FIGHTS IN THE AIR
WANGANUI PILOT LONDON, August 13 Some of his experiences as a fighter pilot were related 'by Flight-Lieu-tenant Alan Deere, D.F.C. (Wanganui), when he addressed factory workers in aid of the summer savings campaign. Flight-Lieutenant Deere has shot down 17 Nazis. “I have destroped 17 machines, but I have lost nine Spitfires—a total of £60,000,” he told them, “and that is where we want this national savings campaign to help us. “I got into a bit of a scrap in my first flight over Dunkirk with a bomber and to my disgust he shot me down—a bomber!” added the pilot. ‘I finished on the beach and got myself out, and was confronted by two great fellows, and I thought, Jerries; but it turned out they were Belgians, so I got back to Dunkirk. “Another time I found myself going head-on at a Messerschmitt. Like a fool, I thought, ‘He’ll give way,’ but he didn’t, and we met—head on. There was a crash, and he fell into the sea. My machine caught fire, but I only got my eyebrows singed a bit. After that I said to myself, ‘Never again,’ but I did again and again.”
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 24536, 10 September 1941, Page 6
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198FIGHTS IN THE AIR Southland Times, Issue 24536, 10 September 1941, Page 6
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