Midway through the following year, he took charge of the aerial defences of Malta, then under heavy attack from the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force).

[5] In early April 1915, military planners in London decided that the NZEF should be part of the Allied forces that would open up a new front in the Middle East by landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

He particularly admired the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps commander, Sir William Birdwood, whose leadership style and attention to detail was a model for Park in his later career.

He had been trying for some time to obtain a transfer but the senior officers in the 29th Division would not allow this for its personnel serving in France; in later years Park saw his wounding as being particularly fortuitous for his future military career.

He has performed several other fine feats, and has at all times set a most inspiring example by his dash and tenacity.On 21 August Park, flying with Second Lieutenant W. O'Toole while Noss was rested,[19] drove two Albatros scouts out of control.

[17][21] On 5 September Park, flying with Air Mechanic H. Lindfield, killed a pilot of Jasta Boelcke, Franz Pernet, the stepson of General Erich Ludendorff, off Ostend.

In late April, together with a Captain Stewart, he flew a Handley Page 0/400 twin-engined bomber on a 1,880-mile (3,030 km) circuit of the British Isles, completing the flight in 28 hours, 30 minutes.

For two years running he helped in the organisation of the air pageants at Hendon, which drew over 100,000 spectators, and he was also involved in the development of systems for controlling the operations of fighter aircraft defending the United Kingdom from aerial attacks.

[61] During the Phoney War, there was great urgency in developing and implementing tactics for the defence of British airspace, through coordination of data collected from RDF stations, the Observer Corps, and the fighters themselves.

[72][73] He also maintained a desire to switch to the offensive; just two weeks after Dunkirk, he sought to have some Hurricane squadrons refitted as fighter-bombers and used, along with Bristol Blenheims, to make nighttime attack on the German airfields in France.

[80] At the start of the Battle of Britain, generally deemed by British historians to be 10 July (German sources usually cite a date in August), the Luftwaffe's initial focus was to gain air superiority over the English Channel, before moving to strike targets inland of the coastline.

[87] On 16 August, following a visit to Park's headquarters at Uxbridge, Winston Churchill made a speech in which he recited one of his most famous lines, referring to RAF fighter pilots: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".

[92] At one stage the previous month, pilots and fighters were being lost at a greater rate than they could be replaced and Park had to close Biggin Hill, which had been rendered nonoperational due to bomb damage.

[Note 2] Senior RAF personnel were present, including Leigh-Mallory but so was the relatively junior officer, Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, a firm advocate for the Big Wing.

Late the following year he wrote to the new CAS, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, who had made the decision to replace Park with Leigh-Mallory, arguing his case.

Park arrived in Cairo on 6 January; his new post was subordinate to the RAF command structure for the Mediterranean and Middle East, led by Air Marshal John Slessor.

[140] Although Park's appointment was quickly criticised by Slessor, on the grounds that the RAF would lose influence in the region to the British Army,[Note 4] little weight was placed on his views as he was known to be very opinionated on matters about which that he often knew little.

[146] After he was invested with his KCB at Buckingham Palace by King George VI on 14 February, he and his wife departed the United Kingdom for Calcutta to take up his post, replacing Air Marshal Guy Garrod.

[147] He also maintained his longstanding practice of visiting the RAF stations of his command, despite its wide range, which extended from Kandy, where he was initially based until shifting to Singapore, northwest to Quetta, south to the Cocos Islands and Hong Kong to the northeast.

[148] Newly promoted to air chief marshal,[149] on 12 September Park was present in his capacity as ACSEAC for the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in the region, the ceremony being held in Singapore.

[150] In the aftermath of the Japanese surrender, Park's duties shifted to repatriating around 125,000 Allied internees, military and civilian, from prisons in the South East Asia region.

[153] Morale, due to the rate of repatriation of RAF personnel, continued to be a problem in the early part of the following year, and Park had to speak to several groups of dissatisfied men.

In his early drafts he was critical of the British land forces' ability to support the ground organisation required for his transport aircraft, and also emphasised the importance of air supply operations to the success achieved in the region.

[156] In February 1946, Park, looking ahead to his impending replacement as ACSEAC by his deputy, Air Marshal Guy Pirie, in late April, sought permission for leave in New Zealand before taking up his next post.

[158] The following month, after a recommendation by Mountbatten, Park was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (GCB) "in recognition for distinguished services in South East Asia".

He met the president of Argentina, Juan Perón, in early 1947, and a contract was subsequently signed later in the year for 380 Gloster Meteor jet fighters and 30 Avro Lincoln heavy bombers.

In one case, he noted that while some pilots of the RNZAF still had to make do with antiquated North American P-51D Mustangs and de Havilland Vampires, the air forces of less developed countries were equipped with modern Hawker Hunter jet fighters.

[170] In 1955, the same year that he stepped down from the International Airport Committee, Park's connections and advocacy with the Air Ministry resulted in the donation of a Spitfire to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

The donated Spitfire, a Mk XVI, which had been used in the filming of Reach for the Sky, arrived at the museum the following year and Park gave an address at its formal unveiling.

On viewing the finished film at its premiere in New Zealand, Park found it entertaining but noted the meeting in which he and Leigh-Mallory argued over the use of Big Wings was fictionalised and less dramatic than what had actually occurred.