Keith
Rodney Park was born in Thames, New Zealand on June 15th 1892 and the son
of Scotsman Professor James Livingstone Park and his wife Frances. After
he completed his education at Otago Boys High School, Keith Park did not
really have any ambition at that stage to become a military soldier. In
June 1911, just before his 19th birthday he started work with the Union
Steamship Company as a Cadet Purser with a promotion to Purser within twelve
months and stayed with them until the outbreak of the first world war.
Keith Park went to Great Britain to serve
in the army as a gunner during the 1914-18 war. In 1917, he applied for
a pilots position in the new Royal Flying Corps and this was accepted and
he finished the war still with the "Corps" and at the birth of the Royal
Air Force he received a permanent position.
Keith Park had an
unblemished record during the First World War having been credited some
twenty enemy aircraft. Between the wars, Keith Park was to pass through
the RAF Staff College, become air attaché in Buenos Aires, was a
Commanding Officer at one of Britain's peacetime fighter stations. Prior
to 1940 he was appointed senior air staff officer to Hugh Dowding where
together they built a bond where they had the greatest respect for each
other. At the beginning of the war, when Fighter Command was divided into
Groups, Dowding had no hesitation in placing Keith Park as the C-in-C of
11 Group, the most important Group in Fighter Command, as it was this group
that was not only to protect the southern coastline of Britain and South-East
England from enemy attack, but was to protect London which it was obvious
that at some stage during the war would be the prime target of the Luftwaffe.
It was during the
evacuation of troops from Dunkirk that Keith Park organized the air protection,
shuttling his fighters back and forth across the English Channel and intercepting
the Luftwaffe before they could attack the tired and exhausted British
troops on the beaches. Park had limited aircraft that could be deployed
on these missions, and what aircraft did take part could only spend limited
time over the battle area before they were left with only enough fuel to
return to base.
Members of the British
Expeditionary Force greatly criticized the Royal Air Force for not doing
enough and providing greater cover for them, and further placed much of
the blame for the number of casualties sustained on the beaches to the
RAF. After the evacuation, it was not safe for a pilot of the RAF to mingle
or be seen near any members of the Army, he was either spat at, assaulted
or verbally abused. It was not until the resounding success of the Battle
of Britain did the RAF get the respect that they deserved and even then,
many soldiers could still not forgive the RAF for what happened at Dunkirk.
Park later stated
that, under the circumstances he done his best with what was made available
to him, and that he sympathized with those that had turned against him,
but the experiences that our fighter pilots had over Dunkirk placed them
in high stead, and gave them the experience that they needed for the Battle
of Britain that was to follow. Dowding agreed with Park, but there was
always the constant argument that the new pilots were too 'green', and
Park made no bones about it. "I have pilots here that are still thinking
they are turning left and right, they have no idea what port and starboard
are. There are pilots who think that the radio is for idle chit-chat, they
have no radio knowledge at all. Fourteen to twenty hours in a Spit and
they are given their wings.....it's downright ridiculous". Dowding sympathized,
"I know" his voice was solemn, which for Dowding was normal, "but we must
be prepared, London could be attacked at any time, and we must be ready.
These boys are young, keen and they're trying, they are intelligent enough
that after two sorties they will have all the experience they need".
It has been stated,
that, Dowding controlled the Battle of Britain from day to day, while Keith
Park controlled it hour by hour. Park organized and managed his squadrons
and men brilliantly, he was respected and admired by many, yet as with
all commanders one has to be open for criticism. Most of this was due to
the fact that he fought the battle in a defensive manner when it was thought
that he should give greater consideration to taking the fight to the Germans
in an offensive manner.
Park's answer to
that was that the role of the fighter aircraft was one of defence and should
be used in attacking those that were attacking us. In a similar political
move that forced the retirement of Dowding from the RAF, Keith Park was
relieved of his command of 11 Group soon after the Battle of Britain, taking
up a position with a training squadron. He stayed with the RAF until the
end of the war commanding squadrons in Egypt in 1941, Malta in 1942 and
in South-East Asia in 1944-45.
After the war, Keith
Park returned to his native New Zealand where he stayed until his death
in Auckland in 1975.
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