// Spitfire Legend About to Fly
By John Myers*
Shirley Deere and Ellen Springen watch the arrival of the Spitfire
A former Rangitikei College teacher turned international businessman, Brendon Deere, from Marton, is on the verge of completing the project of a lifetime - re-creating the mount of his illustrious uncle World War II Spitfire ace Al Deere.
On the morning of 13 January Manawatu’s worst-kept aviation secret, Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1X serial PV270, veteran of four air forces, travelled by road from the Feilding Aerodrome hangar where it has spent the past five years undergoing a total overhaul.
It’s now at RNZAF Base Ohakea where it is undergoing final preparation for its first flight since 1956.
One of the most successful and numerous versions of the legendary British fighter, Spitfire PV270 is, in all essential respects, identical to the Mk 1X flown by WGCDR Al Deere, DFC and Bar, DSO, OBE, CDEG, DFC (US) from 1943 as commander of the fighter units based at the famous RAF Base Biggin Hill.
The Spitfire, unloaded and parked outside the Paintshop hangar
PV270 will be finished identical – except for the lack of weaponry – to the aeroplane that carried the identification letters AL on scores of missions.
Weeks before the Battle of Britain, July-October 1940 King George V1 awarded Deere his first Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
In the course of the great air conflict he won his second (the bar). His war career record was 22 enemy aircraft down, 10 probable, 10 damaged. He was New Zealand’s second-ranking ace after GPCAPT Colin Gray.
Deere retired from the RAF as AIRCDRE in 1971. While he visited New Zealand – notably to appear on This Is Your Life for wartime mate Johnny Checketts – he never lived here after the war.
The Spitfire inside the Paintshop hangar
Nephew Brendon says he developed a relationship with his uncle late in his life and developed tremendous respect for him.
Having become a private pilot, it was about 10 years ago that the idea of getting involved in the warbirds movement began to develop – but the great leap into buying a Spitfire and restoring it happened very quickly when ‘the right machine’ became available from the Myanmar Republic (Burma).
The restoration, led by specialist engineer Greg Johnson and with a team of professionals that has varied from four or five to about nine, has become even more of a family affair. Mr Deer’s son Joe has been involved throughout and has used the restoration as the practical side of his work toward aviation engineer qualifications, mentored by the team leaders.
‘It’s amazing what we have been able to do locally,’ Mr Deere says of the project which has seen only a few components worked on overseas, such as the engine and propeller.
The Spitfire aircraft ready to be unloaded at the Paintshop hangar
He has engaged top New Zealand warbird pilot Keith Skilling, a senior captain with Air New Zealand, to undertake the flying programme, and says he’s hugely gratified that the RNZAF has agreed to help in the final stages of preparation and in allowing Base Ohakea’s big new runway to be used for the tests.
At the time of publication the first flight was scheduled for early to mid February.
* This article was published with the permission of the Feilding Herald.
Work carried out by Air Force personnel was done in their own time and no public money was spent on this project.
Air Force News will report on the project’s ongoing progress in subsequent issues. Watch this air space.
Specifications
The Mk 1X Spitfire (serial number PV270) rolled off the Vickers-Armstrong Castle Bromwich factory, near Birmingham, production line in September 1944 but never saw service in Britain.
Instead it went to the Mediterranean where it was flown by a couple of RAF squadrons over Italy and Yugoslavia. After the war it was stored in Italy and became one of its Air Force aircraft before retiring in 1950.
The arrival of a reconstructed Spitfire
It later went to the new Israeli Air Force in 1953 and was used to keep pilots combat ready.
In 1954 Israel sold it to Burma. It was used in the fight against Kuomintang guerrillas in the north. Its last flight was in 1956 and thereafter it was mounted on a plinth outside Rangoon Air Base.
Most of the aluminium work for the frame and skin was sourced from the Manawatu region and replacement components were hand-made.
The sole departure from the original was the gun and ammunition bays. That space is now filled by supplementary fuel tanks, augmenting the Spitfire’s limited range.
- Wingspan: 11.3m, length 9.5m, weight 3300kg.
- Weapons: Two 20mm cannon, for .303 machine guns.
- Engine: Rolls Royce Merlin 70, 27 litre V12, two speed, two stage supercharger.
- Performance: Top speed of 650kmh.
- Range: 700km.