Jump to content

Kiwi - Al Deere's first Spitfire


Recommended Posts

Alan Christopher Deere was born in Westport, New Zealand on 12 December 1917. His first job was as a law clerk, but he joined the RAF in 1937. Having completed his flying training, the received a short service commission as a Flying Officer. He was posted to 74 Sqn at Hornchurch in August 1938 and then in September to 54 Sqn, both squadrons flying Gloster Gladiators. Deere’s exploits with 54 Sqn would become the stuff of legend.

In March 1939, the Gladiators were replaced by Spitfires. The early months of the second world war were spent patrolling the Kent coast. Things changed in May 1940 with the squadron assigned to cover the Dunkirk evacuation. By this time, Deere had gained a personal aircraft, N3180 coded KL-B, which he named “Kiwi” and marked with a kiwi emblem underneath the windscreen.

On 23 May 1940 74 Sqn’s CO, Sqn Ldr White, was shot down over France. He was uninjured in the forced landing. Hornchurch mounted a rescue attempt. Deere, in N3180 and Plt Off Allen in P9389 escorted a Miles Magister flown by their flight commander, Fl Lt James Leathart, across the channel to pick White up.

On 23 May 1940 Deere took part in a daring rescue operation. He and Pilot Officer Allen escorted their flight commander, James Leathart, to France where he was to land a Miles Master trainer and pick up the CO of 74 Squadron who had made a forced landing on the airfield at Calais-Marck. The pick-up was made, with Allen watching from 8000 feet and Deere circling at low level. An approaching formation of Bf 109’s was spotted by Allen as the Master taxied out for take-off.

As a strafing Bf 109 pulled out of its dive, presenting a perfect target, Deere fired a short burst and the aircraft stalled and then crashed into the sea. Deere, climbing to help Allen, crossed the path of two 109’s, one of which turned towards him. Deere also turned, firing at the second one, which rolled over and dived away. Pursuing the first one, he caught up at treetop height and pursued him, firing off his remaining ammunition before the German headed for home.

Diving towards the coast Deere called up Allen and was relieved to hear him answer. In the interim the Master had taken off and headed for Hornchurch. In the action three Bf 109’s had been shot down and three others severely damaged.

Later that day, Deere shot down another Bf109. The following day, he shot down a Bf110 and then two more on the 26th May, making him an ace.

On 28 May, Deere attacked a Dornier (some sources say a Do17, others a Do215) over Dunkirk. The return fire from the Dornier was very accurate and Deere had to make a forced landing on a beach in Belgium. He was knocked unconscious by the landing and was dragged from the wreckage by a soldier. N3180 caught fire and was burned out on the beach, although the fire was put out by the tide!

Deere walked to Oost-Dunkerke where his injuries were tended. He then hitched a lift in a lorry to Dunkirk, got on a boat to Dover and took a train to Hornchurch. Easy as that!

This incident set in motion a chain of events which led to him losing four more aircraft in three months. On 9 July, while flying Kiwi II, P9398, he was involved in a mid-air collision with a Bf109E of 4/JG51 flown by Oberfeldwebel Johann Illner. Deere force-landed his aircraft at Ash in Kent. He escaped uninjured but Kiwi II was again burnt out. Illner returned to base safely.

On 15 August Kiwi III, R6981, was badly damaged in combat with Bf109s over Dunkirk. Deere headed straight back over the Channel and despite the best attempts of his opponents, who tried to force him to ditch, he made it back over the coast. However, R6981 was too badly damaged to make it back to Hornchurch, so Deere baled out.

On 28 August, Deere was shot down again… by a Spitfire!

On 31 August, Hornchurch was bombed heavily. Deere’s section of three aircraft were hit by a bomb as they were taking off. This incident probably inspired a scene in the film Battle of Britain. Deere’s aircraft, X4236 (presumably he hadn’t had time to paint “Kiwi” on the side) was blown onto its back and Deere was trapped in the wreckage. His wingman, PO Edsall freed him from the wreckage despite being badly injured himself. Deere then carried Edsall to the medical facilities. Thankfully all three pilots survived the incident.

