Nigel Park (original) (raw)

Nigel Manfred Park, DFM (6 March 1921 – 25 October 1942) was a New Zealand fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. He was credited with destroying at least 10 enemy aircraft. Born in Gisborne, Park enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in May 1941. After receiving flight training in New Zealand and then Canada he was sent to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force. He briefly flew with No. 122 Squadron on the Channel Front before being sent as a reinforcement pilot to the island of Malta in July 1942. Posted to No. 126 Squadron, he had destroyed two enemy aircraft within two weeks of his arrival on Malta, and had further successes over the next few months. He went missing, presumed killed, on operations on 25 October 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Di