Billy Barker's unbelievable dogfight

[@mikepette4422]

good thing Barker chose the newer Snipe over the Camel as it was a better plane fixing some of the flaws in the Camel and being just a little faster could runaway easier. Though it wasn't that much better than his opponents aircraft that day the Fokker D. VII ( which was a great plane when equipped with the correct engine) that was probably enough of an edge to keep a superior pilot like Barker alive

[@davidfindlay5014]

For the record, Barker disliked being referred to as 'Billy', preferring a modest 'Will'.

[@johnspizziri1919]

Wow!

[@babboon5764]

Hey Sean, grand video but check the voice over at 7.20 (Billy Bishop won his medals when?) PS: The Machine gun's a Lewis gun - A kind of light MG

[@SeansAviation]

yeah....oops..lol. Wish I had a way to fix this after uploading it!

[@babboon5764]

@@SeansAviation Hmm I've seen some vids where folk have added text to show an amendment. Dunno if that's an easy option or a diabolical one

[@SeansAviation]

@@babboon5764 I may have figured it out...

[@michaeldenesyk3195]

The Barker fuselage has always intrigued me, one question, was the fuselage repaired for public display? Obviously, the Snipe took a lot of hits, and also there must have been a lot of blood from his wounds. Has anyone any information on these details?

[@SeansAviation]

My guess is the airframe would have been "sanitised" after the event for public viewing, and any blood would have been cleaned up. One can see bullet holes in the remaining left side fabric, the entire right side was removed at some point before returning to Canada.

[@t-mar9275]

There are a couple of famous photos of Barker and this fuselage. One was taken when it was on display in London, in 1919. At that time it still had the original engine and machine guns. The 2nd photo was taken a few months later, when it was received in Canada. The engine and guns are missing, so they appear to have been removed in England. The current fuselage shows some minor changes from the as received state in the photograph. Apparently, the Snipe took relatively few bullet hits, with the three striking Barker being "lucky shots". There's an extant photo of Barker's upturned Snipe taken by the Kite Balloon observer who rescued Barker and drove him to the Field Dressing Station. While the photo is heavily scratched, the fabric appears remarkably intact. It's certainly not all torn up. Then there's a surviving diary entry by a member of Barker's squadron stating the he didn't notice any fuselage bullet holes when walking around the crashed Snipe and that the three bullets that struck Barker must have been lucky shots. Finally, the author of a 1997 biography on Barker, who presumably had the opportunity to examine the fuselage up close, noted that, "... there's little evidence of bullet holes...". However, there certainly should have been a lot of blood. Barker's rescuer mentions cutting away his bloodstained Sidcot suit and having to apply compression to the thigh artery on the drive to the Field Dressing Station. Yet, the biographer noted no bloodstains upon examining the fuselage. So, it would appear that the bloodstains were cleaned up. This probably happened prior to it being put on display in London, as that photo shows no barriers around the fuselage, allowing close inspection by the public. While most of the fabric and some of the panelling of the right hand side of the fuselage have been removed, this is not necessarily due to crash damage. It was displayed in this state in England and may have been removed as part of the de-commissioning operation or to display the construction to the public. Otherwise, it should have been mentioned in the squadron member's diary entry.

[@neilpk70]

He called himself "Bill Barker". Low key, but a killer nonetheless.

[@mikepette4422]

So he cross the German lines by himself.... Some guys just have a Death WIsh

[@SeansAviation]

@@mikepette4422 many of the high scoring aces in both world wars got there by putting themselves in situations that most other people wouldn’t. Whether it was courage, fatalism or a death wish is something we will never know.