54 Sqn was withdrawn from the Battle of Britain on 3 September. By that time Deere had claimed 12 enemy aircraft destroyed and had lost five Spitfires! By the end of the war he had 22 confirmed victories, 10 probables and 18 damaged. He had also been shot down seven times! He seemed to live a charmed life – so much so that his post-war autobiography was entitled Nine Lives.

Deere went on to have a very distinguished career in the RAF, retiring in 1977 with the rank of Air Commodore. He passed away on 21 September 1995. His ashes were scattered over the river Thames from a Spitfire of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

References:

Wikipedia

New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum

Rafweb.org

Edited by Enzo Matrix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This model will be built from the Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire I kit. I will be using the markings from the Southern Expo “Hornchurch v the Luftwaffe” sheet, courtesy of Baggers. This will be the fourth aircraft built from that sheet, with a fifth (Sailor Malan’s aircraft) almost certain to follow.

Other aftermarket includes a metal seat, cockpit door and Rotol prop from Ultracast, together with an Eduard Zoom cockpit set.

The photo below is simulated, as I have already started the model.

001.jpg

s03.jpg

s04.jpg

In accordance with the rules, it is less than 25% complete as you can see below, so I have stopped work on it until Saturday. Can't wait! :bounce::frantic:

002.jpg

Edited by Enzo Matrix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First thing to do was sort out the cockpit. Edgar made a comment last week about the Tamiya kit having a representation of the modern radio that is fitted into the aircraft of the BBMF that Tamiya measured. So that had to come out. It was replaced with a proper map box from the Eduard Zoom set.

Also installed are the instrument panel, Sutton harness and seat armour, again from the Eduard Zoom set. The seat is a metal one, so I have painted it green.

003.jpg

Three shots of the cockpit parts installed in the starboard fuselage half.

004.jpg

005.jpg

006.jpg

Fuselage closed up and wings attached. I've started to sand the seams, but to be honest there is little work required. Absolutely no filler.

007.jpg

Edited by Enzo Matrix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Right... the uppersurface camouflage is done. Working on the lower surfaces. Pictures at the weekend.

This aircraft had the black and white wing lowersurfaces. Here's a leap of faith. I'm pretty sure that black and white straight from the bottle will be too stark, so I've looked around for alternatives. The black will be Tamiya NATO Black. The white - which I've already sprayed - is Xtracrylix XA1139 Light Grey FS16495. It is a very pale grey, but looking at the model as it stands it does actually look grey. I'm hoping that the contrast against the black will make it look off-white.

We'll see. :pray:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI Enzo, a tip I found on Hyperscale once, was to mix in quite a lot of red into your black, as much as 20%. Don't ask me what the science involved is, but it did seem to soften it somewhat.

Did the same scheme on 'Sailor' Malans ZP-A, came out nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI Enzo, a tip I found on Hyperscale once, was to mix in quite a lot of red into your black, as much as 20%. Don't ask me what the science involved is, but it did seem to soften it somewhat.

I've heard a similar thing and I tried it once. I did a 80:20 mix of Tamiya Black and Tamiya Red-Brown and applied it to a night-fighter Mosquito. As you say, it works nicely.

There are a number of not-quite-black mixes available. Eventually I intend to try the black/red mix, Tamiya NATO Black and Lifecolor Rail Weathered Black, sprayed randomly to see how they look on the undersurfaces of a Lancaster.

Did the same scheme on 'Sailor' Malans ZP-A, came out nice.

That aircraft is on the first Southern Expo decal sheet, but with sky blue undersurfaces. There's another one I have to build from that sheet! :bounce:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I put the thing together and sprayed the uppersurfaces with Xtracylix XA1002. In all the excitement I forget to take pictures... :wall:

I then masked the Dark Earth off using my favoured technique of placing tracing paper over the Tamiya paint guide, tracing the masks, cutting them out and sticking them to the model with Copydex.

008.jpg

I then sprayed the disruptive pattern with Xtracrylix XA1001

009.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Three shots of the cockpit parts installed in the starboard fuselage half.

004.jpg

005.jpg

006.jpg

Enzo, I bow to your superior knowledge of Spitfires, but that looks like the port fuselage half to me... :tease:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...