{"id":1449,"date":"2017-06-26T11:12:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T17:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=1449"},"modified":"2022-11-28T13:37:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T20:37:18","slug":"frank-aloysius-dixon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/frank-aloysius-dixon\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Aloysius Dixon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"WPMainDoc\">\n<p>(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1896 \u2013 Riverside, California, June 19, 1992).<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote1\" href=\"#WPFootnote1\">1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dixon was the only son of Anna Elizabeth, n\u00e9e Dietrich, and Charles Henry Dixon, a Pittsburgh real estate executive who died in 1914.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote2\" href=\"#WPFootnote2\">2<\/a>\u00a0 On his father\u2019s side, Dixon\u2019s family had lived in Pennsylvania for several generations; his mother\u2019s father had emigrated from Alsace and married a woman of German descent.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote3\" href=\"#WPFootnote3\">3<\/a>\u00a0 Growing up, Dixon lived with his parents and his maternal aunt and uncle; the uncle, August A. Frauenheim, was a prominent manufacturer and banker in Pittsburgh.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote4\" href=\"#WPFootnote4\">4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dixon attended Princeton (class of 1920). He was a student at the privately funded Princeton Aviation School, which had been established in the spring of 1917 to train Princeton students, and then at the government-run Princeton School of Military Aeronautics which superseded the Aviation School in June 1917. Dixon\u2019s Princeton S.M.A. <a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/photos\/ground-school-photos\/#Princeton_SMA_first-class\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ground school class<\/a> graduated August 25, 1917.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote5\" href=\"#WPFootnote5\">5<\/a>\u00a0 He was one of the men from this group selected for training in Italy and thus among the 150 men of the \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201cSecond Oxford Detachment\u201d who sailed to England on the <i>Carmania<\/i>. They departed New York for Halifax on September 18, 1917. At Halifax, the <i>Carmania<\/i> joined a convoy and set out on the Atlantic crossing September 21, 1917. \u00a0When the ship docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the men learned, to their initial but not lasting dismay, that they would not go to Italy but to Oxford, where they would repeat ground school. While at Oxford, Dixon palled around with fellow second Oxford detachment member Fremont Cutler Foss, and they apparently roomed together at Queen\u2019s College.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote6\" href=\"#WPFootnote6\">6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In early November most of the men were sent to Harrowby Camp near Grantham to attend machine gun school. Because his Princeton time had included some actual experience in the air, Dixon was among the twenty men selected by Elliott White Springs to go to flying school at Stamford rather than to Grantham.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1505\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1505\" style=\"width: 414px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1505\" src=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001-1024x615.jpg\" alt=\"A brief passage from Foss's handwritten diary about Dixon ordering champagne etc.\" width=\"414\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001-1024x615.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001-1200x720.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-in-Foss001.jpg 1713w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 85vw, 414px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1505\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From Foss&#8217;s diary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dixon ordered champagne and scotch and soda as part of a bibulous farewell to his friends and fellow detachment members Foss, Perley Melbourne Stoughton, Leo McCarthy, and Donald Swett Poler the evening before their November 3, 1917, departure for Grantham.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote7\" href=\"#WPFootnote7\">7<\/a>\u00a0 Dixon himself and the nineteen other men remaining left for No. 1 Training Depot Station, Stamford, on November 5, 1917. Two days later, he, along with Walter Chalaire, Arthur Richmond Taber, and \u201ca number of the other boys at Stamford came down to see\u201d the men at Grantham.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote8\" href=\"#WPFootnote8\">8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dixon\u2019s R.A.F. service record provides no information about his training after Stamford, and Dixon himself, quoted by Marvin L. Skelton, remarks only that there \u201cfollowed a series of schools in flying training all over England and Scotland and I became a Sopwith Camel pilot with fifty hours solo on various training aircraft\u2014twelve hours on Camels at combat school.\u201d<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote9\" href=\"#WPFootnote9\">9<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0The \u201ccombat school\u201d was presumably the School of Aerial fighting at Ayr, Scotland, where he was stationed when he was placed on active duty on April 6, 1918.