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On October 2, 1911, while flying at Spokane, Washington, he crashed and was so seriously injured that he died about two hours later, at age 19. He had attempted to fly out of a hazardous field where he had to make a steep climbing turn over some railroad embankments. An unexpected gust of wind struck his machine, upsetting him, and he was too close to the ground to recover. He was survived by his mother and a sister. His body was returned to Columbus, Ohio, and buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. Following his death his mother began to fail rapidly and died two years later, to be buried beside him.
In October, 1912, a tablet was dedicated to Dixon at Helena, Montana, at the point where he made his celebrated flight over the mountains the year before. 
Flying Pioneer Cromwell Dixon, Jr. , is remembered as an ambitious, courageous boy who in his short years of life left a record of unusual accomplishments in the early history of American aeronauts and aviators, It was indeed a sad turn of fate that he lost his life so soon after learning to fly. He would  had undoubtedly become an outstanding airman, [[?]] the devoted encouragement and assistance of his wonderful mother. It is impossibe to think  of one without the other, for it was undoubtedly through her absolute faith in him that he developed his talents and abilites at such an early age.