Dyment, John T., 1904-2000 : John T. Dyment, public servant and engineer, was born in Barrie, Ont., in 1904. He was educated at the University of Toronto, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree, specializing in mechancial engineering in 1929. He dedicated his career to improving the safety, reliability and economy of air transportation in Canada.
After graduation John Dyment began working for the Ford Engineering Lab in Dearborn, U.S.A. In 1930, he joined the engineering staff of National Defence, where he pioneered methods of fuselage stress analysis and worked on the performance calculations for the Noorduyn Norseman. He joined Trans-Canada Airlines as Chief Engineer in 1938 and remained there until he retired in 1968. Trans-Canada Airlines became Air Canada in 1965. After retirement, Mr. Dyment became Vice-President of Aviation Planning Services and has worked as a private engineering consultant.
John Dyment has been honoured with numerous awards, a few of which are the Sword of Honour as top ranking cadet in the Pilot Officer's Flying Training Course in the R.C.A.F. in 1927, the Gzowski Gold Medal by the Engineering Institute of Canada for the best technical paper in 1945, the McCurdy Award for outstanding achievement in Canada in the aviation technical field in 1961 and an honourary doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1973. He has been elected Fellow to the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (C.A.S.I.) the Society of Automotive Engineers (S.A.E.) and has served as president of both the C.A.S.I. and the S.A.E. Mr. Dyment has presented numerous technical papers in Canada, U.S.A. and England and has served as Chairperson on many distinguished international panels and symposiums.
In 1991, Mr. Dyment became a Member of the Order of Canada, in light of the fact that he was recognized worldwide as one of the pioneers in aircraft engineering, and because he was the only Canadian elected to the international presidency of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
In 2000, John T. Dyment died.
