27 June 1877, Kimberley Municipality formally constituted.
27 June 1882, Town Clerk JH Boag found not guilty of embezzlement.
27 June 1887, First passenger tram service officially opened to the public, started by Gibson Brothers.
27 June 1964, Andrew Cam Kiddie, World War I flying ace and local baker dies.
27 June 2001, Diamond Fields region name is changed to Frances Baard region.
World War I flying ace “Dixie” Kiddie dies
Andrew Cameron “Dixie” Kiddie was born in Kimberley on 7 November 1889, his father being Andrew Cameron Kiddie (Senior), a baker from Dundee, Scotland who came to South Africa in 1885. Kiddie Senior bought the bakery in Kimberley from a Mr Roy in 1895 after having worked there for some 9 years and changed the name to Andrew Kiddie and Sons.
Having served with the 18th South African Mounted Rifles in 1914/15, Andrew Cameron “Dixie” Kiddie went to England to join the Royal Flying Corps. 2nd Lieutenant Kiddie received Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate 3719 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Brooklands on 17 October 1916. Posted to 32 Squadron in 1917, he scored his first victory flying a DH5. Later that year, he served as an instructor with the Home Establishment. Among his students was future ace Ira Jones.
74 Squadron RAF Badge
In the spring of 1918, Kiddie was back in France flying the SE5a with 74 Squadron, the famed “Tigers”. On the morning of 8 May 1918, just days after scoring his second victory, Kiddie’s flight of six SE5As was pounced on by ten Fokker Tri-Planes. With a badly damaged aircraft, Kiddie was the only pilot to make it back to the aerodrome.
Senior Pilots of 74 Squadron
He went on to become a flight commander in the summer of 1918 and scored thirteen more victories by the end of the war. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation reading: A gallant officer, who has proved himself resolute and courageous in aerial combats. He has to his credit six enemy machines and one balloon shot down in flames. He was also awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
After the war and his father’s death in 1920, AC “Dixie” Kiddie took over the bakery.
He died in Kimberley on 27 June 1964 and is buried in the West End cemetery.
Although his parents and everyone in Kimberley knew him as “Cam”, in the RFC and the RAF he was known as “Dixie”.
Pictured is AC “Dixie” Kiddie, the 74 Squadron RAF badge, and senior pilots of 74 Squadron March-June 1918. Seated are: Edward “Mick” Mannock, Keith Caldwell, Everard (adj.), and Wilfred Young, while standing are Ben Roxburgh-Smith and Andrew Kiddie.
(Sources include Wikipedia, The Aerodrome, and the Diamond Fields Advertiser).
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
Shortlink for this post: https://www.kimberley.org.za/?p=14906
