N.Z. PILOT HAS CHARMED LIFE

Southland Times, Issue 24576, 27 October 1941, Page 6

N.Z. PILOT HAS CHARMED LIFE

NINE ADVENTURES OF A. C. DEERE ESCAPES FROM DEATH LONDON, October 20. Here is the remarkable story of the luckiest airman of the war—Squadron Leader A. C. Deere (D.F.C. with bar),, of Wanganui, New: Zealand. He has had nine escapes from death, all of them stranger than fiction. These are his nine fantastic adventures, culled from 45 daring sweeps over France and 60 dog-fights: — (1) Shot down near Nieuport during the Dunkirk evacuation, he made a successful “pancake” landing on the beach. Although badly wounded in the head, he scrambled up to the road, where he found an empty car, and raced ahead of the German panzer forces to Dunkirk. The car broke down, but he then found a motor-cycle. He reached Dunkirk just ahead of the panzers, swam out to a small boat, and from it boarded a destroyer. RAMMED ENEMY HEAD-ON (2 and 3) He was twice shot down near Dunkirk, but was again rescued. (4) While taxi-ing on a British aerodrome to .take off and intercept Nazi aircraft, a bomb fell in front of his Hurricane. The explosion blew his aeroplane several feet into the air, overturned it and hurled it to the edge of the aerodrome. Deere, still inside, was injured, but recovered in hospital. (5) During the Battle of Britain he

ran out of ammunition while attacking a Messerschihitt 110. He turned and rammed it head-on. Although the collision occurred at 700 miles an hour, Deere successfully leaped from his wrecked machine and parachuted to earth. (6) While Deere was teaching a pupil fighter tactics, a sergeant-pilot in a Spitfire crashed into his aeroplane at 25,000 ft —cutting it in half. The cockpit half, with Deere strapped into it, dived toward the earth. It fell 18,000 ft before Deere managed to get out and parachute to safety. (7) During a dog-fight over the North Sea, a bullet from a Messerschmitt smashed his petrol tank. Deere had the option of jumping from his petrol-soaked aeroplane or attempting to reach the coast. He stayed with the aeroplane, and reached the coast with a few yards to spare. “DOG-FIGHT” OVER BRITAIN (8) During a dog-fight over Britain he was shot down at 20,000 ft. He jumped, but his parachute became unhooked from his right shoulder and did not open when he pulled the ripcord. “I really thought I was gone this time,” he said. He was within 800 ft of the earth when the parachute suddenly billowed out, and broke his fall. (“I jarred every tooth in my head.”) (9) After chasing a Messerschmitt across the Channel and shooting it down over its own aerodrome, Deere found 12 Messerschmitts diving on him. His ammunition was gone and his petrol was almost exhausted. Within sight of England his petrol gave out altogether. The Messerschmitts dived for the kill. Deere glided down and crash-landed.