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote10\" href=\"#WPFootnote10\">10<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Dixon had completed sufficient training by early March to be recommended for his commission; Pershing\u2019s cable forwarding the recommendation to Washington is dated March 7, 1918.\u00a0 The confirming cable is dated March 17, 1918, but it was another three weeks before he was placed on active duty.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote11\" href=\"#WPFootnote11\">11<\/a>\u00a0 Dixon was one of many cadets frustrated by the slow pace of the military bureaucracy. He later recalled that \u201cdelayed (U.S. Army) commissions prevented the Royal Flying Corps from sending us out to overseas pools so we were assigned temporarily to ferry piloting planes overseas.\u201d<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote12\" href=\"#WPFootnote12\">12<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On May 23, 1918, Dixon, along with fellow detachment member William Joseph Armstrong, was posted to the R.A.F. and, the next day, to No. 209 Squadron R.A.F., a Camel squadron stationed at Bertangles a few miles north of Amiens\u2014which city, as a result of the first phase of the German Spring Offensive, was now only about ten miles from the front.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote13\" href=\"#WPFootnote13\">13<\/a> \u00a0 Dixon recalled that \u201cthe German advance lines were then too near for comfort.\u201d<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote14\" href=\"#WPFootnote14\">14<\/a> \u00a0Leonard Joseph Desson was already at 209, and Bradley Cleaver Lawton, also of the second Oxford detachment, arrived around the same time.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote14a\" href=\"#WPFootnote14a\">14a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dixon later recalled that \u201cMay 25<sup>th<\/sup>, I began flying at 209 Squadron with my own Camel. My first assignment was shooting at a ground target.\u201d<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote14b\" href=\"#WPFootnote14b\">14b\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 According to the squadron record book, he flew D3328 during the fifty-minute flight that evening.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote14c\" href=\"#WPFootnote14c\">14c\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 He had another practice flight on May 27, 1918, and on May 28, 1918, he flew the first of many aerial sentry patrols, some between Amiens and the aerodrome, some along the road between Amiens and Abbeville to the northwest. All these patrols were uneventful\u2014except insofar as flying at great height with no oxygen and inadequate protection against the cold was memorable. On June 9, 1918, flying Camel D3327, he patrolled at 20,000 ft. between Amiens and Abbeville.<\/p>\n<p>The next afternoon he was assigned to join Cedric Nevill Jones and Leslie Campbell Story in a \u201cSpec Miss intercept WEA.\u201d A \u201cW.E.A.\u201d mission involved going after enemy observation aircraft near the lines whose wireless signals had been intercepted and used to determine their location.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote14d\" href=\"#WPFootnote14d\">14d\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 On June 10, 1918, the three pilots evidently flew as far as M\u00e9ricourt-sur-Somme, about sixteen miles due east of Amiens, at which point Story\u2019s engine cut out; he managed to get back across the lines to make a forced landing in friendly territory. Jones and Dixon (in B6371) continued flying, but saw no enemy aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon\u2019s next flight was not until June 13, 1918, when he, again flying B6371, and Jones made an hour-long special patrol in the late evening; the record book does not indicate the location. Around this time influenza hit the squadron, and for a time nearly half the men were in hospital. There is no notation of illness on Desson\u2019s casualty form, but the fact that his name is absent from the record book between June 13 and June 24, 1918, suggests that he, too, had succumbed.<\/p>\n<p>On the latter date, June 24, 1918, Dixon participated in his first high offensive patrol\u2014his last flight with 209. He again flew B6371 and was part of a six-plane formation. The other pilots were Jones, Story, John Henry Siddall, Edward Barfort Drake, and James Andrew Fenton. They carried bombs and dropped them on M\u00e9ricourt-sur-Somme and on woods east of the village; the mission lasted two hours.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after this flight, Dixon, along with Armstrong, Desson, and Lawton, was ordered to join the U.S. 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron (also flying Camels) at Petite Synthe on the coast near Dunkirk, about seventy miles north of Bertangles. Arriving on or about June 26, 1918, they joined a number of other members of the second Oxford detachment already assigned there.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote15\" href=\"#WPFootnote15\">15<\/a>\u00a0 The 17<sup>th<\/sup>, along with the 148<sup>th<\/sup>, was American in personnel, but stationed on the British Front and under the tactical command of the R.A.F. until late in the war, when they were moved south to the American front.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon was assigned to B flight, commanded initially by Weston Whitney Goodnow of the second Oxford detachment, and then, from early July, by William Dolley Tipton of the first Oxford detachment.