Submitted by admin on o Āpereira 22, 2009 - 22:00
PARK, Sir Keith Rodney, G.C.B., K.B.E., M.C. and Bar, D.F.C.
(1892– ).
Air Chief Marshal.
A new biography of Park, Keith Rodney appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.
Sir Keith Park was born at Thames on 15 June 1892, son of Professor J. Park. He was educated at Otago Boys' High School and at Oxford University from which he graduated as D.C.L. and M.A. In the First World War he served in the New Zealand Forces till 1917, when he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, rising to the command of 48th Squadron, and winning a D.F.C., M.C. and Bar, and the Croix de Guerre. Later he became chief instructor of the Oxford University Air Squadron. After the war he was Air Attaché at Buenos Aires, held other appointments in the Air Force, and qualified at the Air College and the Imperial Defence College. In the Second World War he was in command of the RAF at the evacuation of Dunkirk, and of No. 11 Fighter Group. He rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal in 1940 and retired in 1947. He was made G.C.B. in 1946, K.C.B. in 1945, and C.B. in 1940.