Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign

The NZ Fighter Pilots Museum shows its support for the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign.

The New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum is proud to be a supporter of the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign.  
 
We urge you to show your support by clicking on the banner at the top of every page of our website and signing the petition. Now is the time to act!  
 
More information on the petition can also be found in our local newspapers here and here  
 
A suitable memorial to the senior commander of the Royal Air Force Sector 11 Squadrons (11 Group), who defended London and the South East of England during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, is an oversight that needs to be addressed. (SE includes: Kent, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight).  
 
In addition to his considerable achievements in commanding 11 Group, he also commanded the RAF in Malta (1942-43) and under Mountbatten in 1945 he was Allied Air Commander-In-Chief of South East Asia. With previously a distinguished early career in the NZ and British Army, including time spent in Gallipoli and the Somme, and then as an ace fighter pilot later in the First World War, Sir Keith Park’s accomplishments in various theatres demonstrate what a remarkable man he was.  
 
Trafalgar Square currently celebrates military leaders of this country – naval and army. It can truly be termed a ‘Square for Heroes’. Incorporating a statue of Sir Keith Park would appropriately acknowledge the accomplishments and feats he secured in both world wars, but especially in defending the South East and London during the Battle of Britain. Such a statue would add to those in Trafalgar Square and celebrate his steadfastness in defence of our realm and his unique blend of management and leadership style that enabled the pilots, aircrew and ground support staff to defend our country and the free world during those dark days.  
 
There is no conclusion other than if this Battle of Britain in 1940 had been lost, then the outcome of the Second World War, and our current lives, would have been very different.  
 
Subsequent to the Second World War one quote, and not the usual oft-quoted Winston Churchill, shines some light on the importance of Sir Keith Park to the history of our free country.  
 
"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." Marshal of the RAF, Lord Tedder.