Danish WW2 Pilots

Fg Off. Alan Michael Dix

(1922 - 2001)

Fg Off Dix was the son of the former British Navy Attaché in Copenhagen, where he was born. He served in the Danish Army before escaping to Sweden during the German occupation of Denmark. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force in late 1943 and served as an intelligence officer.

Alan Michael Dix was born on 29 June 1922 in Copenhagen, the son of managing director and former British Naval Attaché Cdr Charles Cabry Dix, GMC DSO, and Ebba Catharina Dix (née Sievers).[1] Cdr Dix had served as the British Naval Attaché from 1914-1919.[2] Dix had two half-sisters from his mother’s first marriage, Inge and Jytte Permin,[3] and a half-brother, Charles Beattie Dix, MC, from his father’s first marriage.[4] The marriage did not last; Dix’ parents divorced, and his mother re-married in 1924. Dix lived with his mother and her husband, Erik Kristian Edstrand during his childhood years.[5]

Dix attended Stenhus boarding school in the late 1930s and graduated from middle-school (mellemskolen) in 1940.[6] Dix was part of a clique at Stenhus comprising among others Kim Malthe-Bruun, who was executed by Gestapo on 6 April 1945 for his resistance activities, and Erik Infeld, who escaped Denmark in 1941 and served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Norwegian Air Force.[7]

Escape from Denmark

Dix was naturalised as Danish citizen in August 1940.[8] He served in the Danish army before escaping to England. According to his obituary in the Scotsman in 2001,

He hid in a barrel on a fishing boat bound for Sweden and was forced to swim the last three miles. He later made his way to Gothenburg, where he stowed away on a Red Cross ship bound for Leith. There, he was thrown into prison as a possible German spy. After days of interrogation he was finally released and he made his way to London (...).[9]

The story have not yet been verified by other sources.

Royal Air Force service

Dix volunteered for the Royal Air Force in late 1943 (1882399) and became an intelligence officer.

He was commissioned as Acting Pilot Officer on probation (176065) in Administrative and Special Duties Branch on 8 June 1944,[10] and regraded to Pilot Officer (prob.) on 3 August.[11] Six months later, on 3 February 1945, he was confirmed in this appointment and promoted Flying Officer (war subst.) in Administrative and Special Duties Branch, Royal Air Force.[12]

Towards the end of the war he participates in the liberation of Belsen and experience that influences him for the rest of his life. He served in the 3 Missing Research and Enquiry Unit in Denmark and Germany in 1946.[13]

After the war he becomes an important figure in the motor trade in the United Kingdom. He is awarded an OBE in 1986.[14]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Sankt Olai Sogn.

[2] NA: ADM 196/46/187, Dix, Charles Cabry.

[3] DNA: Parish register, Rigshospitalets Sogn.

[4] Ancestry: England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976.

[5] DNA: 1925 and 1930 Census of Denmark.

[6] DNA: FF-187, Stenhus Kostskole og HF, pk. 64.

[7] Nielsen Brovst, B. (1980). Kim Malthe-Bruun og krigen: en dokumentarisk skildring.

[8] Database over indfødsretstildelinger 1776 - 1960, https://ddd.dda.dk/ (accessed on 14 February 2021).

[9] Obituary, The Scotsman, 6 November 2001.

[10] London Gazette, issue 36612, p. 3335, 14 July 1944, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36612/supplement/3335.

[11] London Gazette, Issue 36648, p. 3713, 11 August 1944, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36648/supplement/3713.

[12] London Gazette, issue 36648, p. 3713, 8 August 1944, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36648/supplement/3713.

[13] NA: AIR 29/1598.

[14] Obituary, The Scotsman, 6 November 2001.