The Kiwi pilot the Germans couldn’t kill

Al Deere: The real NZ hero of Dunkirk

Al Deere was the least popular man on Dunkirk beach when he arrived, completely out of the blue, in late May 1940. “Where the hell have you been?” someone shouted.

Mass evacuations were under way and German planes were divebombing the French beach, picking off dozens of soldiers each time. More than 200,000 still needed to be rescued.

Deere’s head was wrapped in a bandage and he had just hitched a ride from Belgium, where he had crash-landed on another beach hours earlier.

Those giving the 22-year-old stick had no idea he had already shot down six German planes over the previous few days, tirelessly flying during all hours of daylight to protect the stranded Allies.

“The soldiers had been on the beach for up to a week and the RAF had not been particularly visible during that time, so there was a perception that the pilots were sitting back in England eating bacon and eggs,”

He often talked about the misconception that pilots go off and fly and come back and go to the pub, but that wasn’t the case. Brendon Deere, nephew

explains Deere’s nephew, Brendon Deere.

“But they had been active up the coast and over the sea engaged in one-on-one aerial battles.

“I know my uncle’s patrol started at about 4am in the morning and lasted all day.”

In total, 145 RAF planes were downed during a nine-day period.

Al Deere, one of the lucky survivors, eventually managed to talk his way on to one of the few destroyers ferrying men back to England from the famous Dunkirk mole.

Less than a day later he was back in the air. There was no time for rest, there was a battle going on.

Brendon Deere, a retired businessman, was one of the first in line to see Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. He says the movie was stupendous, realistic and faithful.

He had heard there were similarities between one of the movie’s protagonists, Spitfire pilot Farrier, played by Tom Hardy, and his uncle.

While the film’s producers have fictionalised every character out of respect to the real-life heroes, the popular US website History vs Hollywood says Farrier “most closely resembles” Al Deere.

Farrier’s fictional experience is indeed similar. After shooting down several German planes, he too is forced to crash-land east of Dunkirk, likely on a Belgian beach.

Unlike Deere, Farrier is captured in the closing shots.

“You can see that Christopher Nolan has tried to find an everymantype character to represent each of the services,” says Brendon Deere.

“But the arc of Tom Hardy’s character does closely echo Al.

“His characteristics as well — the steely resolve and determination to get the job done — are pretty typical of what I saw in my uncle.”

Dunkirk was, in fact, Flying Officer Al Deere’s first experience of combat.

In shooting down a Bf 109 — the backbone of the Luftwaffe — he became the first Spitfire pilot to claim an aerial victory over the German plane.

Deere was born in Westport in 1917 and later moved to Whanganui. He had dreams of becoming a pilot from a young age when he saw an aircraft land on a beach.

After he spent time as a shepherd and a law clerk, British recruiters came calling in 1937.

“I think Dunkirk made all those young pilots realise the experience wouldn’t be much fun.

“Al always said it was quite terrible. What they did wasn’t a question of bravery — they were all scared to death — they had a job to do and that job started at Dunkirk,” says Brendon.

It was the waiting that got to Deere, he explains.

He would be based at a remote station for most of the day and would be deployed, or “scrambled” multiple times.

“He often talked about the misconception that pilots go off and fly and come back and go to the pub, but that wasn’t the case.”

After Dunkirk, the square-jawed hero was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI.

He solidified his legend during the Battle of Britain. Between July and August he shot down eight planes, and was himself shot down twice more. Deere crash-landed a total of nine times.

“The Germans called him ‘The Kiwi we couldn’t kill’,” says Brendon Deere.

He fought until the end of the war, finishing with a score of 22, 10 probables and 18 damaged. This story originally appeared on