March 2026 Newsletter #23

• Battle of Britain Memorial, UK
• Tablet Memorial
• New Zealanders of The Few – a Provisional List
• Children’s Books commission

• SKPMA Inc Website
• ANZAC Parade
• Battle of Britain 2026
• Recognition of Sir Keith in Malta

At the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel Le Ferne, Kent, UK, a significant feature is the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, named in tribute to the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a Hurricane fighter pilot in 1940. He was the first President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and, together with Lady Foxley-Norris, provided the funds to allow the wall to go ahead.

The wall contains the approximately 3,000 names of all those aircrew known to have flown at least one sortie with an accredited squadron or unit of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The names are listed in alphabetical order, without rank or decoration, highlighting the fact that every one of the Few contributed to the RAF’s victory.

This is the same reason the airmen at the centre of the National Memorial to The Few wears an Irvin jacket to disguise his trade, rank and nationality. He may be an Ace or he could be a Sergeant Pilot who was lost on his first sortie. They all played their part.

The names of ACM Sir Keith Park and Flight Lieutenant Reginald D’Arcy Jury were accredited and added to the Wall in 2023, the former through the combined efforts of Englishman Dilip Sarkar, Stephen and Brian Park.

A start on the Tablet memorial is dependent on raising about $20k by end April to enable The Memorial Company to order the granite for the Tablets. This is necessary if the Tablet addition to the Sir Keith Park Memorial is to be unveiled at the Thames Battle of Britain Commemorations in September this year.

Your donation will help achieve this goal . . .

A provisional list of those New Zealander Airmen recognised as being of Sir Winston Churchill’s The Few is attached to this Newsletter, by way of information. You may recognise a name.

There are several versions of this information, with numbers ranging from 127 to 145. My challenge is to present the most accurate list possible for display on the Tablet Memorial. To assist in this challenge, I have purchased two books by Kenneth G Wynn:

• Men of The Battle of Britain: A biographical Directory of The Few;
• Men of The Battle of Britain: A Supplementary Volume.

I am also consulting with New Zealand authors Errol Martyn and Adam Claassen, as well as Alastair Noble, Deputy Head, Air Historical Branch (RAF).

As in the case of the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall (Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel le Ferne, Kent, UK), some space will be allowed on the Tablets for other New Zealand Airmen, who may gain a later recognition to The Few.

Work is progressing on the writing of two Children’s Books featuring Sir Keith. One targeting primary, the other, secondary school children. I am indebted to Michelle Mulholland (for the former) and Sally Muir (for the latter) for their efforts and enthusiasm to bring this to fruition.

Much research is in progress to establish the path of Sir Keith’s early education, which it seems, followed a number of significant steps and locations. A summary will be provided in a subsequent Newsletter when the picture crystallises.

Richard Hornell of TechHelp has been engaged to update and redevelop the SKMPA Inc. website.

The Thames ANZAC Parades will be held Saturday 25 April 2026: the Dawn Parade beginning with assembly at the corner of Pollen and Sealey Streets at 5.45am, and the Civic parade will fall in at the corner of Pollen and Sealey Streets at 9.45am.

You will know that Corporal Keith Park arrived 25th April, landing at ANZAC Cove, 26th April 1915 serving in the New Zealand 4th Howitzer Battery, and as such is a veteran of the ANZAC Campaign in World War 1.

I am coordinating with two contacts in England (Alastair Kerr, Founding Director of Acre Properties and Air Commodore Rick Peacock-Edwards who served as the Vice Chairman of the RAF Club, London from 2011/2012 until 2019) and the Maltese branch of RAFA to gain greater recognition for Sir Keith Park in Malta, where little currently exists.

This is likely to be in the form of a plaque (not a cost liability to our project), inscribed as left: