Alan Deere
Alan Christopher "Al" Deere, was a New Zealand fighter ace with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was also notable for the number of near death experiences he had during the course of the war. This led to his published autobiography being titled Nine Lives.
Born in Westport, New Zealand in 1917, Deere joined the RAF in January 1938. Posted to No. 54 Squadron, he flew Supermarine Spitfires during the Battle of France and became a fighter ace by the end of May 1940. For his exploits he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross the following month. He participated in the subsequent Battle of Britain, during which he shot down several more enemy aircraft as well as having his own Spitfire destroyed from under him on more than one occasion. His continued accomplishments earned him a bar to his DFC in September 1940. He was soon promoted to squadron leader, and commanded No. 403 Squadron RCAF for several months in 1942. He led a fighter wing from Biggin Hill for six months in 1943 for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. By the end of the war, he was credited with the destruction of 22 enemy aircraft, ranking him the second-highest scoring New Zealand fighter ace. However recent scholarship has seen this total revised to 17 enemy aircraft.
Deere remained in the RAF during the postwar period, commanding a number of stations and training establishments. He also wrote his autobiography which was published in 1959. He left military service in 1967, having achieved the rank of air commodore, but continued to live in the United Kingdom. As a civilian, he continued to work with the RAF as its sporting director until his retirement in 1977. As a well known fighter ace of the Second World War, he was sought after by media and historians for commentary and interviews on air warfare. He died of cancer in 1995.
Early life
Alan Christopher Deere was born in Westport, New Zealand, on 12 December 1917, the third of six children of Terrence Deere, a worker with the New Zealand Railways, and his wife, Teresa. Descended from Irish immigrants, the family lived in Westport, on the coast of the South Island, until 1930, when the family moved to Wanganui. Deere attended Marist Brothers' School and then Wanganui Technical College, becoming an accomplished athlete in rugby, cricket and boxing. He was so proficient at the latter sport that he represented Wanganui at the New Zealand Boxing Championship. He was also successful academically.When Charles Kingsford-Smith visited Wanganui in his 1933 tour with the Southern Cross, he offered paid flights in his aircraft; Deere was one who took up the offer and from then on, he became interested in learning how to fly. After finishing his schooling, Deere worked on a sheep farm before taking up employment as a law clerk. In 1936, through his family doctor, he discovered that the Royal Air Force was open to applications from men from the Dominions, reinvigorating his desire to fly. With his father not approving of his intention to join the RAF, he persuaded his mother to sign the necessary application form. He passed the selection board, presided over by Wing Commander Ralph Cochrane, in April 1937 and sailed for England on the Rangitane in September.
Military career
Arriving in London in October 1937, Deere began his flight training at the end of that month at the No. 13 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School at White Waltham. Prior to starting he had to undertake a medical check, which he failed on account of high blood pressure. He had undertake further tests which he passed, the previously high blood pressure readings being put down to excitement at the prospect of flying.Deere's flight training went well and he soloed on a de Havilland Tiger Moth in November. On 9 January 1938 he was granted a short service commission as an acting pilot officer on probation. He then commenced initial officer training at RAF Uxbridge for two weeks before, on 21 January 1938, proceeding to No. 6 Flying Training School at Netheravon in Wiltshire. His prowess at boxing saw Deere selected for the RAF boxing team to tour South Africa but he chose to remain in England to focus on flight training. The aircraft on which the boxing team travelled crashed at Bulawayo, in Rhodesia, killing several of the RAF personnel on board.
In May 1938, Deere was awarded his wings. Selected for Fighter Command, he progressed to flying the Hawker Fury, a biplane fighter before being posted to No. 54 Squadron three months later. His new squadron, which was based at Hornchurch in Essex, flew Gloster Gladiators. However, as the entire squadron was on leave at the time of his arrival, for two weeks he was temporarily attached to No. 74 Squadron, which also flew out of Hornchurch. He was assigned to the section commanded by Flight Lieutenant Sailor Malan, who arranged for him to have some flying time on a Gloster Gauntlet. When Deere began service with No. 54 Squadron he initially performed administrative duties and it was some time before he was given the opportunity to fly his own Gladiator. Much of the squadron's training in peacetime involved formation flying and fighter tactics, but Deere also played rugby for Rosslyn Park, a South London club. Opponents included London Welsh and Old Blues RFC. His rank as a pilot officer was made substantive on 28 October 1938.
