Sir Keith Park Campaign Flies Message Around UK

PRESS RELEASE

Sir Keith Park Memorial Statue Campaign Flies Message Around UK

• Campaign’s main supporter Terry Smith stages historic re-enactment of Battle of Britain hero commander’s 1919 circumnavigation of Britain
• Flight to gather support around UK for statues in central London to commemorate Sir Keith Park with a temporary statue on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square and permanent statue in Waterloo Place
• Park’s 1,880 mile journey around British Isles took under 30 flight hours despite unpredictable weather conditions
• Early in May 1919 at 0215 hrs the original flight began from the No.2 RAF School of Navigation at Andover, returning to Andover four days and 30 flying hrs later
• 5th – 7th May re-enactment flight will track Park’s route as closely as possible, commencing at Southend, and visiting RAF Waddington, Edinburgh, Belfast, Haverford West, Thruxton (Andover) and Capel-le-Ferne (flyover only) before returning to Southend.

The Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign is to re-enact the epic 1919 plane journey around the British Isles made by the New Zealand air ace who went on to become a hero of the Battle of Britain. At a time when air flight was still in its infancy, Sir Keith’s 1,880 mile journey in sometimes treacherous weather conditions demonstrated what could be accomplished with large aircraft following World War One.

Terry Smith, Chairman of the Campaign to erect a statue of Sir Keith in central London, will follow the same flight path as Sir Keith and stop at the same points. Major Park and his crew of eight flew their Handley Page 0/400 with two 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce engines at an average airspeed of 66mph. Terry Smith will fly a Socata T20 Trinidad aircraft, and will be accompanied by Sir Keith Park’s great great nephew Terence Stevens-Prior on the journey.

Terry Smith’s modern day re-enactment, taking off from Southend at 0900 on 5th May is all the more dramatic as Westminster City Council’s Planning Committee will be deciding on the Campaign’s Planning Applications for the memorial statues on the evening of Thursday 7th May.

Commenting on his epic flight in Sir Keith Park’s footsteps, Terry Smith said:

“This flight, commemorating Sir Keith Park’s momentous journey in 1919, has two aims. It highlights his incredible courage both then, in peacetime, and in two World Wars. I hope it will also highlight the shameful fact that he has received no significant commemoration in Britain, not least in the Capital City he did so much to defend.”

1. Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, GCB, KBE, MC and Bar, DFC, RAF was the New Zealand born RAF Air Vice-Marshal commanding 11 Group Fighter Command, responsible for the aerial defence of London and South East England during the Battle of Britain. His inspirational leadership and tactical brilliance was central to Britain winning the battle, which in turn helped determine the outcome of the entire Second World War. Sir Keith went on to lead the air defence of Malta in 1942, subsequently reaching the rank of Air Chief Marshal in South East Asia at the end of the war. During the First World War, Sir Keith served at Gallipoli and then the Somme before becoming a pilot and shooting down 20 enemy aircraft.

2. Sir Keith Park and his loyal crew made various stops and fly overs on their ‘Circuit of Britain Flight’. Beginning at Andover on the 15th May at 0215 and flying via Portsmouth, Brighton, Ashford, Canterbury, Shoeburyness, Clacton-on-Sea, Lowestoft and Hunstanton before stopping at Waddington at 0900 for engine adjustments. These took longer than expected, pushing back their departure to 1328 heading to Longside. This stint took them over Grimsby, Scarborough, South Sheilds and Alnwick, where poor weather forced a descent from 3000ft to 350ft and a diversion to Edinburgh where they landed at 1845. They stayed in Edinburgh over night, beinging the next leg of their journey across the North of Britain to Belfast at 1150 the next day. By now they were far north in Scotland, passing over Abroath, Aberdeen, Longside, Inverness and The Mull of Kintyre, arriving at Belfast at 1905 where they made their extraordinary landing at Harland & Wolff’s Wharf. Departing the Wharf the next day saw Sir Keith Park fly solo to Aldergrove to collect his co-pilot and crew, where they then all departed at 1335 flying over Dublin and Bardsey Sound before stopping at Pembroke at 1750 for further engine adjustments. They departed Pembroke at 0426 the next morning, continuing their journey over Burry Holmes, Barry nr. Cardiff, Boscastle, Bodmin, Plymouth and Bournemouth, and finally 1880 miles and nearly 30 flying hours later they touched down back at Andover at 0932 having completed their circuit around Great Britain.

3. Images are available and have been attached to this release. More images are available on request.

4. Statue details for the Sir Keith Park Memorial
The Les Johnson design will be used for both the proposed statues - one to be exhibited temporarily for 6 months on Trafalgar Square’s 4th Plinth in 2009, as well as for the proposed permanent memorial statue in Waterloo Place in 2010. The Campaign hopes to unveil the permanent memorial to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in September 2010.

The Campaign has submitted detailed planning applications earlier this year in January to Westminster City Council for both the temporary and permanent memorial statues.

The temporary statue for the 4th Plinth is likely to be nearly 18ft (6m) tall and the permanent bronze memorial statue for Waterloo Place will be nearer 9ft (3m) tall. Details of the winning sculptor, Les Johnson, can be found at:http:www.lesjohnsonsculptor.com.

5. The Campaign was launched on 7th March 2008 when Battle of Britain pilots, senior serving RAF officers, a great-great niece of Sir Keith Park, politicians and many other supporters assembled in Trafalgar Square beside a full-size replica Spitfire.

6. The Campaign has received support from a broad constituency including the RAF, Battle of Britain veterans, members of the Park family and the New Zealand cricket team. It has also secured the support of the leader of every New Zealand political party, including the Prime Minister and Defence Minister. In this country more than 75 MPs and a number of House of Lords members from all parties, former politicians such as Tony Benn and Lord Tebbit, as well as well-known names such as Frederick Forsyth, Sir Patrick Moore, Dan Snow, Peter Snow, Peter Jackson and Edward Fox are backing the Campaign.

7. Over 10 000 people have signed the various Campaign’s petitions, available electronically at http://www.sirkeithpark.com/petition.aspx or are signing hard copy versions of the petition both in the UK and in New Zealand. Supporters of the Campaign have also more recently sent letters in support of the two planning applications to Westminster City Council.

8. Terry Smith is the Chief Executive of Tullett Prebon plc and Chairman of Collins Stewart plc. He is a qualified pilot and has a keen interest in military history.

9. Other supporters of the Campaign include: Algy Cluff; Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge; Air Marshal Clifford Spink; Lord Lee of Trafford; Lord Selkirk; Rt Hon Lord Trefgarne; Mark Field MP; Richard Benyon MP and Hon. Nicholas Soames MP.

10. For more information, please visit our website at www.sirkeithpark.com.

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