85th anniversary tribute to RAF mastermind

A commemorative service on the 85th anniversary of one of the most significant days of the Battle of Britain will include a tribute to one of the men who masterminded the Royal Air Force's victory in the 1940 conflict.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust will welcome the great-nephew of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park at the 11am commemoration on Monday 15 September, now known as Battle of Britain Day.

Brian, the grandson of Sir Keith’s brother Frank, will attend the event with Alex Neill, the grandson of Sir Keith’s sister Lily, and Susie Hunt, the granddaughter of his eldest sister Frances. They will pay their respects at the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, on which the Air Chief Marshal’s name now appears after he was formally recognised as one of ‘the Few’, the airmen who took part in the Battle in 1940.

Monday’s commemoration at the National Memorial to the Few, at the heart of the clifftop tribute to ‘the Few’ follows a day of other events on Sunday 14 September, when the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust will present Missing in Action: Resting in Peace? 

This poignant event will explore the emotive topic of the Battle of Britain’s ‘missing Few’ - the airmen who were shot down and listed as ‘missing’ during the summer and autumn of 1940, leaving families without closure for decades.

During the day, historian and author Dilip Sarkar MBE, honorary vice-president of the Trust, will be signing copies of all eight volumes of his epic, one million word history of the Battle of Britain, now considered by the Trust to be the official record of this historic conflict.

Stephen Park, Brian’s brother and great-nephew of Sir Keith, contributed the foreword to volume 6 of the eight-part work, describing it as “a fresh, immersive view of the most pivotal moment in history”.

In April 1940 Keith Park was placed in command of Fighter Command’s 11 Group, which was responsible for defending London and the South East of England and bore the brunt of the Luftwaffe’s attacks on this country. Park and Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, who was in overall charge of Fighter Command, played a huge part in the RAF’s subsequent victory and are remembered at Capel-le-Ferne, where there are busts of both men.

In August 2023 Sir Keith’s name was added to the list of ‘the Few’. Following research in Auckland, New Zealand and the UK, the evidence put forward by Dilip, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Aeronautical Society, was accepted by the Ministry of Defence's Air Historical Branch.

Sunday’s event will begin at 11am with a screening of Forgotten, an eight-minute film written and directed by long-time Battle of Britain researcher Philip Harvey. The film, which has won an impressive 27 domestic and independent film awards, raises vital awareness of these missing heroes.

Following the film, Dilip will share moving stories of some of the missing airmen, including No 601 Squadron’s Flight Lieutenant Willie Rhodes-Moorhouse DFC and No 605 Squadron’s Sergeant Peter MacIntosh.

From 1pm, Dilip will sign copies of all the books in the series, including Volume 8: Battle of Britain Remembered, which features a chapter on the missing, a foreword by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and a postscript by the Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Claire Horton CBE.

Following Monday’s Act of Remembrance, Brian Park and other family members will lay a wreath at the bust of Sir Keith, which is close to where he appears on the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall.

Adding new names to the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall