My RAF ace friend

SIR: The photograph of ‘nearindestructible New Zealand ace Al Deere’ (July edition) brought back happy memories. In 1963-64, Al was the Assistant Commandant at RAF College Cranwell, where I was serving as ADC to the Commandant. My duties brought me into frequent contact with Al and, notwithstanding the difference in age and rank, a friendship formed that was to last until his death in 1995.

By the end of the war, Al had shot down 22 Luftwaffe aircraft with 10 probables and 18 damaged to his credit. On the debit side, he was either shot down with a parachute descent or force-landed with battle damage on more than seven occasions. Like many others of my generation, I hero-worshipped Al Deere.

One August day, I was in a car with him en route to an airfield. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky. I observed rather vacuously that it was a lovely day for flying. There was no reply. A minute or two later, he turned and stared at me. ‘You will never imagine,’ he said, ‘how much I hated days like this in 1940. I used to pray for bad weather.’

I was taken aback. How could this-lion hearted hero, recognised as one of the bravest of the brave, admit to such fear?

I found the answer in a broadcast given by Field Marshal the Viscount Slim. He said that all of us have some degree of physical courage – like having some money in the bank. As courage is an expendable quality, some may use it all up. Not so with Al Deere.

His friendship was one of the greatest privileges of my life. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns GCB, KCVO, CBE, Chitterne, Wiltshire