Antonio Simmons Dini

Antonio Simmons Dini was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in January 1918, the son of Pietro Antonio Dini, a man of Corsican descent, and his New Zealand-born wife. He was educated at Christchurch Technical College and was working in New Zealand before sailing for England, where he took a short service commission in the Royal Air Force at the end of 1937 and trained as a pilot at Hatfield and at No. 3 Flying Training School, South Cerney.

Dini flew Supermarine Spitfires with No. 66 Squadron before being posted in May 1940 to No. 607 Squadron, then operating Hawker Hurricanes in France with the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force. When the German offensive opened on 10 May he was quickly in action, flying repeated sorties against Heinkel He 111 bombers attacking the squadron’s airfield and in the fighting that followed. Across the Battle of France he was credited with five enemy aircraft destroyed and a share in two more, making him a flying ace.

Withdrawn to England, he was posted to No. 605 Squadron, a Hurricane unit then at RAF Hawkinge in Kent and about to move north to Scotland. Dini did not die in combat. On 31 May 1940, taking off from Hawkinge to follow the squadron north, his Hurricane (L2117, coded UP-R) suffered engine failure; too low to recover, it rolled into a dive and crashed into a road a few miles north of Folkestone. He was 22 years old and is buried in Hawkinge Cemetery.