EXCITEMENT IN AIR

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1940, Page 8

EXCITEMENT IN AIR

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.

British Official Wireless.

NEW ZEALAND PILOT

POSSIBLY WANGANUI MAN

Rec. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, Sept. 17. A New Zealand fliglit commander who is credited with shooting down 12 1-30 German machines — the fraction being due to the share he has taken in three actions with other pilots in bringing down single enemy aeroplanes — has had an adventurous time reaching this score. He has been shot down four or five times and has baled out three times. One day in July he made a head-on attack on a Messerschmitt 109. Neither he nor the enemy would give way and they collided. The Messerschmitt's airscrew struck the upper part of the British pilot's cockpit and his hood was jammed down. The machine caught fire byt he landed in a field. He found his hood would not open and so had to smash his way out as the flames entered the cockpit. He was awarded the D.F.C. for his share in escorting a Miles Master training aircraft across the Channel to Calais to rescue a squadron leader. He and another pilot in Spitfires were attacked by 12 Messerschmitts. Botli pilots destroyed one each and shared in the destruction of a third and prob^bly a fourth. The Miles Master was undamaged. Landed Upside Down. He had a very narrow escape recently when he had just taken off with another pilot. As they left the ground a bomb came crashing near them. The port window of his aircraft was torn off and he and the machine were hurled into the next field, landing upside down and skating along for 100 yards before coming to rest. He was rescued by the other pilot. The New Zealander is apparently A. C. Deere, the Wanganui ace. In a letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Deere, Wanganui, last month, he described the head-on collision with the Messerschmitt. For this dogfight he was awarded a bar to the D.F.C. At the time of writing he was a flight-lieutenant. The other incidents mentioned in the cable are also part of his R.A.F. career.