Acknowledgements
I am glad to have this long-awaited opportunity to thank all those who have helped me to complete this book. Pride of place, after my wife, must go to Ian Park, Sir Keith’s son, who freely permitted me to use his father’s papers. I have also benefited from many conversations with Ian and his wife Dorothy. All other members of the Park family have cooperated fully, offering me their memories, papers, photographs and, not least, their generous hospitality: Miss Betty Neill and her brother Bill; Dr Keith Park, his brother Neill and their families; Mrs Marie Stevenson and her daughter Mrs Keithia Harasimick; and Mrs Noel Wells. No member of the family has attempted to restrict or influence in any way the use I have made of the material they have provided.
Many men and women who served with Sir Keith have helped me – more than I can thank individually, but I must single out (in alphabetical order) Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, Air Marshal Sir Edward Chilton, Flight Lieutenant Michael Crossley, Air Commodore Alan Deere, Derek, Lord Dowding, Sergeant Norman Davis, Flight Lieutenant Peter Ewing, Captain Edward Griffith, Group Captain Tom Gleave, Air Marshal Sir Gerald Gibbs, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, Group Captain Colin Gray, Squadron Leader Sir Archibald Hope, Air Vice-Marshal J.E. Johnson, Air Vice-Marshal A.V.R. Johnstone, Captain Alan Light, Group Captain P.B. Lucas, Wing Commander Michael Constable Maxwell, Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Porter, Lieutenant John Pugh, Captain Coralie Pincott (nee Hyam) Lieutenant Stanley Rycroft, Squadron Leader Joseph Rank, Group Captain W.G.G. Duncan Smith, Flight Sergeant Tet Walston, Colonel Stanley Walters, Group Captain George Westlake, Group Captain Donald Wiseman, Wing Commander Robert Wright and Air Marshal Sir Peter Wykeham.
Others who deserve my grateful thanks include my colleagues Sam Adshead, David Gunby and David Maclntyre for reading drafts of the manuscript, and two graduate students in the History Department of the University of Canterbury, Wilma Falconer and Christina Goulter, for helping to gather and sort my material. I am also grateful for information and advice to Christopher Barnes, Trevor Boughton, Ernest Edwards, Marjorie Jones, Paul Leaman, Peter Liddle, Ronald Lewin, Timothy Loveil-Smith, Errol Martyn, Colonel Neil Orpen, Phillip O’Shea, Arthur Parrish, Edward Rubython, James Sanders, John Seabrook, Christopher Shores and Elaine White. My particular thanks go to Christopher Falkus, Chairman of Methuen London, for offering me a contract to write this book, to Liz Hornby, my editor, for helpful suggestions and to Nigel Nicolson for his thoughtful introduction. Without the prolonged hospitality of my brother-in-law, David Jeffery, who lives in London, the collection of material would have been far more expensive than it was. I have left until last, traditionally a position of great honour, two friends without whose generosity, advice and encouragement this book could hardly have been begun, let alone completed: John and Fenella Barton of Auckland.
As for the institutions which have helped me, I gladly record my debt to the Air Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, London; the Auckland Institute and Museum; the RAF Museum, Hendon; the House of Lords Record Office, London; the Imperial War Museum, London; the National War Museum, Malta, G.C.; the Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland; the Public Record Office, London, and the National Archives and Defence Library, Wellington. I owe a special debt to the New Zealand branches of the Royal Aeronautical Society, which have for years invited me to address their meetings up and down the country. This book grew out of one such address. Numerous individuals in these institutions helped to make my work a pleasure. All the men and women mentioned above are collectively responsible for whatever merit this book has; I made all the mistakes and misjudgements myself. Finally I must also record my sincere gratitude to the University of Canterbury for granting me financial assistance and leave to visit England for seven months in 1981.
Vincent Orange