No. 54 Squadron began converting to Supermarine Spitfires in early 1939, Deere flying his for the first time on 6 March. Although he enjoyed flying Gladiators, he found the Spitfire to be "marvellous". At one point, as he familiarised himself with the aeroplane, he blacked out as he was climbing at. When he recovered he found he was diving the Spitfire towards the sea. Pulling out of the dive, he returned to Hornchurch and sought medical attention. It was found that he had burst one of his eardrums by neglecting to increase his flow of oxygen as he increased his altitude. He was unable to fly until he recovered.
Second World War
On the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 54 Squadron began flying convoy patrols and missions aimed at intercepting German reconnaissance aircraft. They occasionally flew night patrols, which were not popular with pilots as the Spitfire was ill-equipped for this role. On one such patrol Deere, directed by a controller, very nearly flew into a set of barrage balloons over Harwich and then ran into a perimeter fence when landing at a foggy Hornchurch. The squadron regularly swapped between operating from Hornchurch and Rochford for the next several months up until May 1940.Battle of France
The Battle of France had commenced on 10 May 1940 and saw the gradual retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to the French coast at Dunkirk and Calais. With the British squadrons already operating in France struggling to cope, from 16 May, No. 54 Squadron began to provide extra air cover over the Allied positions there. Deere was involved with the first, uneventful, patrol, and over the coming days flew several more such patrols across the English Channel to Dunkirk.On 23 May Deere and another pilot were detailed to escort Flight Lieutenant James Leathart, flying a Miles Magister, a two-seat trainer, over to Calais to rescue No. 74 Squadron's commanding officer, Squadron Leader Laurie White, who had made a forced landing at an airfield there. During this mission, and in sight of Leathart, Deere claimed his first combat victories, shooting down two of several Messerschmitt Bf 109s fighters that had approached while the Magister was still on the airfield. He damaged a third Bf 109 but ran out of ammunition and had to return to England. The mission was a success, for Leathart was able to collect White and fly back to Hornchurch. The action gave Deere an insight into the qualities of the Bf 109; he considered that "in the hands of a good pilot was a tough nut to crack. Initially, it was faster in the dive, but slower in the climb; the Spitfire could out-turn but it was at a disadvantage in manoeuvres that entailed negative G forces . Overall, there was little to choose between the two fighters."
The following day, while the squadron was flying near Saint-Omer in the Calais region, a formation of Heinkel He 111s bombers accompanied by Bf 109s and Messerschmitt Me 110s, a type of heavy fighter, was spotted. An attempt to attack the bombers was disrupted by the Bf 109s. During the resulting melee, Deere shot down an Bf 109. On 26 May, with the squadron at over Gravelines covering a convoy of ammunition ships, he shot down two Me 110s. These had disrupted his attempt to intercept some German bombers that were attacking a British destroyer off Calais. His aircraft was badly damaged during this action, with part of one wing shot away.
Operation Dynamo, the British effort to evacuate the BEF from Dunkirk, commenced in the evening of 26 May. The RAF efforts now shifted to tightly covering Dunkirk and the English Channel, protecting the ships of the evacuation fleet as much as possible. Accordingly, No. 54 Squadron would fly several times a day to Dunkirk during the evacuation. On an afternoon patrol on 27 May, Deere destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 dive bomber attacking a hospital ship, and shared in the destruction of another. The next day, Deere led the squadron, now down to eight serviceable aircraft, on its final dawn patrol before it was withdrawn for a rest. Coming across a Dornier Do 17 light bomber, he led a section of his flight in pursuit while the rest the squadron continued with its patrol. In making an attack on the Do 17, his own Spitfire was damaged by machine-gun fire from its rear gunner. This forced him to make an emergency landing on a Belgian beach, during which he was knocked unconscious. After coming to, he made his way on foot to a nearby town where his head injuries were dressed. He hitched a ride on a British Army lorry to Dunkirk, and boarded a boat to Dover from where he took a train back to London, and then travelled to Hornchurch, from where he had taken off some 19 hours earlier. During his boat ride to Dover, he was subject to scathing comments from soldiers about the effectiveness of the RAF's fighter cover.
For its rest, No. 54 Squadron had moved to RAF Catterick in Yorkshire. Afer ten days of non-stop flying over Dunkirk, it had been depleted in both pilots and aircraft and needed to rest and re-equip. It returned to Hornchurch on 4 June 1940, with new Spitfires and replacement pilots, and began flying reconnaissance missions to northern France and Belgium. On one such mission in the Abbeville area, Deere and Leathart between them badly damaged a Ju 88, counting it as a probable. Later in the month Deere's award of the Distinguished Flying Cross was announced and this was presented to him by King George VI at a ceremony at Hornchurch on 27 June. His citation for the DFC read:
By July, No. 54 Squadron was back to flying convoy and coastal patrols. In the afternoon of 9 July while leading a patrol between Deal and Dover, a Heinkel He 59 seaplane was sighted along with an escort of several Bf 109s. Ordering one section to pursue the seaplane, Deere took another section to deal with the escort. He shot down one Bf 109 but then collided with a second, flown by Oberfeldwebel Johann Illner of Jagdgeschwader 51. As a result of the glancing blow with the Bf 109, the propeller blades of Deere's Spitfire were bent backwards, his cockpit hood partially stove in, the engine disabled, and much of the fin and rudder lost. Already heading inland prior to the collision, he glided to a forced landing in a paddock near Manston, in Kent. The hood, damaged in the collision, proved difficult to open but he was able to escape before his burning aircraft was destroyed by flames. He spent the night at the nearby RAF airbase before returning to Hornchurch the next day. In the meantime, Illner was able to return to France in his own badly damaged aircraft.
Battle of Britain
The first phase of the Battle of Britain commenced on 10 July 1940, when Luftwaffe attacks on targets along the coast of England and on shipping were stepped up in the Kanalkampf. These were designed to draw out and destroy RAF Fighter Command, necessary for the proposed invasion of Britain. As part of No. 11 Group, tasked with the defence of southeast England, Deere's squadron was to be heavily involved in the Battle of Britain.Poor weather conditions meant that No. 54 Squadron saw little action until 24 July, when the Luftwaffe mounted several large bombing raids against convoys in the Thames Estuary. With one raid in the morning having been disrupted by Deere and his flight, during a second raid at midday that included at least 20 bombers and 30 fighters, he destroyed a Bf 109. This was his first victory of the Battle of Britain and by the end of the action, the squadron had accounted for 16 Bf 109s for the loss of two pilots. A few days later, Deere was promoted to the rank of flying officer and the squadron, having flown more sorties than any other during July, was sent back to Catterick for a rest.
No. 54 Squadron returned to Hornchurch on 8 August 1940 and flew an uneventful patrol later that day. On 12 August, Deere, while leading the squadron, pursued and shot down a Bf 109 that broke up his section's attack on a group of bombers off the Kent coast, near North Foreland. While returning to Hornchurch, he encountered a group of Me 110s, one of which he shot down. On 15 August, during an attempt by the squadron to intercept a bombing raid they encountered 40 Bf 109s. Deere destroyed one and damaged another. On another interception mission that evening, the squadron engaged a group of Bf 109s escorting Do 17 bombers flying towards London. He pursued one Bf 109 and shot it down over the English Channel. A second was also destroyed, Deere having pursued it inland of the French coast. Heading back to England, he encountered five Bf 109s which attempted to block his flight path. Despite repeated attacks by the Bf 109s, he was able to make the English coast although with his Spitfire badly damaged with its engine on fire. He bailed out at low altitude and as he exited the cockpit, he struck the tailplane which injured his wrist. Initially taken to RAF Kenley, at which time he discovered his watch had been damaged by a German bullet, he was admitted to Victoria Hospital for treatment. He discharged himself the following day and was back on operations on 17 August. Deere was shot down again on 28 August, this time by a Spitfire in an incidence of friendly fire, but parachuted to safety. He had earlier scored hits on a pair of Bf 109s, but not being able to see either one crash and thus only claimed one probable. His abandoned Spitfire went on to crash at Boreham, in Essex, and in 1973, its engine and other remnants were recovered. On 30 August, a quieter day for the squadron with only two patrols, he engaged a Do 17 but was not able to physically confirm its destruction, and claimed it as a probable.
The following day the Luftwaffe raided Hornchurch, which had been caught unawares. The squadron was scrambled, with Deere leading a section of three Spitfires as they taxied down the runway. The German bombers in the meantime released their munitions onto the runway. All three aeroplanes of Deere's section were destroyed with his Spitfire was blown on its back, trapping him. With injuries to his scalp, he was extracted by another pilot of his section. Instructed to rest for three days, he disregarded this and started flying again on 2 September. He only had two more days of operations before the squadron moved back to Catterick for yet another period of rest and recovery. It would play no further role in the Battle of Britain. Since the beginning of 1940, its pilots had accounted for the destruction of at least 92 enemy aircraft.