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote16\" href=\"#WPFootnote16\">16<\/a>\u00a0 The 17<sup>th<\/sup> took about three weeks to get to know their equipment and their territory while working on formation flying. Dixon recounts how \u201cafter a few weeks of training on the LeRhones [Sopwith Camels with Le Rh\u00f4ne engines]\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. we were ready to escort the D.H.9 bombers over Bruges docks, about a twice weekly basis. Many of these D.H.9s were manned by U.S. pilots, most of them U.S. Marines. We flew over the U.S. bombers at about 15,000 feet.\u201d<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote17\" href=\"#WPFootnote17\">17<\/a>\u00a0 These escort flights began July 20, 1918; the pilots of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> had begun line and offensive patrols along the relatively quiet Nieuport to Ypres front five days previously.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote18\" href=\"#WPFootnote18\">18<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During late July and early August 1918 plans for an attack on the large enemy aerodrome at Varsenare, a few miles west of Bruges, were being made, and the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero, despite having recently lost several pilots to leave, illness, injuries, and death, joined R.A.F. squadrons in this\u00a0successful mission on August 13, 1918. Dixon\u2019s B flight at the start of the raid consisted of but three pilots\u2014himself, Rodney Daniel Williams, and William Hugh Shearman\u2014and, when mechanical problems forced the leader, Williams, to turn back, only two.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote19\" href=\"#WPFootnote19\">19<\/a>\u00a0 Shearman and Dixon got separated, and Dixon \u201clost patrol and being unable to locate it dropped four bombs on Ostend from 6000 feet\u201d before returning to Petite Synthe.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote20\" href=\"#WPFootnote20\">20<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On August 17, 1918, the 17<sup>th<\/sup> moved south from Petite Synthe to the (British) Third Army area, specifically, to Auxi-le-Ch\u00e2teau northwest of Doullens, in preparation for what became known as the Second Battle of Bapaume.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote21\" href=\"#WPFootnote21\">21<\/a>\u00a0 They were again to escort R.A.F. bombers, but also to do bombing and strafing, starting August 23, 1918. Dixon participated in two raids on that day, targeting transport southwest of Bapaume. \u00a0The next day the pilots went out in pairs; in the evening Dixon and Robert Miles Todd dropped bombs, and Dixon shot at transport northeast of Bapaume as the Third Army drove the Germans towards Cambrai.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote22\" href=\"#WPFootnote22\">22<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1499\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1499\" style=\"width: 411px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1499\" src=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-combat-report-August-26-1918-690x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A typed combat report, showing that Dixon was responsible for downing to enemy planes on August 26, 1918.\" width=\"411\" height=\"610\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-combat-report-August-26-1918-690x1024.jpg 690w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-combat-report-August-26-1918-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-combat-report-August-26-1918-768x1140.jpg 768w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-combat-report-August-26-1918-1200x1781.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 411px) 85vw, 411px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1499\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From Clapp, A History of the 17th Aero Squadron (1918).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Germans recognized that their retreating troops needed better air cover and moved experienced squadrons in. Thus, on August 26, 1918, when a patrol from the 17<sup>th<\/sup> flew to assist pilots of the 148<sup>th<\/sup> (who had been ordered out despite severely unfavorable weather), they encountered a swarm of Fokkers over the Bapaume-Cambrai road. Of the nine Camel pilots from the 17<sup>th<\/sup>, three (Harry Helmer Jackson, Jr., Howard Paul Bittinger, and Laurence Roberts) were killed in action; one (Henry Bradley Frost of the second Oxford detachment) died that night, and two (Tipton and Todd) were captured. Goodnow and Ralph William Snoke returned, followed, a distant third and last, by Dixon. Despite being severely outnumbered, the 17<sup>th<\/sup> downed a number of the enemy aircraft, including two to the credit of Dixon.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote23\" href=\"#WPFootnote23\">23<\/a><\/p>\n<p>After the losses on the 26<sup>th<\/sup>, the crippled 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron was given a breather as they tried to figure out how to reorganize at half strength. Dixon was offered the position of deputy flight leader of B flight, but turned it down. He had just had to crash land during a practice flight because one of his landing wheels had fallen off, and this incident helped him make up his mind to go ahead and take his scheduled leave in England rather than accepting the position.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote24\" href=\"#WPFootnote24\">24<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1500\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1500\" style=\"width: 444px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1500\" src=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-bombing-Oct-5-1918.jpg\" alt=\"A typed bombing report, showing that ten pilots dropped four bombs each on Awoingt.