The Airmen's Stories - F/O J A Dixon

John Antony Dixon was born on 23rd March 1919 and educated at St. Pauls Junior School, Hammersmith and Ardingly College, Lewes in Sussex.

After gaining his School Certificate he worked as a Clerk at Peto Scott Ltd (1937) and at Cona Ltd (1937-1938) before joining the RAF on a short service commission in December 1938. He started his flying training with 23 ERFTS Rochester, flying Avro Tutors, on 30th December 1938 and completed his RAF Flying Test on 24th February 1939.

He was commissioned on 4th March 1939 as Acting Pilot Officer and moved to No. 1 RAF Depot Uxbridge for a short induction course.

He went to 10 FTS Ternhill on No. 11 Course, operating Harvards, which ran from 18th March to 29th September 1939. With the course completed he joined 263 Squadron on 2nd October 1939, the squadron being reformed at Filton and operating Gloster Gladiators.

On 20th February 1940 the OC 263 Squadron reported in the Operations Record Book that Dixon was considered unsuitable as a fighter pilot. He was posted to 2 Flight Bombing & Gunnery School at RAF Manby for further combat training. The unit operated Gloster Gauntlets, Hawker Hinds and Hawker Demons.

On 28th April in bad visibility Dixon overshot in Gauntlet K7879 when landing at Manby and collided with an instructional Boulton Paul Overstrand aircraft picketed on the aerodrome boundary.

On completion of his AAS course on 20th May 1940 he was immediately posted to No.1 Squadron in France, his logbook entry reads:

Immediate posting to No.1 Fighter Squadron BEF Advance Air Striking Force, France. Flew to Hendon. Kitted RAF Uxbridge thence by air from Heston to Bar-le-Duc, France.

He had yet to fly a Hurricane.

According to No. 1 Squadron’s Operations Record Book dated 24th May 1940 he was one of 12 brand new pilots sent to France:

The mainstay of the Squadron today left for England….. S/Ldr Halahan’s place has now been taken by S/Ldr Pemberton who has the Herculean task of whipping into shape some 12 brand new pilots.

He was shot down on 16th June 1940 over St. Nazaire and sustained damage to his right eye. After immediate treatment in France he returned to Uxbridge in a transport plane where he received further medical treatment, was classed temporarily unfit for Flying and Ground Duties and ordered to attend a Medical Review Board on 25th June 1940. He was Returned to Unit on 26th June 1940 and was flying again with No.1 Squadron from Northolt on 28th June.

His logbook shows that he flew with No. 1 Squadron through the rest of June and July when No. 1 Squadron was reforming and supporting other Squadrons operating out of Tangmere and Hawkinge.

On 1st August he was posted first to the Station Flight at Northolt and on 7th August to No.4 Ferry Pool at Kemble.

He married Elsa Pye on 31st August 1940 at Battersea, London.

On 2nd October 1940, on a delivery flight from Castle Bromwich to 37 MU Burtonwood, he had to make a forced-landing at Warrington Steel & Tube Factory slag heap when the engine of his Spitfire, P7438, failed.

On 17th January 1941, on a delivery flight from Kemble to Hawkinge, he again had to make a forced-landing at Harwell owing to engine trouble of another Spitfire P7676 (Warden of London).

On 1st March 1941 he was posted to various Ferry and Maintenance Units in Scotland - 18 MU Dumfries, 11 Ferry Unit Dumfries, 44 MU Edzell, 11 Ferry Unit Dumfries again then 18 MU Dumfries.

Perhaps due to his eye injury he was classed temporarily unfit for Flying and Ground Duties in May 1941 and later, in July 1941, accused of stealing railway warrants to enable him and his wife to travel from Dumfries to London. A General Court Martial in September 1941 found him guilty and sentenced him to be 'dismissed from HM's Service'.

In October 1941 he was able to rejoin the RAF as a Sergeant Pilot and was posted to 76 Wing at Filton and was immediately sent on missions flying Blenheims which appear as 'Secret Duties' in his logbook in October and November 1941.

On 31st January 1942, whilst flying Blenheim Z5988, the starboard airscrew & reduction gearbox completely sheared off during the flight but the plane was landed successfully on one engine.

He joined 528 Squadron, also based at Filton, from June 1943. He received a Mention in Dispatches (gazetted 1st January 1945) for his work with 528 Squadron on radar calibration flights over the Channel and into France setting up radar equipment for D-Day.

In May 1944 he was posted to the Centaurus Flight at Filton as a Test Pilot responsible for the development of the new Centaurus engine.

In December 1945 he was posted to the Aircraft Torpedo Development Unit, ATDU, at Gosport and was awarded a Master Pilot/Warrant Officer rating in March 1948. He was awarded the Air Force Cross (gazetted 6th September 1949), the citation reading:

Experimental and test flying play a great part in the essential development of Service aircraft and it is only fitting that pilots who, like yourself, have excelled in this type of work, should receive recognition.

By this time he had flown 50 aircraft types and continued in a flying role with ATDU until May 1950.

In December 1952 he left the RAF and joined Johnson & Johnson as a Time & Motion Study Engineer but disliked this and rejoined the RAF again in August 1953 as a Sergeant in Air Traffic Control.

After many years as an NCO he was finally re-commissioned in March 1960 as a Flying Officer and further promoted in March 1963 to Flight Lieutenant.

He retired from RAF Air Traffic Control on 3rd May 1973 and died on 16th December 1998 in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

APO 4.3.1939       PO 2.10.1939       FO 2.10.1940       FO 31.3.1960       FL 31.3.1963

Additional research and images courtesy of Timothy Dixon (son).