MOTAT with support from Ryman Healthcare, and facilitated by the Park family, present:

The Sir Keith Park Aviation Talks

The Sir Keith Park Aviation Talks will cover topics of interest to the aviation community, from significant events to the groundbreaking pioneers who changed the course of history.

The inaugural talk of the series will be presented by Dr. Adam Claasen, and will cover the life and career of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park.

Keith Park: A Commander at War

Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park was New Zealand’s most influential military commander of the Second World War. His role in the Battle of Britain, defending south-east England and London from the German Luftwaffe, was to help shape the course of the war for the Allies and the geo-political makeup of Western Europe in the post-war period. This 50 minute talk will explore Sir Keith Park’s involvement in two wars: his migration from artilleryman at Gallipoli to airman on the Western Front; his achievements as a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the Great War; his interwar activities; and finally, his leadership of 11 Group in the fateful summer of 1940.

The talk will be held at MOTAT in the Aviation Display Hall, home of the Sir Keith Park Memorial Collection, located at 200 Meola Road, Western Springs.

Free car parking is available onsite.

Please arrive at 6pm for a 6:30pm presentation start.

Attendance to this event is FREE but a ticket to attend is required. Please register for your ticket via this event page (green button, top right).

More on the speaker:

Dr Adam Claasen is a senior lecturer in history at Massey University’s Albany campus, Auckland, New Zealand. In 2006, he was the Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and in 2009, he received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching. Currently he teaches Second World War and American Twentieth Century history. He publishes on the role of airpower, military intelligence, and combined operations in in the First and Second World Wars. His work includes Hitler’s Northern War: the Luftwaffe’s ill-fated campaign, 1940-1945 (Lawrence, KS. Kansas University Press, 200 2001); Dogfight: The Battle of Britain (Auckland: Exisle, 2012); and, Fearless: The extraordinary untold story of New Zealand’s Great War airmen (Auckland: Massey University Press, 2017). Currently, Adam is engaged in a long-term project exploring the role of New Zealanders as pilots, observers and ground crew in the Great War across the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force, 1914-1918.