He said the plane was painted to represent an aircraft that was lost in the Pacific during WWII.
All three New Zealand crew members were killed.
“The previous year, it had been flown by a very well-known pilot called Fred Ladd,” Deere said.
“He was a teetotaller, so he thought it would be funny to put a cartoon of a flying beer barrel on it, spraying beer on the Japanese.
“That was his idea of humour. Plonk is obviously slang for booze, so he called it ‘Plonky’.”
Deere said the Royal NZ Air Force (RNZAF) made a significant contribution to the Allied effort in the Pacific.
“The Japanese had advanced down to the Solomon Islands and the RNZAF spent most of the Pacific War fighting them, alongside the Americans.
“We had many, many squadrons of aircraft up there - Ventura bombers, Corsairs, Hudsons, Kittyhawks, a whole range of them.”
The RNZAF operated 48 Avengers as conventional bombers in the Pacific during World War II, dropping bombs weighing between 400 and 500 pounds.
Naval torpedo bombs weighed around a ton.
Avengers had folding wings because on an aircraft carrier, space was at a premium, Deere said.
“When they were sitting on or below the deck, they needed to take up as little room as possible.
“Rather like a sparrow, it folds its wings back along the fuselage. It’s quite an impressive sight.”
Deere said the Biggin Hill Trust, based at RNZAF Base Ohakea, had eight planes, including a 1944 Supermarine Spitfire and a 1945 North American P-51D Mustang.
While sourcing parts and keeping them maintained was a challenge, he and wife, Shirley Deere, were “committed to keeping history alive”.
“The people who flew them, and the people from the war period, are all gone,” he said.
“I think that connection with the next generation is at risk of being lost.”
He said nearly 10,000 Avengers were built, with the US Navy using them into the 1950s.
They then found a new life responding to forest fires and spraying insecticides.
“Our one soldiered on for another 30 years doing that,” Deere said.
“I think around the world, there might be 15 still flying. It’s a pretty rare bird.”
The Avenger will be on static display at the Wanganui Aero Day between 11.30am and 1pm on January 18.
There will be aerial displays by John Luff’s Venom, Lincoln Jones’ Pitts Special and Charles Davis’ Strikemaster jet.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.
