Sir Keith Park honoured today
November 5th, 2009 at 7:00 am by David FarrarAt around 5 am this morning, a statue of New Zealander Sir Keith Park was unveiled on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in London.
This photo of Sir Keith next to his Hurricane is courtesy of Vincent Orange and as taken in September 1941.
Many readers supported the campaign for Sir Keith to be so honoured.
The statue was unveiled by London Mayor Boris Johnson (who is in the news for coming to the rescue on his bicycle of a woman being attacked) and Air Chief Marshall Sir Stephen Dalton. More importantly it was attended by 16 RAF veterans of the Battle of Britain. There was a flyover of a Spitfire and a Typhoon.
For those who don’t know Sir Keith Park commanded 11 Group, and almost 3,000 pilots from 15 countries fought in the Battle of Britain.
Lord Tedder, WWII Deputy Supreme Commander for Operation Overlord sums up the contribution of Park the best:
“If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don’t believe it is recognised how much this one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world.”
Kiwis played their part in the Battle of Britain. We provided 126 pilots, compared to 33 from Australia and 98 from Canada. The ponly country to provide more, except of course the UK, was Poland with 145.
Prior to WWII, Park was a pilot in WWI and shot down 20 enemy aircraft. After WWII he returned to New Zealand and served on the Auckland City Council.
Related posts:
- Sir Keith Park campaign is sucessful
- Sir Keith Park
- HoS highlights Sir Keith Park campaign
- Sir Keith should be in Parliament
November 5th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Kiwis should be very proud of their remarkable courage, and steadfast resistance of an Evil Regime.
HC is much happier in NY now?
BTW Philu can fuck off!!
[DPF: 10 demerits for going off topic - save other stuff for gen debate]
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:20 am
A brave and honourable man, true to the traditions of Free Britain, (and kudos to Kiwiblog for reporting on this event).
Shame everything Sir Keith and his fellow airman fought for has been destroyed by the Progressives. So brave in the face of an armed and uniformed adversary, those who destroyed the Nazis never saw the enemy growing within.
A man of a kind that is long gone, but hopefully not forever.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Absolutely first rate, this is a man we can all be proud of, shame he seems to be the last of a great breed.
Sir Keith would had an officer responsible for sending home airmen from a war zone for writing naughty things on a bomb, dragged outside and shot for treason.
I’m with GM on the Phool comment, every post of his now gets a thumbs down, it’s become a habit.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:32 am
And I’m with Scanner in entirety re: Sir Keith (and, unfortunately Phool).
This gentleman was a class act that we needed desperately in a time when steadfast men were the only thing holding the world back from chaos (Fuck me! That was a great sentence).
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Great to see the British are showing this magnificent pilot the respect he deserves with a flyover of a Spitfire and a Typhoon. Sadly a strange female Prime Minister decided to ditch our combat air force as it didn’t fit into her plans under her wayward Absolute Power regime of lies. Sir Keith and many other war veterans would be very upset with our non existent air force.Such a courageous man is a rarity nowadays.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:56 am
He strikes me as a true Kiwi. Modest, as opposed to a blowhard, very very competent, humble.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Well said, D4J. Hear, hear, pip pip, tallyho!
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Where is that jolly old chap Elijah when you need someone skilled in 40′speak to mention wizard prangs and all.
Vote:Come in Elijah. Bandits at angels 15. Chocks away old chappie!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Maybe Peter Jackson should do a remake of the Battle of Britian and buy something with the proceeds.
Possible Melborne for example.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
It is entirely appropriate to have a statue of Park alongside Nelson, in this leftie’s opinion. He may have taken fewer slings and arrows personally but his contribution to today’s civilisation is comparable.
Hawker Typhoon in a Battle of Britain tribute is a bit dubious though – kinda like preserving NZL 82 in the Sports Hall of Fame
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Churchill was unstinting in his praise: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”
I can’t remember if it’s at the Imperial War Museum or Duxford but there’s a diary extract from a Battle of Britain pilot which went something like this:
“Shot down at 10.20 by a 109 near Faversham. 10.45 to Waterloo then tube to Stanmore. Back in air at 2.30.”
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 10:14 am
The Progressives destroyed London? Bastards.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Mrs pdm and I walked past the covered statue on Monday evening after watching the display of lights as they were turned on in Regent and Oxford Streets. I asked our daughter and son in law if they knew if it was the statue of Sir Keith. Unfortunately they had no idea and as we had two young children to get home there wasn’t time to pursue it. I will be back for another look in the next couple of days.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 11:05 am
@RRM “Hawker Typhoon in a Battle of Britain tribute is a bit dubious though”
More a New Zealand connection. 486 (NZ) Squadron flew Typhoons over the south of England in 1942.
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Re the ‘Typhoon’ aircraft overhead at the unveiling. . .
FWIW, the ‘Typhoon’ present today was not the very efficient piston-engined ground-attack aircraft of WW2 , but rather a modern jet multi-role combat aircraft, the only (original) Hawker Typhoon being (I understand) on display at the RAF Museum, Hendon.
Sadly, Hawker (the builders of the original Typhoon aircraft) was nationalised many years ago and is now just a part of BAE (British Aerospace).
Sic Transit Gloria and all that . . .
Vote:November 5th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I often flick over to the History channel when they have war stories, had some on earlier and they can be fascinating and appalling .. I tell you, what .. fuck that.
Vote:thank god I wasn’t around at that time, it must have been horrifying.
hero’s the lot of them.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Good to see this happening.
Wrote a bit about Park back on September 15…
http://hosking.blogspot.com/2009/09/battle-of-britain-day.html
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