After 100 days of Antony Gormley’s “One and Other” project, in which 2,400 human “plinthers” from all walks of life spent an hour each on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, the site is about to receive an occupant of a very different kidney — a 15ft-high statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, one of the heroes of the Battle of Britain.

Park, a New Zealander who had fought at Gallipoli in 1915, was in the summer of 1940 entrusted with command of the fighter squadrons of 11 Group, whose vital task was to defend London and the South East from Norfolk to Hampshire against the main weight of the Luftwaffe’s onslaught.

This defence he conducted with consummate skill, refusing, as some in Fighter Command wanted, to hurl his squadrons at the enemy’s fighters in dashing mass attacks, which would undoubtedly have resulted in heavy losses. Instead, he artfully introduced them piecemeal into the bomber streams, taking severe toll of these and as a result drawing the higher flying German fighters down into the battle where they fought more nearly on the RAF’s terms. The morale of the Luftwaffe’s bomber pilots suffered severely, and Fighter Command’s slender resources were thereby husbanded for another day.

Like his boss at Fighter Command, Sir Hugh Dowding, who was absolutely in harmony with his methods, Park was harshly criticised, not least by the commander of 12 Group situated to the north of him, Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who favoured “big wing” attacks. Historians have since judged that the steadfast wisdom of Park’s methods saved the situation in that critical summer.

The temporary statue of Park, which has been fabricated in resin in New Zealand and depicts Park looking skywards in flying gear, will be unveiled on the Fourth Plinth on Wednesday, and will remain in place for six months.

A 9ft permanent bronze statute of Park, based on the same maquette created by Leslie Johnson, is to grace a new plinth in Waterloo Place next year. Its unveiling on September 15, 2010, will be part of the RAF’s 70th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Britain.