Shortly after the squadron's return to Yorkshire, Deere's award of a bar to his DFC was announced. The published citation read:
No. 54 Squadron remained in Yorkshire for the remainder of 1940, classified as a training unit. Deere was one of a few pilots to remain as an instructor with most of the squadron's experienced aircrew being posted to other units. Consequently, he was involved in practice flights with new pilots, bringing them up to speed with combat tactics. On one such flight in December 1940, he collided with a trainee's aircraft, which saw his Spitfire losing most of its tail and going into a spin. Bailing out with some difficulty due to the centrifugal forces of the spinning aircraft, he became trapped against the remnants of the tailplane. He was finally able to break free as the Spitfire approached the ground, but his parachute, which had been damaged, failed to fully open. Deere landed in a pool of farm sewerage which broke much of his fall. As a result of this incident he was rested from active flying.
Squadron Leader
In January 1941 Deere was promoted to acting squadron leader and tasked as an operations room controller at Catterick. Due to weather conditions, flying was limited and No. 54 Squadron shifted back to Hornchurch in February. The squadron's role was now to conduct offensive sweeps, codenamed Rhubarbs, over France. Deere soon tired of his controller duties and sought a return to flying operations. In May 1941, he was posted to No. 602 Squadron, which operated Spitfires from Ayr, in Scotland, as one of its flight commanders. This move saw him return to the rank of flight lieutenant., 1941
When Deere arrived at No. 602 Squadron, he was already well known for his reputation both as a fighter ace and for narrow escapes. On an early practice flight over the North Sea with the squadron, his Spitfire developed engine trouble. He only just made the Scottish coast and crash landed in a potato field, flipping his aircraft onto its back, temporarily trapping him. He was able to wriggle free and make his way back to Ayr. In May 1941, the squadron provided air cover for the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, which was returning to Scotland after its involvement in the Battle of the Denmark Strait.
In July, No. 602 Squadron was transferred to Kenley, operating with No. 452 and 485 Squadrons as part of the fighter wing flying from Kenley. The Kenley wing, as it was known, was to conduct operations over northern France, escorting bombers and carrying out fighter sweeps, which commenced following a period of familiarisation with the area. Later in the month, his rank of flight lieutenant was made substantive, and at the beginning of August, Deere took over leadership of the squadron while its regular commander was in hospital. The same day, he claimed an Bf 109 shot down. Although officially credited with this kill, his biographer considers it a possibility that this was in fact a friendly fire incident, and the aircraft destroyed may have been a Hawker Hurricane of No. 242 Squadron.
On one sweep over Béthune, on 9 August 1941, Deere, unable to see them go down, claimed three Bf 109s as damaged. A fellow pilot noted Deere had a high level of integrity when it came to claiming enemy aircraft shot down. A few days later, near Lille, he encountered difficulty on a mission escorting Handley Page Hampden bombers, when his Spitfire was damaged by an unobserved Bf 109 that had surprised him. Enemy cannon tore a large hole in his wing and there were over 30 bullet holes through the fuselage. Despite leaking glycol, he was able to cross the English Channel and land at Manston airfield. Deere claimed two more Bf 109s as damaged during the period from September to November 1941. During this time, his flight lieutenant rank was made permanent. By this stage of the year, high losses among fighter pilots and bomber crews saw the RAF reduce its offensive operations to Belgium and France over the winter months.
In January 1942, No. 602 Squadron was taken over by Squadron Leader Brendan Finucane while Deere was sent on a lecturing and public relations trip to America. Arriving in early March, he taught American pilots fighter tactics learnt in the Battle of Britain and the later fighting over France. He was also able to fly American aircraft. After six weeks in the United States, he returned to England. He found that he had been assigned to a staff post in the Far East but preferred to remain in Europe. He arranged a meeting with the commander of No. 11 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who gave him command of No. 403 Squadron, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, instead. He took up his command, based at North Weald in Essex, on 30 April.
Prior to his arrival, the morale of No. 403 Squadron was low to due to losses earlier in the month, including its former commander, and it had been taken off operations. Deere quickly brought the squadron back to operational status, flying on an uneventful sweep over the Belgian coastline on 5 May 1942. It undertook further operations of this nature for the rest of the month and the intensity increased in June; on one mission, on 2 June, when flying as cover for the North Weald wing, the squadron encountered around 40 to 50 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters and half of its participating 12 aircraft were lost. Deere used up all his ammunition but the hectic nature of the engagement meant that he was unable to observe whether any of his strikes were successful. Due its losses, the squadron moved to Martlesham Heath to carry out convoy patrols and was scheduled for a rest period later in the month. Deere felt this move unnecessary as morale among the remaining pilots remaining high despite the losses of 2 June and met with Leigh-Mallory in an attempt to have the squadron remain on operations. To his dismay, he found that Leigh-Mallory held him partially responsible for the losses due to his aggressive leadership and did not retract his orders for the squadron to have a rest.
