NZ Army LRDG Pilot Trevor Barker

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks to Mark McGuire for sending me this interesting story of a New Zealand Army pilot attached to the Long Range Desert Group. This is from the TIMARU HERALD, 1 October 1941:

DESERT FLYING

15,000 Miles In Three Months

Timaru Pilot

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, Sept. 6.

Fifteen thousand miles of desert flying in three months. That is the record of a sergeant of the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East who has been piloting a reconnaissance plane working in coordination with the Army’s desert patrols.

With considerable New Zealand flying experience to his credit, the sergeant, who before the war was a well-known citizen of Timaru, arrived from the Dominion as a private in an infantry battalion. He had, of course, never flown in desert conditions before, but becoming acclimatised has not taken him long. Cruising over the vast and monotonous expanse of three great deserts he has landed on places where hitherto no white man had ever been. Often he has been the guest of lonely desert tribes at unfrequented oases, where dignity and hospitality go hand in hand with squalor and filth. With him as navigator is an Englishman who for years had been mate in tramp steamers sailing to remote parts of the world, but had never before navigated a plane, far less in desert conditions. He has taken to his new job with remarkable ease. Now he feels as sure of himself in the air as ever he did on the sea and has an uncanny knowledge of the mysteroius way’s of the desert.

Something to Remember
Describing his first trip— 800 miles into the Libyan wastelands —the sergeant said "I will remember it for a long time. It was the first experience I had ever had of flying over the desert. There was one passenger, the navigator and myself. As we flew inland there seemed to be nothing anywhere but sand, with very few landmarks of any kind. Eventually we arrived at our first point and refuelled, and then set sail on the last stage of our journey— 400 miles. By now the sand was rising, blown by a steady wind, while the atmosphere was hazy and visibility bad. At 2000 feet we could not see the ground. There was nothing but great shifting shadows below, and we were flying absolutely blind, only by instruments. We were carrying a few gallons of petrol in the cabin in case we missed the tiny spot that we were heading for— and that looked very possible. We decided to land and have a check-up. To aid our landing we tossed a smoke bomb over the side. We got down all right, and luckily on fairly firm sand, checked our bearing, and took off again. Before long visibility got even worse, so we made another landing and stuck around for an hour. We worked out out position and discovered that we were only a quarter of an hour’s flying from our destination."

The next big trip was a journey of 1000 miles each way into the Soudan, three days’ solid flying. Flying a plane in the desert is much more difficult than is generally imagined. There is hardly ever a horizon,- nothing but a great, yellow haze. The eye-strain alone is considerable, pilots having to wear specially prepared glasses to counteract the glare. The whole time they were in the desert they had, of course, to live on tinned foods, except when given fruit by hospitable tribes. On the other hand, pilots had been out in the desert for two months on a stretch without seeing a sign of any civilisation. Storms are quite frequent. One sandstorm forced the New Zealander down to as low as 50 feet. To attempt to fly over a sand storm was even more dangerous than flying over a cloud bank, since it was impossible to judge just where the storm ended and a wrong estimation may put a pilot miles off his course, which in the desert may mean becoming completely lost. The best plan was to land and wait till it blew over.

Describing the results of their reconnaissance activities as "highly successful” the sergeant added that he attributed this first to the skill of his navigator and secondly to the reliability and stability of the type of machine he was using. Desert flying had its hazards but it also had many attractions. It was just a matter of getting used to it.

The pilot referred to is Sergeant Trevor Barker, a son of Mr and Mrs F. Barker, Selwyn Street, Timaru.

----------------------------

This photo appeared in the TIMARU HERALD, 23 January 1942




-------------------------------------

And this article TROOPS RETURN TO N.Z. from the PRESS, 11 FEBRUARY 1946, says within the text:

"The few desert veterans of the draft included Captain Trevor Barker, of Timaru, the only New Zealand soldier in the Middle East whose job was flying a single-engined Waco aircraft between Cairo and the Libyan oases. Through two years of raids and patrols behind the enemy lines in Africa, Captain Barker was pilot of the Long Range Desert Group’s Waco, which was used sometimes for carrying in wounded, and often for taking urgently-needed equipment to the patrols at their Siwa and Kufra bases. When the L.R.D.G. moved on to Italy, Captain Barker took his Waco by easy stages across the Mediterranean. Shortly before the end of the European war he was associated with raids on the Germans’ lines of communication through Albania."

[30sqnatc]

In Bearded Brigands - Diaries of Kiwi Trooper Frank Jopling by Brendan O'Carroll it mentions that the LRDG had two Waco liaison aircraft. Sgt RFT Barker is described as previously being a member of NZ Divisional Cavalry (which is not an infantry battalion as claimed in the article) and that he held a private pilots licence.

The LRDG 2IC and later CO, Major GL Prendergast was another pilot.

[McFly]

This website (link) suggests Barker was taught to fly by non other than Charles Kingsford Smith..!"Prendergast found a pilot for the second Waco, New Zealand army Private Trevor Barker. He had been taught to fly by Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith, feted in 1928 for making the first transpacific flight from California to Australia."

"Capt Trevor Barker - LRDG Pilot"


"Pilot Trevor Barker (third from right) enjoys a smoke before evacuating Peter Burke, a wounded member of the British Long Range Desert Group, from Libya to Cairo, Egypt, on November 28, 1942."

[shorty]

The Wacos were flown and maintained by Major G.L. Prendergast, the LRDG CO and pre-war desert explorer and Sgt R.F.Baker, a qualified NZ civilaian pilot who at one time flew support for Kingsford Smith. Periodic routine inspections and major repairs were carried out by the Egyptian aircraft company Misr Airways or occasionally the RAF.
No radios or DF were carried, to assist where required, two LRDG truck navigators were trained in aerial work. Occasionally, if they were in doubt about their position they would land and check their calculations with the aid of a 'sunshot'.
Guy Pendergast, and Ralph Bagnold were both licensed pilots before the war began. Both recognized the usefulness of aircraft in desert exploration and it was only natural that once the war began they would put this knowledge to good use.

With the inception of the LRDG, Bagnold used his contacts in Cairo to procure two small biplanes from local businessmen. The planes were essentially commercially produced WACOs (Produced by the Weaver Aircraft Company of Ohio). The planes were export versions of WACO cabin biplanes. The better known of the two planes was a ZGC-7 (RAF Serial No.AX695). The other was a YKC (RAF Serial No. AX697). The principle difference between the airplanes was the powerplant. The ZGC-7 used a 285 hp engine while the YKC employed a less powerful 225 hp engine. The YKC dated from 1934 the ZGC-7 from 1937.

The principle use of these aircraft were to transport mission critical information, supplies, and personnel from GHQ to forward base camps. They could also be used for a limited resupplies of forwardly deployed personnel and medical evacuation.

The WACOs were sturdy aircraft with the typical short take off and landing associated with biplanes, which made them ideally suited for the clandestine work of the LRDG. They also bore a slight resemblance to the Fiat CR42 Falco (Falcon) one of the last Italian Fighter biplanes which may have helped them avoid contact with German and Italian aircraft. The CR42 was used by Italy throughout the desert war primarily for ground-attack and reconnaissance.


. Common Characteristics:

Wingspan 10.1 m (33 ft 3 in)
Length 7.6 m (25 ft 2 in)
Height 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Weight Empty 785.5 kg (1,690 lb)
Ceiling 16,000 ft.
Range @480 miles

RAF AX697 (YKC)
Powerplant:
225hp Jacobs L-4MB, 7 Cyl. Radial
Cruising speed:
130 MPH (@208 KPH)
Produced in 1934

RAF AX695 (ZGC-7)
Powerplant:
285hp Jacobs L-5MB
7 Cyl. Radial
Cruising Speed:
146 MPH (@245 KPH)
Produced in 1937

The WACO planes used by the LRDG were export deriviatives of the WACO Cabin Biplanes, The YKC was a factory produced commerical design that was a follow-up to the WACO UIC. It went into production in 1934. The YKC was a luxury business aircraft employing and enclosed cabin entered through four automobile style doors. The front seats were two bucket style seats with complete instrumentation for a pilot and co-pilot. However the plane was controlled by one steering yoke, which could be shifted back and forth between the pilot and co-pilot. The back seat consisted of bench seat that spanned the entire width of the cabin. It could be removed if cargo, instead of passengers, was to be transported.

The ZGC was a later up-engined version of a YKC. This engine difference is principally the only difference between the two aricraft, other than minor upgrades to the "C" series cabin planes . WACO used a a complex coding system when naming their planes. The first letter stood for the type of engine used for the plane. The Second letter stood for the type of airframe. The third letter stood for the series.

"G" and "K" stood for the same basic airframe but relates to the minor upgrades and styling changes made between 1934 and 1937. "C" stands for the Cabin series biplane. Both the ZGC and YKC were from the same series as the earlier UIC WACO cabin planes dating from 1930 However in 1934, the "C" series which originally stood for all Cabin planes was divided into two categories. "C" seires now meant a "Custom Cabin Biplane" whereas "S" was used for a "Standard Cabin Biplane" The C series had better intrumentation and was more luxuriously appointed than the Standard Cabin plane or the former UIC Wacos.

