R.E.8 A4694 near Greenhills aerodrome.

On 10th August 1917 this aeroplane was due to be ferried away from No.2 (Northern) Aircraft Repair Depot at Greenhill aerodrome (south-Sheffield) and to Rendcomb near Cheltenham which would have seen it join No.62 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. Greenhill aerodrome would later become known as Coal Aston aerodrome. The pilot was a No.21 Wing gunnery instructor; No.21 Wing was the body that oversaw aircraft repair in the south west which had Rendcomb aerodrome in it's care, he was probably sent to Sheffield to collect A4694. At around 17.00hrs the pilot took off from Greenhill and the aeroplane climbed normally to between two and three thousand feet, it then began to suffer engine trouble and the pilot attempted to turn the aeroplane back toward the aerodrome to land. In attempting to make the turn and downwind the aeroplane sideslipped, lost height and eventually crashed seriously injuring the pilot. He was taken to hospital in Sheffield but unfortunately his condition later worsened and he died on 19th August 1917.

Pilot - Capt Henry Eric Dixon RFC, aged 27. Died 19th August 1917. Buried Fulwood (Christ Church) Churchyard, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Henry Dixon was the son of Mr Albert Edward Dixon, a solicitor, of Cardiff and Mrs Dixon, of Downton House, Stonehouse, Gloucester. He was a grandson of Henry Isaac Dixon, of Stumperlowe Hall, Sheffield. As a young man Henry attended Bradfield College then studied at Leeds University. He worked at the Wolseley Works, Birmingham and then for the Cleveland Bridge Engineering Company. He enlisted into a Public Schools Battalion of the Army, then later was granted a commission in the Middlesex Regiment befoe transferring to the Royal Flying Corps. He was married for just nine months to Muriel Agnes Seymour Metford, daughter of Lt-Col (later Sir) Francis Killigrew Seymour Metford, of Gloucester.

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