From 18 June, No. 403 Squadron was based at Catterick and it was still there in August, performing local patrols and working on practicing formation flying, when Deere was posted to the headquarters of No. 13 Group on staff duties. He was only briefly in this role before he was sent to the RAF Staff College for a three-month course. This was completed in late January 1943 and he returned to No. 13 Group. He desired a return to flying duties and soon engineered a return to operations for two weeks as a supernumerary with No. 611 Squadron at Biggin Hill. During his time with the squadron, he shot down an Fw 190, on 16 February. When he went back to No. 13 Group, he was surprised with news that he was to be wing leader of the Kenley wing. However, this posting was changed at the last minute and instead he was to command the fighter wing at Biggin Hill, whose previous commander had just been shot down over the English Channel.
Wing Leader
In being based at Biggin Hill, Deere became reacquainted with Sailor Malan, the station's commander, who had been helpful when he was first posted to No. 54 Squadron in 1938. By this stage of the war, Fighter Command's daytime operations were increasingly focused on escorting bombers on raids into France, often operating as two-squadron wings. This meant the fighter pilots needed to learn new techniques of operating, which Deere had to impart in his role as wing leader. Malan supported Deere as he introduced new tactics to the wing's operations when escorting bombers; in particular, he emphasized the need for independence for squadrons and sections when flying as a wing and to not be tied too closely to the speed of the bombers. The latter had been an issue during the Battle of Britain, for the Luftwaffe's tactics of providing a close escort to bombers meant that fighters lost their advantage of speed. His first operation as wing leader was on 4 April 1943, escorting bombers to Abbeville, but he had to return prematurely when his Spitfire developed engine trouble. Similar missions followed in April and May, during which time the Biggin Hill wing claimed its 1000th victory, on 15 May. The following month, on 4 June, Deere's award of the Distinguished Service Order was announced, the published citation reading:Later that month, Deere claimed a damaged Fw 190 during a melee with 50 German fighters as his wing escorted a bombing raid to France. On 23 June he claimed a Fw 190 as destroyed when he forced it into an unrecoverable spin when taking avoidance action over the Pas de Calais. At the start of July, No. 485 Squadron, which had mainly New Zealand flying personnel, joined the Biggin Hill wing. It was commanded by Squadron Leader Johnny Checketts, who Deere had recommended for the post. Checketts had to twice take over command of the wing as Deere encountered further reliability issues with his aircraft, having to turn back early on two occasions in early July. On 14 July, he shot down a Fw 190, claiming it as a probable.
By late September 1943, Deere had become fatigued, not helped by a bout of dysentery. He had lost a number of close friends in recent months; René Mouchotte, the commander of the Free French No. 341 Squadron, which was part of the Biggin Hill wing, had been killed in late August and Checketts was shot down over France in early September although he was to make it back to England seven weeks later with the assistance of the French resistance. Deere had an incident where he crashed his Spitfire during takeoff. After Deere recovered from his illness, Malan took him off flying duties and placed him on leave. During his time as commander of the Biggin Hill wing, he had flown on 42 operations and it had accounted for sixty destroyed enemy aircraft.
Later war experiences
While on leave, and in recognition of his leadership of the Biggin Hill wing when it escorted bombers of the Eighth Air Force, Deere was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the United States. On 21 October 1943 he was sent to RAF Sutton Bridge, where he was to be the chief instructor at the Fighter Wing of the Central Gunnery School. While he was there, he encountered Checketts, who had been placed in command of one of the squadrons there after his return from France. In November, he went to Buckingham Palace to be invested with the DSO that he had been awarded earlier in the year.Deere was given a staff role at the headquarters of No. 11 Group in March 1944, under Group Captain Cecil Bouchier. Shortly afterwards, he received the Croix de Guerre from the Free French forces; this was in recognition of his role in leading the French squadrons that were part of the Biggin Hill wing. Then on 1 May 1944, at the request of the Chief of Staff of the Free French Air Force, Général de division Martial Valin, Deere took command of No. 145 Wing, which comprised two French squadrons operating Spitfires. Part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, the wing provided air cover over the beaches on D-Day. Deere went with the wing to France when it began operating from continental Europe but in late July 1944, he was posted to the headquarters of No. 84 Group. He acted in a co-ordination role, moving with ground forces and calling in air strikes on ground targets. When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, he was at Celle, in Germany, with a joint planning team.