The construction for the WACO cabin biplanes was typical for that era with welded steel tubing that was faired to a well-rounded shape by means of plywood formers and wood stringers. The wing was constructed of solid spruce spars with spruce and plywood ribs and aluminum leading and trailing edges.

The tail assemblies were of welded steel tubing and the metal-framed ailerons were covered with aluminum. There were ailerons on both wings that were interconnected by push-pull struts that operated them in pairs. The main landing gear had oleo shock absorbers and the wheels were equipped with mechanical brakes. The tail landing gear was a fixed rear wheel. The entire airplane was covered with Grade A cotton fabric. The airplane was stable, with forgiving flight characteristics and moderate performance.

This method of construction was used for both the YKC and ZGC-7.
The Dominion Newspaper 16 January 1934

Many parts of the globe, including the Antarctic, have been visited in the last few years by Mr.Trevor Barker of the Staff of New Zealand Airways Ltd. He was at New Plymouth in connection with the visit of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross.

Charles Kingsford Smith was an early Australian aviator. In 1928 he earned global fame when he made the first trans-pacific flight from the United States to Australia. In the Southern Cross he made the first flights between Australia and New Zealand demonstrating the feasibility of regular passenger and mail services across the Tasman Sea. The monoplane landed at Wigram, Christchurch 14 hours and 25 minutes after leaving Sydney. More than 30,000 people thronged to great them.

Kingsford Smith returned to New Zealand in 1933 and 1934. He employed Trevor Barker as an engineer and assistant pilot for some weeks while he was touring New Zealand with the Southern Cross.

“I started like many other youths at a desk driving a pen,” Trevor told a reporter. “I had five years of that, but it was no good to me so I went farming. A friend and I discussed the possibility of going to the Antarctic on one of the whaling ships. I told him that if the chance arose I would go.

One day when I arrived for lunch a telegram was awaiting me to say that the chance had come. I left the farm that day and the next day sailed out of Port Chalmers, near Dunedin on the old Sir James Clark Ross bound for the Antarctic. This was in 1928, and we were away nearly six months.”

Whaling operations began in the Ross Sea area in the1923-24 season. The Sir James Clarke Ross paid her visit to the Antarctic and she disposed of 221 whales. In the 1926-27 season two ships slaughtered 786 whales between them. By 1927-28 there were three ships and they treated over two thousand whales. The giant Norwegian whaler Kosmos returned from the Antarctic with 116,000 barrels of oil with an appoxiamate value of 570,000 pounds.

Trevor was enthusiastic about his trip. The work was hard but the pay was good, and never for one moment did he regret going. Those on the ship did not once see any land, or even rock. It was there, but it was ice-covered. Nevertheless there was an abundance of animal life, thousands of seals and penguins, presenting a wonderful sight.

The ship went first to the Barrier, then to the Bay of Whales, and finally to Discovery Inlet, from whence both the Scott and Shackleton expedition set off. When they were at Discovery Inlet the party under Rear Admiral R.E.Byrd was conducting its geographical and scientific operations.

“Byrd’s ship was unable to get through to the Ross Sea,” said Trevor. “The C.A.Larsen, the sister ship to the Sir James Clark Ross had to make a passage for them. The Ross Sea is most peculiar. We struck the ice well outside the Antarctic Circle, but it was about only a foot thick. For seventeen days we were cutting our way through. Once this was over we came to the Ross Sea, where all was clear sailing with no ice at all. When the warm season arrives this ice breaks off the mainland and floats out as one mass leaving the clear sea behind it. Later, of course, come the icebergs. There are hundreds of them, like floating mountains and they present an awesome and wonderful sight. Some from the Barrier sometimes get as far north as Cape Horn.”

“To the Sir James Clark Ross, were attached five chasers each fitted with a harpoon gun. They had a cruising range of from, two to three hundred miles, and their navigation was carried out entirely by radio beacons from the main ship. They could get back unerringly through any fog. Nearly all the crew was Norwegian and Trevor said he never worked with better men.

The trip was the most successful that the Sir James Clark Ross ever made, and in all 543 whales were caught, the largest being 120 tons. The weight was estimated from the length, the length in feet being accounted equal to the weight in tons.

When the ship left Port Chalmers it had 10,000 tons of coal aboard, and as the coal bins became empty they were scrubbed, washed and filled with oil. Toward the end of the trip 1200 tons of coal was thrown overboard to make room for oil, for it was 20 times the value of coal.

When the trip was over Trevor signed on to the MV Hurunui. The ship went through the Panama Canal and visited the West Indies, Boston and New York. Trevor went to England, where he stayed for a year before working his passage back to New Zealand. Shortly after his return he began flying and after obtaining his license studied the mechanical side as well. He went to work for New Zealand Airways.

Rupert Francis Trevor Barker (Trevor) was born in Waimate on 7 November 1904.He spent his childhood at Stoneleigh near Fairlie before going to Timaru Boy’s High School. He married Helen Margaret Sale Orbell 4 December 1926 and his son Ian Macleod was born 2 June 1926. The second child was called Allen but he died at birth. Trevor and Helen divorced and Trevor gave up farming and travelled to many places before training as a pilot. His occupation prior to the war was Engineering Foreman with the Public Works Department at the Rangitata Diversion. He was also their official photographer. The album of photographs of the Rangitata Diversion he compiled is in the Ashburton Museum. He used as his address at this time 32 Selwyn Street Timaru, the home of his parents Frank and Rita Barker.

Trevor had two grandchildren Nicola and David and Nicola remembers visiting Rita her Great Grandmother in Wai-iti Road Timaru. She played Animal Snap with Nicola and David. They had to make animal noises instead of saying “snap” – they thought it great fun. Rita often gave them packets of figs to eat as well, which they thought pretty good.

I met Nicola and David at Rita’s when they were very young. After about sixty years Pam made contact in 2012 with Nicola Gray at Renwick, near Blenheim. It was a very special moment for Pam and Nicola. They can now fill in some of the gaps. Pam knew Trevor well, but Nicola did not and he was her grandfather.

SUCCESSFUL AIR EXCURSION TO FILM THE ALPS

Before the war the Mount Cook region, which had never been extensively filmed from the air was visited by Mr F McKecknie, cameraman for Fox Movietone News. He told reporters that the regions were, in his opinion, unsurpassed in the world for photographic qualities.

Two New Zealand Airways’ aeroplanes left Timaru about 1.30pm and arrived over Mt Cook in 55 minutes. One machine, from which Mr McKecknie operated his camera, was piloted by Flight-Lieutenant W. Park and the other by Mr Trevor Barker, who had Mr H. Coxhead, secretary of the Mount Cook Tourist Company as a passenger. The aeroplanes circled over the Alps at a height of 9000 feet and the occupants were awestruck by the magnificence of the scene below.

Mr McKecknie, who had specialized in photography from the air, had flown in the Graf Zeppelin and he filmed the arrival of Admiral Byrd when he made his first journey across the Atlantic.


NEW ZEALAND MILITARY FORCE
15th REINFORCEMENTS

Captain Rupert Francis Trevor Barker
Army Number 352991


Previous military experience - 2 years 3 months
RNZAF (CFS Territorial) Leading Aircraftsman.

Outbreak of WW11 1939
Attested 16 June 1940
Entered Camp 2 Oct 1940 - 7 Nov 1940
4 Jan 1945 - 19 April 1945
11 Feb 1946 - 20 March 1946
Overseas 8 Nov 1940 - 3 Jan 1945
20 April 1945 - 10 Feb 1946

Medals. 1939 - 45 Italy Star
13 Dec 1943 Africa Star Defence Medal
6 Dec 1943 Army Clasp War Medal 1939 - 45
NZ War Service medal

Entered Egypt and marched into Northern Training Coy.
Infantry training Battalion EGYPT 21 Dec 1940
Admitted to General Hospital EGYPT 6 Jan 1941
Marched to HQ of 2NZEF Base on discharge from hospital.
Transferred to NZ Patrols from 32 Battalion
Marched out to LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP 8 April 1941.
First appointment to commission as 2nd Lieutenant 18 Feb 1942
Placed on Battle Casualty (LRDG) 18 Feb 1942
Qualified for Award of African Star
Promoted to Captain LRDG EGYPT 8 Jan 1944
Return NZ via Cairo 27 Nov 1944

TIMARU PILOT FLIES 15,000 MILES IN THE DESERT IN THREE MONTHS

Fifteen thousand miles of desert flying in three months is the record of Sergeant Trevor Barker of the NZEF in the Middle East. He has been piloting a reconnaissance plane working in co-ordination with the Army’s Desert Patrols.

