Ready for takeoff

A Marton man's connection to a WWII flying ace launched a lifelong commitment to keeping vintage fighters in the air.

- RICHARD WOODD

There's virtually nothing Brendon Deere doesn't know about World War II Spitfire fighter aircraft, except how to fly one. Well, he knows how but he doesn't know what it feels like, because after spending 35,000 hours restoring a wreck acquired from a US collector, he made a decision never to fly it himself, even though he is a qualified pilot.

"I could have, but I felt it was too precious and I have a view that it should be flown well," he says. "I have flown in a Mosquito | $5.9m. And, perhaps reflecting the greater and it remains the highlight of my aviation scarcity of the vanquished, a 1938 Messercareer."

What is "precious" in a monetary sense? "No comment," says Deere. "We consider our aircraft to be priceless and we have no plans to sell anything." (Platinum Fighter Sales - a Californian business that specialises in the sale of historic warbirds - lists a fully reconditioned, flying, 80-year-old Spitfire at NZ$7.7 million. It also has a North American P51B Mustang advertised at 

Deere, a high school teacher before he turned to business, is a member of one of New Zealand's small but elite corps of collectors of war planes. He and fellow aviation enthusiasts like film director Sir Peter Jackson and the late Warbirds Over Wanaka founder Sir Tim Wallis have built significant collections of former fighting craft, sharing their passions with public displays at events such as the Wanaka show or Wings Over Wairarapa.

Deere's Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX lives with a collection of other vintage flying machines in two private hangars at the RNZAF's Ohakea air base, a short drive from his Marton home. The hangars were built by the Biggin Hill Trust, created in 2018 by Deere and his wife Shirley, on land leased from the government. The availability of selected aircraft for official heritage and commemoration flights and air shows is an arrangement of mutual benefit to the RNZAF and the trust, says Deere.