Deere was one of New Zealand's best known fighter pilots of the war, due his fighter ace status and the number of close encounters he experienced. He had 22 confirmed victories, one of which was shared, 10 probables and 18 damaged. Of the several New Zealanders who achieved the status of a fighter ace, he was second only to Colin Gray. However, recent research by aviation historians Christopher Shores and Clive Williams suggests that he actually destroyed 17 enemy aircraft, with a share in the destruction of one more, plus four probables and a share in another, and seven damaged with one shared.
Post-war career
In July 1945, Deere took over leadership of the Polish P-51 Mustang wing based at Andrew's Field in Essex. This command lasted until October 1945, at which time he presided over the disbandment of the wing before becoming Commanding Officer at RAF Duxford. He also received a permanent commission, as a squadron leader, in the RAF on 1 September 1945 although he continued to retain his acting wartime rank of wing commander. At the end of the year, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his military service.In August 1946 Deere commenced a nine-month course on air strategy at the Air University in Alabama. On returning to the United Kingdom in June 1947 after completion of his course, he was posted to the staff of Air Headquarters in Malta, beginning in July 1947. He remained in the role for two years but during this time spent a period of leave in New Zealand. Once back in the United Kingdom, he joined the staff of No. 61 Group, based at Kenley. His acting rank of wing commander was made permanent on 1 July 1951 and at the end of the year he took up a post at Fighter Command's No. 11 Group, at the headquarters of its northern sector at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, in North Yorkshire.
Deere returned to his former wartime base at RAF North Weald in May 1952, becoming the station's commander. Part of his work at the station involved organising and supervising the construction of a new control tower. He kept his hand in on flight duties, flying Gloster Meteors, including one on a demonstration flight to Hornchurch in 1953 for celebrations of the anniversary of the Battle of Britain. In June 1954 he was posted to Germany, where he acted as an administrator at the headquarters of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Wildenrath. From March 1957 he began instructing at the RAF Staff College in Bracknell and later that year was promoted to group captain. In between his instructing duties at Bracknell, Deere worked on his autobiography. He had been inspired to do so by his return to Hornchurch a few years previously which had prompted memories of his wartime service there. This was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1959 as Nine Lives, a reference to his numerous close calls, to largely favourable reviews.
His teaching duties at Bracknell ended in late 1959 and, after a short period at Transport Command in a liaison capacity, Deere was assigned to the Air Ministry as Director of Postings. In March 1961, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, a role he fulfilled until June 1964. By then he was leading Fighter Command's East Anglia sector, having spent the previous year as Assistant Commandant at the RAF College, Cranwell. By this time he had been promoted to air commodore. On 30 January 1965, he was given the honour of leading fellow Battle of Britain fighter pilots in the main funeral cortège for Winston Churchill at St. Paul's Cathedral. When the various Fighter Command sectors were disestablished in August 1965, he appointed commandant at the RAF's No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton. This proved to be his last posting for he retired from the RAF on 12 December 1967.
Later life
Upon his retirement, Deere immediately took up a civilian position as the RAF's Director of Sport, a role he would hold until December 1972. During this time he also became the chairman of the RAF Rugby Committee, helping to select playing teams. In March 1972, he participated in a This is your Life television program in honour of Douglas Bader, the famous British fighter pilot who flew with false legs. As part of this involvement, he publicly recounted the story of how he flew as an escort to the aircraft delivering a replacement leg for Bader, who had been shot down and was a prisoner of war. In 1990, he was again involved with a This is your Life show, this time a New Zealand version, for his compatriot Checketts who had flown with him during his days as commander of the Biggin Hill wing. This was to be his last visit to New Zealand.As a well known Spitfire pilot, Deere was often called upon by authors of military history and publishers for his reminiscences of the Second World War, particularly in relation to the Battle of Britain and Spitfires. His Nine Lives autobiography was republished in 1991 and he was interviewed for a documentary series on New Zealand in the Second World War. In his later years, he suffered from cancer, which led to his death, aged 77, on 21 September 1995. He was subsequently cremated and his ashes were scattered over the River Thames from a Spitfire. He was survived by his wife Joan née Fenton, who he had married on 18 September 1945 and their two children.