Bob’s Story as told by his daughter
Diane Dixon writes > Bob Dixon was born in 1920 to Matthew and Frances Dixon in Bardon Mill near Haltwhistle, Northumberland. He came from a family of miners and agricultural workers, and their circumstances were often economically very challenging.
Bob was a bright student, and he wanted to stay on at school, but family finances dictated he leave school at 14. He worked as a labourer at the local slate mine until he enlisted in the RAF.
Bob was also a talented sportsperson. He was a keen footballer and played cricket as well, another family tradition. Pre-war, he had trials with Nottinghamshire (cricket) and Manchester City (football).
He enlisted in April 1940 as 986641 Cpl Robert (Bob) Dixon and was a member of RAF’s 142 Wing. This was confirmed from his Service Record.
142 Wing was based at RAF Scorton in North Yorkshire, a satellite station to RAF Catterick. Bob met his future wife, Christina (Chris) Bruce who was serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), at a Valentine’s Day dance in nearby Northallerton in February 1943. They married in January 1944 in Edinburgh, Chris’s home city.
Between the spring of 1943 and the spring of 1944, Scorton was host to No. 604 Squadron who arrived from RAF Ford in Hampshire. The squadron flew Beaufighters. 142 Wing was the night fighter wing in 85 Group. No.85 Group was responsible for airfield construction and the air defence of the beachhead bases during the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 and later. Bob’s family say he spoke often of landing on Omaha Beach.
When Bob headed for France, he left his wife, Chris, behind in Edinburgh and she was expecting their first child, Bruce, who was born in December 1944.
Cpl Bob Dixon was a firefighter; he was trained in that skill shortly before D-Day. After Omaha Beach, he moved through France to Belgium. By then, he was with the 290 Squadron, an anti-aircraft unit at Knokke-le-Zoute, a coastal resort near Zeebrugge. He was finally demobbed in April 1946.
Post-war, Bob and Chris settled in the Leith area of Edinburgh, later living in South Edinburgh. Bob became a police officer and served in Edinburgh City Police for 25 years. After retiring from the police force, he worked for Barclays Bank.
Alongside his work as a police officer, Bob continued to pursue his football and cricket interests. In the late 1940s he played football for Edinburgh City in the Scottish League B division. In the 50s and 60s he played football and cricket successfully for Edinburgh City Police and Scottish Police He also played East of Scotland League cricket for Leith Franklin.
Bob and Chris went on to have two more children, Keith and Diane, in the 1950s. They did everything in their powers to ensure that their three children had the education they had so wanted themselves but never had, and Bruce, Keith and Diane all went to university and had highly successful professional careers. Bob and Chris were proud of these achievements to the end.
Bob died in April 1996 at the age of 76.