With considerable New Zealand flying experience to his credit, Trevor arrived from Timaru as a private in the infantry battalion. Of course he had never flown in desert conditions before, but becoming acclimatized has not taken him long. Cruising over the vast and monotonous expanse of three great deserts he has landed on places where hitherto no white man had ever been. Often he has been the guest of lonely desert tribes at unfrequented oases, where dignity and hospitality go hand in hand with squalor and filth. With him as navigator is an Englishman who for years had been mate in tramp steamers sailing to remote parts of the world, but had never before navigated a plane let alone in desert conditions. He has taken to his new job with considerable ease. Now he feels as sure of himself in the air as ever he did on the sea and has an uncanny knowledge of the mysterious ways of the desert.

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER

Describing his first trip – 800 miles into the Libyan wastelands – Trevor said, “I will remember it for a long time. It was the first experience I had ever had of flying over the desert. There was one passenger, the navigator and myself. As we flew inland there seemed to be nothing anywhere but sand and with very few land marks of any kind. Eventually we arrived at our first point and refueled and then set sail on the last stage of our journey – 400 miles. By now the sand was rising, blown by a steady wind, while the atmosphere was hazy and the visibility bad. At 2000 feet we could not see the ground. There was nothing but great shifting shadows below and we were flying absolutely blind, only by instruments. We were carrying a few gallons of petrol in the cabin in case we missed the tiny spot that we were heading for – and that looked very possible. We decided to land and have a check-up. To aid our landing we tossed a smoke bomb over the side. We got down all right and luckily on fairly firm sand, checked our bearing and took off again. Before long visibility got even worse, so we made another landing and stuck around for an hour. We worked out our position and discovered that we were only a quarter of an hour’s flying time from our destination.”

The next big trip was a journey of 1000 miles each way into the Sudan, three days solid flying.

Flying a plane in the desert is much more difficult than is generally imagined. There is hardly ever a horizon, nothing but a great, yellow haze. The eyestrain alone is considerable, pilots having to wear specially prepared glasses to counter-act the glare. The whole time they were in the desert they had to live on tinned foods, except when given fruit by hospitable tribes. On the other hand, pilots had been out in the desert for two months on a stretch without seeing a sign of any civilization. Storms are quite frequent. One sand storm forced Trevor down to as low as 50 feet. To attempt to fly over a sand storm was even more dangerous than flying over a cloud bank, since it was impossible to judge just where the storm ended and a wrong estimation may put a pilot miles off course, which in the desert may mean becoming completely lost. The best plan was to land and wait till it blew over.

Describing the results of their reconnaissance activities as “highly successful” Trevor added that he attributed this first to the skill of the navigator and secondly to the reliability and stability of the type of machine he was using. Desert flying had its hazards but it also had many attractions. It was just a matter of getting used to it.

LRDG's WACO AIRCRAFT A FAMILIAR DESERT VETERAN

Written in Southern Italy: A fighter pilot who had seen long service in the Western Desert sat his Mustang down in a cloud of red dust on an airfield in Southern Italy. He swung in off the landing strip and taxied his sleek fighter into position among the lines of parked aircraft. As he clambered out of the cramped cockpit his eyes roved over the familiar assortment of portly Liberators and Douglases, lethal - looking Lightnings and Mustangs and a dozen other types. Then he spotted the stumpy, rather old-fashioned little cabin biplane parked beside his own craft. “Good Gosh,” he exclaimed,”It’s the old WACO.”

Sure enough, it was the old Waco, a familiar veteran to pilots who had done tours of duty in the Western Desert. Probably the oldest military aircraft still on service in Italy, this Waco has had a chequered career. Imported into Egypt in 1934 as the private plane of a pasha, it was bought three years later by Prince Abbis Helim. Then the war came along and the British forces in Egypt, seriously embarrassed by the shortage of aircraft and requiring urgently planes which could be used for various army co-operation jobs, bought the plane from the prince.

The plane was taken over by the Long Range Desert Group in 1941 and since then has been piloted by Capt.Trevor Barker, of Timaru. With a comparatively modest experience on Waco aircraft in New Zealand, Capt. Barker made a trial flight from Almaza Airfield. Flying over Heliopolis, the 225hp Jacobs engine with which she was then fitted, cut out and for a minute Trevor thought he was in for a crash on the rooftops. He managed, however, to coax the plane past the residential section and sat it down on a clear patch behind the English school. It was towed back to the airfield behind a truck.

