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. |
| On 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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