\" width=\"444\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-bombing-Oct-5-1918.jpg 765w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dixon-Frank-A.-bombing-Oct-5-1918-300x267.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 444px) 85vw, 444px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1500\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A typical bombing report, as reproduced in Clapp, A History of the 17th Aero Squadron (1918), p. 94. \u00a0Awoingt is just outside of Cambrai, to the southeast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A third of the way through September 1918 the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero was ordered to move once again, this time to Soncamp Aerodrome, about fifteen miles east of Auxi-le-Ch\u00e2teau. Offensive patrols began the day of their arrival, September 20, 1918. B flight, Dixon\u2019s flight, now led by his fellow second Oxford detachment member George Augustus Vaughn, went out on September 21 and 22, 1918; Dixon was able to confirm two Fokkers to Vaughn\u2019s credit on the 22<sup>nd<\/sup>.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote25\" href=\"#WPFootnote25\">25<\/a>\u00a0 When two more pilots (Glen Dickenson Wicks &amp; Harold Goodman Shoemaker) were lost from B flight on October 5, 1918, Dixon was moved up to deputy flight leader.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote26\" href=\"#WPFootnote26\">26<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0In addition to offensive patrols in September and early October, Dixon also flew numerous bombing raids, sometimes as many as three a day, through mid-October 1918, the targets moving farther to the east as General Byng\u2019s drive to take Cambrai progressed and succeeded.<\/p>\n<p>Towards the end of October word was received that the 17<sup>th<\/sup> was to move to the American sector; a short but affecting message of thanks from Byng for their assistance to the Third Army was read.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1501\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1501\" style=\"width: 742px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1501\" src=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Byng-thanks-to-17th-and148th.jpg\" alt=\"Brief typed letter from Byng to Longcroft asking that he thank the 17th and 148th for their work with the Third Army.\" width=\"742\" height=\"412\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Byng-thanks-to-17th-and148th.jpg 742w, https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-content\/uploads\/Byng-thanks-to-17th-and148th-300x167.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 742px) 85vw, 742px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1501\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">General Byng&#8217;s letter, as reproduced in Clapp, A History of the 17th Aero Squadron (1918), p. 117.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On November 1, 1918, they began the train journey south, arriving, finally, near Toul on November 4, 1918. Here Dixon got in some practice on Spads and celebrated the armistice; he was present when photos were taken of the <a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/photos\/squadron-photos\/#The_staff_and_flying_officers_of_the_17th\">17<sup>th<\/sup><\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/photos\/squadron-photos\/#17_148\">148<sup>th<\/sup><\/a>. He then went to Issoudun to await transport home.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote27\" href=\"#WPFootnote27\">27<\/a>\u00a0 He and Goodnow were part of a group of officers who sailed from Brest on the <i>Ortega<\/i> on February 7, 1919, arriving at New York on February 19, 1919.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote28\" href=\"#WPFootnote28\">28<\/a>\u00a0 Five days later, Dixon was honorably discharged.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote29\" href=\"#WPFootnote29\">29<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dixon resumed his studies and graduated from Princeton in 1921. He was employed by Western Electric; he returned to the military during World War II.<a id=\"LinkTo_WPFootnote30\" href=\"#WPFootnote30\">30<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\"><em>mrsmcq June 26, 2017<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\"><em>Revised February 26, 2019, to reflect 209 Squadron record book<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote\">\n<h3>Notes<\/h3>\n<p>(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/works-and-web-pages-cited-in-notes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote1\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote1\"><strong>1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For Dixon\u2019s dates of birth and death and place of death, see Ancestry.com, <i>California, Death Index, 1940-1997<\/i>, record for Frank Aloysius Dixon. For his place of birth, see Ancestry.com, <i>Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948<\/i>, record for Frank Aloysius Dixon. The photo is a detail from a <a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/photos\/ground-school-photos\/#Princeton_SMA_first_class_Boadway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo taken by Orren Jack Turner<\/a> of the Princeton School of Military Aeronautics ground school class that graduated August 25, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote2\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote2\"><strong>2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cCharles H. Dixon.