FIVE NEW ENGINES
Since then Trevor has had two more forced landings, both in the desert and the Waco has had five more engines, all Continentals. When the Jacobs engine with which it was fitted when taken over, finally packed up, parts of a new engine could not be found in the Middle East. Then it was discovered that some 30 new Continental engines of 200hp were stored in an ordnance depot. The LRDG plane was modified to take the new engines and since then has been steadily working her way through the stock in hand. Constant use in the desert with a minimum of time for overhauls has meant cutting down the life of the engines.

With the exception of the engine replacements, a refurbishing job done two years ago, and a recent coat of paint to cover the old desert camouflage, she is the same craft that came from the factory 10 years ago. The lifetime spent under rigorous conditions, seldom under cover, is beginning to show now, and the woodwork in the wings is starting to go, with the result that the trailing edges now present an alarmingly crumpled aspect. But the Kiwi painted on the side of her fuselage by an Egyptian when Capt. Barker took the plane over is not yet faded- one Kiwi, which really does fly.

LRDG LIASON
The Waco's main job in the desert was to maintain liason between the LRDG forces scattered about the various oases and Cairo. Plugging along between the desert airfields, and often landing where there was no attempt at a formed airfield, the little craft achieved miracles of performance and durability, which would have surprised even its makers. Theoretically, there was room for four passengers and 86 pounds of baggage aboard, but by the time enough food and water for 10 days in the event of an emergency landing, tools, spare parts and extra petrol had been stowed, peacetime load-carrying regulations were well infringed.

For over a year the Waco plodded back and forth between the oases and Cairo, with some trips carrying it as far afield as Khartoum in the Sudan. Twice when on the run to Kufra Oasis in Libya it was followed in by inquisitive Italian plane.If the pilot thought there was any chance of enemy planes being about, he flew over the course at a maximum altitude of about 20 or 30 feet. Another time when the Waco was covering the Mersa to Bagush leg of the journey in a sand storm and keeping on the route to the Bagush airfield by following the railway tracks, it encountered an ME110 heading home along the railway and at about the same 50 feet altitude. Both aircraft swerved smartly aside-they had enough to worry about with the sandstorm, although the unarmed Waco could hardly do anything else but scoot for safety.

On one occasion it was reported that the tracks of aircraft wheels had been seen in the sand near Ribiana oasis and the Waco was detailed to take an intelligence officer down to investigate. They discovered the wheel marks were very old. Meantime the Chief of the tribe, which was making its headquarters at this oasis, invited them to drink tea with him.

Trevor explains, “We were received by all the head men of the tribe. They sat on their haunches opposite us, the Chief in the centre. Then they got out a stinking old pot in which they made their tea, adding a handful of green mint and serving the resultant mess in small tumblers about the size of whisky glasses. Apart from the mint it was rather tasteless stuff. We gave them some issue cigarettes, which they seemed to enjoy. Then they gave us a second cup of tea, slightly stronger and more sickly than the first. When that was finished they forced a third cup on us, this time much stronger and much more sickly. After that everyone stood up to go. It is the custom to drink three cups of tea with your guest after which the party is over.

The chief of the tribe then came forward and asked us to accept a live sheep and three live chickens. We had to decline the offer of the sheep, because the sand was too soft to load the plane up any more. However, we took the chickens so as not to offend the old boy. We tied their legs and hung them up in the cabin.

Half way home one of the fowls got loose and started to fly around the cabin. It was rather ticklish for a while with a live chicken fluttering around our heads, while trying to keep the plane on a straight course. It took some catching, but we got it. These chickens are laying eggs for the boys now.

It was quite a common thing to be given a rousing welcome by tribes at oases, where they would be given grapes, figs, eggs and pomegranates. In these oases flies were a pest. There were swarms of them. However they did not seem to worry the Arabs, who in any case lived in utter filth. Scorpions were quite common and in some of the oases he saw the biggest spiders he had ever seen. “Honestly,” Trevor said, “It is often quite pleasant to get back out over the desert again.”

FLIGHT TO ITALY

After the spell in the desert the Waco spent another year in the Levant, even making the long water crossing to Cyprus at times. But the old craft faced probably its longest trip when Capt. Barker was detailed to bring it across to Italy. The route lay in easy stages up the North African coast to Tunis, thence across the sea to Italy via Sicily. Although snow and high winds were met with and stops for maintenance took up a fair amount of time, the Waco touched down in Italy within a week after leaving Cairo.

Ease of maintenance, a comparatively long range at an economical cruising speed of 120 mph, and stability have been the useful features of the Waco's service, It seems likely that she will soon be retired in favour of some more sprightly youngster. But for troops who have often seen the little biplane drone by at low altitude, and the men of the LRDG to whom the WACO meant mail from home, contact with the world outside, the sand, sea and sometimes a swifter passage to hospital when they were injured will long hold a soft spot for the old Waco with the Kiwi on her snub nose.

During WWII Trevor flew Waco in Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Libya, Tripoli, Tunisia, Italy and Saudi Arabia.

After World War II was over Trevor returned to Christchurch and bought a property at 45 Hoon Hay Road, Halswell. Hanging in the hallway was a propeller that belonged to a Waco aircraft and over the fire place hung a sketch of Waco. The Long Range Desert Group’s veteran plane was specially drawn for NZEF TIMES by Captain Peter McIntyre, NZ Official War Artist. McIntyre’s sketch now hangs in Michael and Margaret Barker’s home at 68 Churchill Street, Kaikoura.

The other article of interest he had in his house was a beautiful Stirling silver Coffee Jug that had come out on the Charlotte Jane in 1850 with his Great Grandfather Dr. A.C.Barker. It now takes pride of place in the Canterbury Museum in the furniture, silver and ceramics area.

Trevor opened a photocopy business in Hereford Street and that proved very successful. He had a great love of cars. Michael Barker was his godson and when Pam and Michael were in Christchurch Trevor took them many times to the speedway. In his retirement, like most Barkers he loved his vegetable garden and took great interest in the ducks on the river that flowed passed his garden. Each year a pair of ducks would make a nest in the top of a Cyprus tree. He was always concerned that Mother duck would drop the duckling off her back as she carried it to the stream.

Dr A.C. BARKER’S SKETCH of an AEROPLANE 1872

The Fairey Rotodyne was one of the highlights of one of the Farnborough Air Shows in England in the 1960’s. It was unusually designed with fixed wings. It is lifted off the ground by a rotating vane at the top-like a helicopter-and then it is driven along by conventional propeller engines. Yet the essential principle of this machine was conceived by a Christchurch doctor 80 years ago.

In December 1961 the ‘Press’ made reference to a letter which was written in 1872 by Dr AC Barker and contains reference to aeronautics and includes a diagram of a proposed aircraft. This was 31 years before the Wright brothers made their first successful flight in America.

Deeply interested in the possibility of heavier-than air flight Dr Barker made a diagram of his proposed machine. In his own words, his idea was to have a “circulating disc made of a wheel, but the complete circle consisting of two or three vanes only, which should be made to revolve with great rapidity, or perhaps by an engine worked by dynamite or one of the new explosives.”

The unanswered question was, did Dr Barker’s machine graduate from the diagram stage? This example of what a pioneer does in his spare time came to light in 1961. Then the President of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand, Mr W.S.Dini of Christchurch commented that aviation in this country probably began with ballooning in the late 1880’s.

Resulting from this Trevor Barker, a great grandson of the doctor, presented to the society a letter which his great grandfather had written to his brother describing his flying machine. In a footnote in his letter of 1872 Dr Barker added, “ When you have enjoyed a laugh at this put it by as witness of my sanity or insanity as events may turn out.”

The Canterbury plains he noted, would make a fine place for testing flying machines

Rita, his mother came to live with him in Hoon Hay Road and died in her nineties on 23 November 1972. The funeral was held in Timaru and she was buried beside Frank who had died in 1946 only a few months after their three sons, Trevor, Douglas and George had returned from the War.

Trevor died 6 October 1976 aged 72 and is buried near Dr Barker in the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.

[davidd]

What a great yarn - and a great photo too!

[Antonio]

Wow!
Such an interesting thread

[Dave Homewood]

I am going to need to set aside a day in the future to read Shorty's post. Great that there is so much info coming forward on this pilot and topic though, thanks Shorty!

[errolmartyn]

“This website (link) suggests Barker was taught to fly by non other than Charles Kingsford Smith..!”

Can this statement be verified, I wonder? Smithy first flew the Tasman to New Zealand in 1928. His second crossing was in 1933, arriving New Zealand 11 January and leaving 26 March. Barker was granted his ‘A ‘Licence (No. 520) on 15 March that year, but it appears that he learned to fly with New Zealand Airways. Elsewhere Barker is described as flying in a support role for the Southern Cross’s tour – but was this in 1933 or 1934, or for both tours?

Smithy may well have imparted some of his expert knowledge to Barker but it seems unlikely he actually ‘taught’ Barker to fly?

From Shorty’s post:
“Previous military experience - 2 years 3 months
RNZAF (CFS Territorial) Leading Aircraftsman [sic].
Outbreak of WW11 1939”

Barker actually enlisted as NZ40900 Leading Aircraftman Rupert Francis Trevor Barker at Levin as an Airman Pilot u/t on 11 Mar 40. At this date he had 44 hours dual and 129 solo to his credit.

