[Photo: Alain Rioux](http://www.dhc-2.com/) The De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, propeller-driven utility bush plane, created and used to ship cargo, trade, and people to the remote parts of Canada. Its short takeoff and landing capability made it ideal for areas normally only accessible by canoe or foot. Punch Dickins, a famous bush pilot and Director of Sales, created the plane after conversations with Canadian pilots to understand what they needed in a new aircraft. Almost without variation, the pilots asked for extra power and performance, and a design that could be easily fitted with wheels, skis, or floats, and have wide, two sided doors, that would allow the plane to be loaded easily from either side and with unusual shaped cargo. When De Havilland engineers noted that this would result in poor cruise performance, one pilot replied “You only have to be faster than a dog sled”. Since de Havilland Canada aircraft were all named after animals, it was decided that the new bush plane was much like the hard-working beaver. In 1987, the Canadian Engineering Centennial Board named the DHC-2 one of the top ten Canadian engineering achievements of the 20th century, and the Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the Beaver on a special edition Canadian quarter in November 1999.