liaison capacity, Deere was assigned to the Air Ministry as Director of Postings. In March 1961, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, a role he fulfilled until June 1964. By then he was leading Fighter Command's East Anglia sector, having spent the previous year as Assistant Commandant at the RAF College, Cranwell. Promoted to air commodore in July 1964, on 30 January 1965, he was given the honour of leading fellow Battle of Britain fighter pilots in the main funeral cortège for Winston Churchill at St. Paul's Cathedral. When the Fighter Command sectors were disestablished in August 1965, he appointed commandant at the RAF's No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton. This was his last posting; he retired from the RAF on 12 December 1967. Later life Upon his retirement, Deere immediately took up a civilian position as the RAF's Director of Sport, a role he would hold until December 1972. He also became the chairman of the RAF Rugby Committee, helping to select playing teams. In March 1972, he participated in a This Is Your Life television program in honour of Douglas Bader, the famous British fighter pilot who flew with false legs; Deere recounted the story of how he flew as an escort to the aircraft delivering a replacement leg for Bader, who had been shot down and was a prisoner of war. In 1990, he was again involved with This Is Your Life, this time a New Zealand version, for his compatriot Checketts, who had flown with him during his days as commander of the Biggin Hill wing. It was to be Deere's last visit to New Zealand. As a well-known Spitfire pilot, Deere was often called upon by authors of military history and publishers for his reminiscences of the Second World War, particularly in relation to the Battle of Britain and Spitfires. His Nine Lives autobiography was republished in 1991 and he was interviewed for a documentary series on New Zealand in the Second World War. In his later years, he suffered from cancer of the colon, which led to his death, aged 77, on 21 September 1995. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the River Thames from a Spitfire. He was survived by his wife Joan née Fenton, who he had married on 18 September 1945, and their two children. Legacy Deere's medals were acquired by the RAF Museum