On 8 Apr 40 he was posted to 2 EFTS at Bell Block, New Plymouth. A short time later, still an LAC, Barker was discharged from the RNZAF as being ‘Unsuitable for flying’.

Because of his age (35), the RNZAF saw his role upon completion of his flying course as that of instructor. Apparently this prospect did not appeal to Barker, hence his early departure from the RNZAF, having completed just 4 hours dual and 10 solo at Bell Block.

It will be noted that in photographs of him, Barker is not wearing ‘wings’. In January 1944 Barker, on advice from Grp Capt ‘Tiny’ White of the Air Mission in Ottawa, approached the New Zealand Liaison Office, Middle East to see if ‘he could be awarded a flying brevet.’ At the time it was reported that he had flown 656 hours solo flying in operational areas in North Africa, Libya, Cos, etc. . . . under most trying conditions, without any of the advantages of R.A.F. sorties, i.e., maintenance, intelligence, etc.

In a letter of 18 Apr 44 to the ‘HQ Raiding Forces’ and GHQ MEF, Lt-Col Lloyd Owen, Commanding the LRDG, expanded on Barker’s contribution:
. . . Captain RFT BARKER joined the LRDG in April 1941 as a Sgt Pilot [sic] being granted a commission in Feb 1942 and is still serving with this unit as pilot of the original aircraft purchased in early 1941. During this time he has flown in many operational areas ln the Sudan, Libya, North Africa, Sicily and Italy as well as a very considerable amount of normal communication flying in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Cyprus. Up to date he has done 955 hours with this unit as well as being responsible for maintenance of the aircraft which has often been carried out in remote areas where no ground crews and facilities were available. During the campaigns in the Western Desert this aircraft was continually being used over unknown country for the collection of wounded personnel and for the provision of much needed spares or supplies for the LRDG ground patrols operating some distance
behind the lines.

Some of these sorties were never preceded by any previous experience and no meteorological and other intelligence data was ever available and their success was due to the careful handling and maintenance of the aircraft, which was not fitted with W/T or D. F. instruments.

Because he had not completed his flying course with the RNZAF they were unable to authorise his wearing of wings. It was suggested that the British Army might be able to issue him with an Army Flying Badge instead, but this was also turned down as he had not met the necessary requirements of completing an EFTS course and the subsequent Air Observation Post Pilots course.

The lengthy correspondence, held on Barker’s RNZAF file, finally petered out in August 1944, neither authority being able to met his request. What is perhaps more surprising is that, despite the invaluable service he rendered to the LRDG, Barker was never granted an award, not even a mention in despatches.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Barker was involved with Kingsford Smith in 1934:

ON WAY TO TAUPO.

Southern Cross Carries Persistent Mechanic.

FLIES INSTEAD OF WALKING.

After walking half over New Zealand in pursuit of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, with whom he hoped to obtain a position on the staff of the Southern Cross, Mr H. Sergent, of Wanganui, a mechanic, varied his mode of locomotion to-day. When the Southern Cross left for Taupo at 7 a.m. in continuation of its itinerary, Mr Sergent left with it. Mr Sergent, making his way on foot, has put in an appearance at every stopping-place, dogging the crew of the big monoplane like a modern version of the old man of the sea. He has walked, slept out at night and got his food where he could. He raised the money for his fare between Wellington and Lyttelton by hawking cigarette lighters and other miscellaneous goods round Wellington. When the Southern Cross left this morning there were on board Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Lady Kingsford Smith, Miss Patterson, Messrs Wilfred Kingsford Smith, T. Pethbridge, H. Affleck and Sergent.

The Otago Aero Club’s Waco machine, which is acting as tender plane, left at 6.15 a.m. with Flight-Lieutenant E. G. Olsen as pilot and Messrs Trevor Barker and Beau Shiels as passengers.

STAR (CHRISTCHURCH),  27 JANUARY 1934

[Dave Homewood]

PERSONAL

Mr Trevor Barker, Selwyn Street, who toured New Zealand with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross, has returned to Timaru.

TIMARU HERALD, 26 MARCH 1934

[chinapilot]

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is thinking that this outstanding pilot is long overdue for his ‘wings’?

Obviously too late for him but there might be family members still around.

[Antonio]

If he had a been Air Force a 'gong' certainly.

[McFly]

It seems Trevor's time down in the 'Ross Sea' with the whales didn't help his marriage...

(Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19933, 18 October 1934, Page 10)