Infantry in WW1. In 1917, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, earned his pilot's wings and a commission and was posted to 211 Squadron where he served until 1919.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for persistence and gallantry in completing aerial assignments under fire and destroying seven enemy planes. At war's end, Dickins returned to Canada, joined the Canadian Air Force and then became one of the original officers of the RCAF when it was formed in 1924.

He left the RCAF in 1927 and became a pilot with newly formed Western Canada Airways and chalked up many "firsts" in a lifetime of northern Canada aerial pioneering. Dickins innovated fur deliveries by plane; carried first prospectors to important radium deposits at Great Bear Lake; pioneered the first air trip from Edmonton to Aklavik on the Arctic Ocean; opened Canada's first municipal airport at Edmonton; piloted the first plane on the Prairie air mail and air express circuit; made pioneer flight over barren lands of the Northwest Territories and piloted Mines Department officials on a 10,000 mile survey of northern mineral lands.

Western Canada Airways was taken over by Canadian Airways Ltd. in November 1930 and Dickins was named Superintendent of the Mackenzie River district. In recognition of his outstanding aerial work in the development and expansion of flying routes in northwestern Canada, Dickins was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1936.

In 1941, Canadian Pacific Railways named Dickins assistant to the President, then appointed him operations manager of the wartime Atlantic Ferry Service which had the responsibility of delivering by air up to 150 aircraft per month across the North Atlantic to the United Kingdom.

In 1942, this successful service was handed over RCAF Ferry Command and in this same year Dickins was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Canadian Pacific Airlines. In 1947, Dickins joined de Havilland Aircraft in Toronto, Ontario as a Director and Vice President. Dickins retired from professional flying in 1966 after 45 years in the business and more than one million miles across Canada's uncharted north, often in weather unforgiving of human error.

In 1968, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) for his services to Canada in introducing the air age to northwestern Canada. Dickins was elected by his peers to become the first . Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame In 1974, he was inducted as a Member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. The University of Alberta and the University of Western Ontario recognized his achievements by conferring on him, Honorary Doctor of Law degrees.

In September 1927, he had married Constance Gerrie, daughter of Captain Rev. J.P. Gerrie and Mrs. Gerrie. They had two sons and one daughter. Dickins died in Toronto, in September 1995.