April. The morale of No. 403 Squadron was low to due to losses earlier in the month, including its former commander, and it had been taken off operations. Deere quickly brought the squadron back to operational status, commencing with an uneventful sweep over the Belgian coastline on 5 May 1942. After further such operations during the rest of the month, the intensity increased in June; on a mission on 2 June, when flying as cover for the North Weald wing, the squadron encountered around 40 to 50 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters and half of its 12 aircraft were lost. Deere used up all his ammunition but the hectic nature of the engagement meant that he was unable to observe whether any of his strikes were successful. Due its losses, the squadron moved to Martlesham Heath to carry out convoy patrols and was scheduled for a rest period later in the month. Deere felt this move unnecessary as morale among the remaining pilots remaining high despite the losses of 2 June, and he met with Leigh-Mallory in an attempt to have the squadron remain on operations. To his dismay, he found that Leigh-Mallory held him partially responsible for the losses due to his aggressive leadership and did not rescind his orders for the squadron to have a rest. From 18 June, No. 403 Squadron was based at Catterick; it was still there in August, performing local patrols and working on practicing formation flying, when Deere was posted to the headquarters of No. 13 Group on staff duties. He was only briefly in this role before he was sent to the RAF Staff College for a three-month course. In late January 1943 he returned to No. 13 Group. Wanting to get back to flying duties, he soon engineered a return to operations for two weeks as a supernumerary with No. 611 Squadron at Biggin Hill. While serving with the squadron, he shot down an Fw 190, on 16 February. When he went back to No. 13 Group, he was surprised with news that he was to be wing leader of the Kenley wing. This posting was changed at the last minute and instead he given command of the fighter wing at Biggin Hill, whose previous commander had just been shot down over the English Channel. He was also promoted to wing commander. Wing leader At Biggin Hill, Deere became reacquainted with Sailor