Air Vice-Marshal Park
"If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don't believe that it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world".
Lord Tedder, Marshal of the RAF
Keith Rodney Park was born in New Zealand in 1892. He served with the ANZAC forces in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915-6 and subsequently joined the Royal Flying Corps where he served as with distinction as a pilot on the western front.
He continued his career with the Royal Air Force and commanded RAF stations before becoming a staff officer to Lord Dowding in 1938. In 1940 he became Air Vice-Marshal responsible for 11 Group. This comprised the fighter squadrons covering most of London, Sussex and Kent, which became the front line when the Battle of Britain broke out in August 1940.
In later years his role as the direct commander of the front line defence has been regarded as crucial to the successful outcome of the battle, though at the time there were acrimonious disputes which led to his replacement in November 1940. He left the RAF in 1946 and returned to Auckland, New Zealand until his death in 1975.
The Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign
Subsequently his contribution has been more widely recognised and a campaign to use the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square for his statue became a reality, although temporarily, on 4th November 2009.
A permanent bronze statue on a plinth is to be installed in Waterloo Place, near New Zealand House, next September (2010) to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
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The newly unveiled tempory statue on the fourth plinth in Trafalger Square. |
More information can be obtained at the campaigns website:
http://www.sirkeithpark.com
An article by Tony Benn and Lord Tebbit (a most unlikely pairing) in support of Sir Keith Park:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4284451/United-in-praise-of-The-Defender-of-London.html
A November 2009 BBC Radio 4 broadcast, "a letter from Clive James" (text and audio):
http://www.clivejames.com/point-of-view/series6/plinth
Following this broadcast Southern Locomotives has received a very kind message of support from Clive James.
From Winston Churchill's memories
Describing his visit to the Uxbridge control centre on Sunday 15th September 1940, the highpoint of the Battle of Britain. After a long silence:
Churchill: "There appear to be many (German) aircraft coming in."
Park: "There'll be someone there to meet them."
How cool is that?
Further Information
Much has been written about the Battle of Britain and Park's contribution to its outcome:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Park
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/commanders.html
http://nzedge.com/heroes/park.html
Aerial sequence from 1969 film Battle of Britain, with
music by Sir William Walton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e7SG5u3jWI
Bibliography
Park: The Biography of Air Chief Marshall Sir Keith Park, GCB, KBE, MC, DFC, DCL by Vincent Orange ISBN 1-902-304-616
Sir Keith's Locomotive
The restoration of 34053 will bring Sir Keith Park to the attention to a wider section of the public in Britain, maybe more than a statue or any other static monument could hope to achieve.