Dixie Sloan was born on January 1, 1921, in Richmond, Virginia. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 11, 1939, and entered the Aviation Cadet Program on August 25, 1941. Sloan was awarded his pilot wings as a Staff Sergeant Pilot at Kelly Field, Texas, on March 7, 1942, and was commissioned a 2d Lt on September 20, 1942. He was briefly assigned to the 79th Pursuit Group at Dale Mabry Field, Florida, before joining the 96th Pursuit Squadron of the 82nd Pursuit Group at Muroc Field, California, in April 1942. Lt Sloan deployed with the group to Northern Ireland in October 1942, and began flying combat missions in the P-38 Lightning in North Africa in January 1943. He was credited with the destruction of 12 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, 2 probables, and 3 damaged, from January to September 1943, when he returned to the United States. Sloan spent the remainder of the war as a P-38 flight instructor in California. After the war, he served at bases in Utah, California, Idaho, and Washington, before serving in Germany from August 1946 to September 1949. During this time, Sloan flew over 50 missions in C-54 Skymaster transports in support of the Berlin Airlift. He served at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, from September 1949 to July 1953, and then at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, from July 1953 to July 1955. Maj Sloan was an Air Force-Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer for the New York Wing of CAP from July 1955 to October 1958, and then served on the Staff of Air Material Command (renamed Air Force Logistics Command in 1961) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, until his retirement from the Air Force on September 30, 1963. Col William Sloan died on January 30, 1999, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1968 for a mission he flew in 1943.

His Air Force Cross Citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, awards the Air Force Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (then First Lieutenant) William J. Sloan for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an armed enemy of the United States as pilot of a P-38 aircraft in the North African Theater of Operations on 5 July 1943. On that date, Colonel Sloan led a flight of fighter aircraft escorting thirty-six B-25 bombers in an attack on Gerbini Airdrome. The formation encountered intense antiaircraft fire in the target area and was attacked by ten enemy fighters. Colonel Sloan shot down two of the enemy fighters and was conspicuous in driving the remaining hostile fighters away from the bombers, all of which returned safely. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, Colonel Sloan reflected the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.