\u201d Frank Dixon\u2019s Pennsylvania veteran\u2019s compensation application record, cited above, provides his mother\u2019s maiden name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote3\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote3\"><strong>3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com, <i>Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963<\/i>, record for Francois Dietrick [<i>sic<\/i>]; and Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, <i>1880 United States Federal Census<\/i>, records for Francis and Barbara Deitrich [<i>sic<\/i>].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote4\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote4\"><strong>4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com, <i>1900 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for Frank A Dixon; and Ancestry.com, <i>1910 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for Frank A Dixon. On Frauenheim, see <i>The Book of Prominent Pennsylvanians<\/i>, p. 178.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote5\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote5\"><strong>5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See <i>The Princeton Bric-a-Brac 1919<\/i>, p. 86, and \u201cGround School Graduations [for August 25, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote6\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote6\"><strong>6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Foss, Diary, entries for October, <i>passim<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote7\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote7\"><strong>7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Foss, Diary, entry for November 2, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote8\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote8\"><strong>8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Foss, Diary, entry for November 7, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote9\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote9\"><strong>9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon and the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Sqdn.,\u201d p. 155.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote10\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote10\"><strong>10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Dixon\u2019s\u00a0active duty date is given by McAndrew, \u201cSpecial Orders No. 205\u201d; the same date as well as the place are provided by Biddle, \u201cSpecial Orders No. 35.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote11\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote11\"><strong>11<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Cablegrams 694-S and 936-R.\u00a0 One of the cards for Dixon at Ancestry.com,<i> Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917\u20131919, 1934\u20131948<\/i> indicates that he was commissioned on April 4, 1918. (In filling out the \u201cVeteran\u2019s Compensation Application,\u201d also at Ancestry.com, <i>Pennsylvania\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/i>, Dixon optimistically recalled the date as March 16, 1918.)\u00a0 See preceding not regarding his active duty date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote12\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote12\"><strong>12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon and the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Sqdn.,\u201d p. 155.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote13\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote13\"><strong>13<\/strong><\/a> See the R.A.F. casualty form for Dixon (\u201cLieut. F A Dixon USAS\u201d), as well as Munsell \u201cAir Service History\u201d, p. 192 (7) for Armstrong, p. 194 (9) for Dixon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote14\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote14\"><strong>14<\/strong><\/a> Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon and the 17<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Sqdn.,\u201d p. 156.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote14a\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote14a\"><strong>14a<\/strong><\/a> See the R.A.F. casualty forms for Desson (\u201cLieut. Leonard Joseph Desson USAS\u201d) and Lawton (\u201cLieut. Bradley Cleaver Lawton USAS\u201d), as well as Munsell, \u201cAir Service History\u201d, p. 194 (9) for Desson, and p. 197 (12) for Lawton.\u00a0 Dixon kept two nearly identical group photos of 209 Squadron officers that include himself, Armstrong, and Lawton. See Reed and Roland,\u00a0<i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 45 and Jones, \u201cAs I Remember,\u201d p. 38.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote14b\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote14b\"><strong>14b<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon and the 17th Aero Sqdn.,\u201d p. 156.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote14c\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote14c\"><strong>14c<\/strong><\/a> Here and in the subsequent description of Dixon\u2019s period with No. 209, information is taken from No. 209 Squadron Record Book (RFC\/RAF).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote14d\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote14d\"><strong>14d<\/strong><\/a> W.E.A. is apparently not a widely used abbreviation; it probably stands for \u201cwireless enemy aircraft.\u201d See \u201cRAF abbreviation \u2018W.E.A.