Nine Lives. First Edition, first impression. (NZ Battle of Britain Pilot).

Nine Lives by Group Captain Alan C. Deere D.S.O., O.B.E., D.F.C. With a foreword by Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., C.M.G. Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1959. FIRST EDITION. SCARCE. Presumed first impression as no later printings mentioned on publishing page. Good hardback with jacket. Red cloth boards have a little bumping and fading to edges, vertical crease and slight fading to cloth on spine, minor marks. Large gift inscription dated 1959, plus bookseller's blind stamp to ffep. Some light creasing to first few pages, minor foxing and marks, otherwise pages very good. Price-clipped jacket is rubbed, chipped and marked. 262 pages, illustrated. Alan Christopher Deere is possibly New Zealand s most famous fighter pilot of the Second World War. He was also one of the luckiest, surviving several near-death experiences to become one of the outstanding pilots of the Battle of Britain. Born in Auckland on 12 December 1917, Deere was working as a law clerk in Whanganui when he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1937. After completing flight training he was posted to No. 54 Squadron along with Colin Gray, who would go on to become New Zealand s top fighter ace of the war. The book's title was a reference to Deere s lucky habit of emerging unharmed from life-threatening situations. During the Battle of Britain he was shot down three times; on another occasion his Spitfire crashed while attempting to take off during a bombing raid on his squadron's airfield.…