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John Michael Dixon joined 145 Squadron RAF on 28th August 1944
16-Sep 1944
DIXON, JOHN MICHAEL (173908) age: 22 RAFVR
Fg Off
He was killed whilst flying in Spitfire VIII, MT671 of No 145 Sqn, which was shot down near San Marino by flak. He is buried in Ravenna War Cemetery
From
September 1944 found the Squadron based at Loreto and Fano [3] on the North Eastern coastline of Italy. It was here that John Dixon was pilot in Spitfire MT671. This Mark LFVIII version was powered by Merlin 66 engines and produced by Supermarine in Eastleigh, it was one of over 20,000 Spitfires built between 1936-48.
At that time they were operating for Rover Paddy. Part of the British “Rover” system, these were pairings of air controllers and army liaison officers at the front; they were able to switch communications seamlessly from one brigade to another—hence Rover. Incoming strike aircraft arrived with pre-briefed targets, which they would strike 20 minutes after arriving on station only if the Rovers had not directed them to another more pressing target. Rovers might call on artillery to mark targets with smoke shells, or they might direct the fighters to map grid coordinates, or they might resort to a description of prominent terrain features as guidance. However, one drawback for the Rovers was the constant rotation of pilots, who were there for fortnightly stints, leading to a lack of institutional memory. Call signs for the Rovers were “Rover Paddy” and “Rover David” for the RAF.
Death and Burial
On 16 September 1944, John Michael Dixon was part of a small group of Spitfires on the airfield at Fano. John and nine other pilots had been given their orders to target mortar positions near San Marino.
He departed at 15:35 and low level conditions were reported to be poor, but above cloud level they were fair. Several of the aircrew returned early after a successful bombing raid on their target. At 19.25 John Dixon was flying No 2 in section when they encountered intense A/A gun fire, John was hit by flak and desperately tried to climb to high altitude with dark smoke seen pouring from his aircraft. His Spitfire was now covered in flames as it fell back down to earth and crashed into a hill near San Marino (position R. 78009300).
Logbook entry from fellow 145 Sqdn pilot (Blag Britton) attached; showing entry for 16 Sep '44. This was only one of the sorties flown by 145 Sqdn that day.