\u2019\u2014special mission intercepting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote15\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote15\"><strong>15<\/strong><\/a> Clapp,\u00a0<i>A History of the 17th Aero Squadron<\/i>, p. 156, gives June 26, 1918 as the arrival date for the four men. Munsell, \u201cAir Service History,\u201d indicates, p. 149 (9), that Desson and Dixon arrived June 25, 1918, pp. 192 (7) and 197 (12) that Armstrong and Lawton arrived June 26, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote16\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote16\"><strong>16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon,\u201d p. 158; Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 30.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote17\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote17\"><strong>17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon,\u201d p. 160.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote18\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote18\"><strong>18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Clapp, <i>A History of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, p. 24; Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers,<\/i> pp. 35 and 40.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote19\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote19\"><strong>19<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 55.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote20\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote20\"><strong>20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Clapp, <i>A History or the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, p. 98.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote21\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote21\"><strong>21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Murton Campbell, diary entry for August 17, 1918, for the date of the move, which is unclear from other sources (Clapp, <i>A History of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, p. 37; Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, pp. 64-65; Jones, <i>The War in the Air<\/i>, p. 469).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote22\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote22\"><strong>22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Clapp, <i>A History of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, pp. 98 ff., for bombing reports for this period. See Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 75, on using \u201cunits of two.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote23\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote23\"><strong>23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, pp. 80-83, offer a vivid reconstruction of the events of this encounter. See also Clapp, <i>A History of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, pp. 74-77, where the combat reports are reproduced, and 40-41 for a narrative account.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote24\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote24\"><strong>24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 86.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote25\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote25\"><strong>25<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Clapp, <i>A History of the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Squadron<\/i>, pp. 81-82.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote26\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote26\"><strong>26<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Reed and Roland, <i>Camel Drivers<\/i>, p. 109.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote27\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote27\"><strong>27<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Skelton, \u201cFrank A. Dixon and the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Aero Sqdn.,\u201d p. 181.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote28\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote28\"><strong>28<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Army Transport Service, <i>Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917 &#8211; 1938<\/i>, passenger list for officers on the S.S. <i>Ortega<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote29\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote29\"><strong>29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com, <i>Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948<\/i>, record for Frank Aloysius Dixon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"WPFootnote30\" class=\"WPNormal\">\n<p><a href=\"#LinkTo_WPFootnote30\"><strong>30<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFrank A. Dixon \u201920.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1896 \u2013 Riverside, California, June 19, 1992).1 Dixon was the only son of Anna Elizabeth, n\u00e9e Dietrich, and Charles Henry Dixon, a Pittsburgh real estate executive who died in 1914.2\u00a0 On his father\u2019s side, Dixon\u2019s family had lived in Pennsylvania for several generations; his mother\u2019s father had emigrated from Alsace and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/frank-aloysius-dixon\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Frank Aloysius Dixon&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1503,"parent":30,"menu_order":37,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1449","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1449"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7712,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1449\/revisions\/7712"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}