This site is a tribute to Keith Parkes.

Keith joined the RAF when he was 18, trained in Southern Rhodesia and flew Hurricanes and Thunderbolts against the Japanese in South East Asia.  After VJ day he returned to the UK where he flew Meteors until late 1947 when his service ended.  By then he was married to Doreen nee Brown.  They had one son.

In 1949 he returned to Rhodesia with his family and in 1950 he joined the Department of Civil Aviation to become an air traffic controller.  He and Doreen had another son and a daughter in the early 1960s.  He  retired in 1984 as Chief Air Traffic Control Officer and shortly afterwards he and Doreen moved from what had by then become Zimbabwe, to South Africa.

Doreen died in 2005, aged 80, leaving a big gap in Keith's life.  In June 2018, aged just 94, Keith surprised everyone, including himself, by returning to the UK to live.  He had six months in Helsby, Cheshire close to most of his family.  Sadly he died in December 2018.  He is survived by his three children, seven grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.  He is much missed and will always be remembered.