World War One Flying
Ace
Born in Thames, New Zealand,
on June 15th 1892, the son of Scotsman Professor James Livingstone
Park and his wife Frances, Keith Park was educated at Otago Boys High
School in Dunedin. At 19 he began working for the Union Steamship
Company, gaining promotion to purser within twelve months.
When war broke out in 1914 he joined
the New Zealand forces and served with the New Zealand Artillery in
Egypt and Gallipoli. He transferred to the Royal Artillery in
September 1915 and served in France for two months where he was
wounded on the Somme in 1916 and classed as 'unfit to ride a horse'.
This allowed Park to become a fighter pilot on the Western Front.
"It may seem strange that I
was considered unfit to ride a horse but fit to fly an aeroplane.
But tradition was still strong in those days of horse-drawn
artillery - and an officer and gentleman was expected to ride into
battle on a charger". - Major Keith Park (comment from Scars
of the Heart - Two Centuries of New Zealand at War).
Two months later he joined the Royal
Flying Corps, where after flight training and accumulating 100 hours
of flight time he joined 48 squadron in July 1917.
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- WWI Bristol Fighter plane
of the type Keith Park flew.
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By the end of the year the Bristol
fighter pilot had scored 20 victories, despite being shot down once by
anti-aircraft fire, and later by the German ace Kurt Ungewitter of
Schusta 5. Park was the highest scoring ace to serve with 48 Squadron
and for his displays of skill and gallantry was awarded the Military
Cross and Bar, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de
Guerre.
After the First World War he
remained with the RAF, passing through the RAF Staff College, becoming
an air attaché in Buenos Aires (while there marrying an Argentine
woman) and a Commanding Officer at one of Britain’s peacetime
fighter stations, before eventually ascending to the rank of Air Vice
Marshall. As well he was chosen to be one of King George’s VI’s
four aides-de-camp, riding behind the King in his Coronation
procession in 1937.
Vital World War Two Campaigns
Prior to World War Two Keith
Park was appointed senior air staff officer to Hugh Dowding, who
developed the utmost respect for Park, appointing him
Commander-in-Chief of 11 Group, the most important in Fighter Command.
Group 11 was assigned to not only protect the southern coastline of
Britain and south-east England from enemy attack, but to protect
London, which it was obvious that at some stage in the war would be
the prime target of the Luftwaffe.
His first experience of action in
WWII came when he was in charge of organising air-protection for the
Allied evacuation of Dunkirk on the French coast. The British
Expeditionary Force and the French First Army had become cornered by
the advancing German armies and between 26 May and 4 June 1940 nearly
350,000 people needed to be evacuated by ship from Dunkirk. The air
support’s job was to intercept the Luftwaffe before they could
attack the tired and exhausted Allied troops on the beaches. It was a
juggling act that required shuttling fighters, often crewed by pilots
with limited experience and at the end of their fuel range, back and
forth across the English Channel.
Park was often in the air himself
over Dunkirk, spotting weak enemy positions and taking note of targets
for his own pilots. When the order came to evacuate, Park was up in a
Hurricane fighter making reconnaissance missions within range of
German guns. He watched the last two British ships set sail while
making a final survey. He was the last airman to leave.
Luftwaffe Repelled
With the Dunkirk evacuation
at best a dignified retreat, Park’s real reputation was to rest on
"the resounding success" of the Battle of Britain campaign.
"Operation Sealion" was the codename for Germany’s
intended invasion of England. The plan was for the initial air attack
to destroy vital airfields, radar stations, ports and aircraft
factories, and pave the way for a sea/land invasion. When the
Luftwaffe attacked Britain in 1940 (flying nearly 1500 flights over
England), Park controlled the urgent defence hour by hour, organising
and managing his squadrons and men brilliantly.
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Using an
innovative radar defence system, Park at Fighter Command, with
the help of the Observer Corp, tracked German aircraft and
passed on information to British fighters enabling them to
intercept the raiders.
When the early raids proved
indecisive the assault switched to London. The Luftwaffe' s
efforts intensified, but so did its losses.
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17 September Hitler postponed Operation Sealion indefinitely.
It was at the conclusion of the determined warding-off of the
German attack that Sir Winston Churchill was to memorably
proclaim, "Never in
the history of human conflict was so much owed by so many to
so few".
Variously credited with
"saving Britain" when it was most directly under
threat from invasion, his successful repelling of the German
air attack was attributed to his leadership, calm judgment and
exemplary co-ordination skills.
Elevated in stature as well
as esteem (he was 6ft 5, deserving credit for merely fitting
in an aircraft cockpit) his judgment was based not only on
astute decision making, but also a willingness to gain crucial
information first hand.
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Often making reconnaissance missions
within range of German guns and fighters, Park was at one point forced
to land when a British pilot mistook his plane for one of the enemy.
His service was recognised with the Order of Commander of the Bath.
Defence of Malta
After campaigning in Egypt
in 1941 Park’s next big achievement came when he was charged with
defending Malta. Just as the British Isles had been threatened
earlier, Malta’s fate was now hung in the balance. Malta was of
strategic importance, controlling the vital sea-lanes between Italy
and Africa. Its natural rocks and deep inlets concealed anchorages and
submarine bases. Fighter planes based on Malta were also strategically
positioned to defend convoys in the Mediterranean Sea.
When Park, now Air Marshal Park,
arrived on the island he found scarce food supplies, insufficient
planes, and petrol supplies dependent on tankers getting through
without being attacked by German fighters. In April 1942 the island
suffered merciless air attacks from the Luftwaffe and Italian bombers
attempting to make the island "free for the storm" and open
supply routes to Rome's army in North Africa. Instead of trying to
defend the island, Park, in the best All Black tradition, determined
to counter-attack. The fighters that were sent out to intercept the
German attack inflicted such heavy losses on the incoming German
planes that Malta was saved.
Man of Action
Park’s temperament meant
that he was never confined behind a desk in some buffered HQ. His
willingness to take to air himself, and forcefully state his opinions
regardless of rank meant that his colleagues found Park "fearless
in words and deeds". As Eugene Grayland states in Famous New
Zealanders, "The tall, lean New Zealander displayed the
unusual combination of intense individual activity and initiative with
a capacity for teamwork and co-ordination". With Malta saved, he
was promoted to the post of Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South East
Asia, where the air force performed a vital role supplying stores to
ground forces in testing jungle terrain where it was often difficult
to find landing strips. Regularly flying into black monsoon nights and
through enemy fire, Park summed up the achievements of the campaign
with the telling phrase "The army of the jungle advanced on the
wings of the air force".
Hero Retires to New Zealand with
Honour
After World War Two Park was
decommissioned and went to Argentina to work as trade ambassador to
South America for the Hawker Siddley Aircraft Company. An opportunity
arose to return to New Zealand as the company’s Pacific
representative, and in 1948 Park came home to Auckland, eventually
retiring and taking a prominent part in the Auckland City Council and
other local body affairs. He died on the 6th February 1975, aged 82.
A section of the Auckland Museum of
Transport and Technology is named in his honour, as is the ‘Sir
Keith Park IHC School’ in Auckland, New Zealand. He received
honorary degrees and doctorates from Oxford University, was created a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and was knighted twice
– as well as being one of three distinguished men of the time (along
with Winston Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook) to have locomotives named
in their honour by the Great Southern Railway in Britain.
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