A hurried snatch at the rip cord and, with a jolt, the parachute opened."ĭeere crashed nine times during his military career and lived to tell the tale, writing a memoir called Nine Lives.įollowing the war he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his efforts and following his death at the age of 77, his ashes were scattered over the River Thames in London, fittingly, from a Spitfire aircraft. Then suddenly I was blown along the side of the fuselage and was clear. The nose of my aircraft had now dropped and was pointing at the ground which was rushing up at an alarming rate. The hope is to hide within the vessel and as high tide comes in, float out to sea. Back on the beach, Tommy, Alex, and Gibson have joined with a group of Scottish soldiers making their way towards an abandoned boat grounded during low tide. "Although I twisted and turned I could not free myself. Believing that the men at Dunkirk remain their top priority, Mr. I shot out a few feet but somehow became caught up," he wrote. Turned my machine on its back and pushed the stick hard forward. Then my Spitfire burst into flames, so I undid my straps and eased the stick back to gain height before bailing out. Never did it take so long to cross the Channel. "Bullets seemed to come from everywhere and pieces flew off my aircraft. In a New Zealand History biography, he described how he struggled to escape from his burning aircraft. Deere finished the war as one of New Zealand's most successful fighter pilots and is credited with shooting down 22 German aircraft, and another 10 'probable' kills.ĭuring one of his fights he was attacked by five German aircraft before crash landing.
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