by 34053 » Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:23 pm
Following the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain this week (September 15th) this is just a reminder about the man after whom this Locomotive is named:
Named after Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park GCB; KBE; MC and Bar; DFC; RAF (15th June 1892 – 6th February 1975. He was born in Thames, near Auckland, New Zealand, the son of a Scottish Geologist, Professor James Livingstone Park and his wife Frances.
Keith Park joined the New Zealand Artillery when war broke out in 1914, transferring to the Royal Artillery in 1915 and served in France for twelve months. In 1916 (after being wounded on the Somme and classed as ‘unfit to ride a horse’) he applied for a pilot’s position in the new ‘Royal Flying Corps’ (RFC). This was accepted and after flight training, he joined 48 Squadron in July 1917. He finished the war, still with the RFC and was at the ‘birth’ of the ‘Royal Air Force’ in 1918.
In the First World War, Keith Park was an ace fighter pilot and took part in the ‘Gallipoli Campaign’ and the ‘Battle of the Somme’.
During the Second World War, he was Senior Commander in the Royal Air Force and was in tactical command of two of the most significant air battles – the ‘Battle of Britain’ (1940; where he was in command of No 11 Group RAF) and the ‘Battle of Malta’ (1942 – 1943). In 1945, under Mountbatten, he was Allied Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia.
Keith Park served in the Royal Air Force between 1911 and 1946.
Lord Tedder (Chief of the Royal Air Force) stated in 1947 about Keith Park:
‘If any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do not believe it is realised how much this one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world’.
The 'Battle of Britain Class' Locomotive was named by Sir Keith Park himself, during a Ceremony held at Brighton Railway Station, on 19th September 1947.
PW