Nicky Barr
Andrew William Barr, OBE, MC, DFC & Bar was a fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He was credited with 12 aerial victories, all scored flying the Curtiss P-40 fighter. Selected to play for Australia in the United Kingdom in 1939, he had just arrived in England when the tour was cancelled following the outbreak of war. Shortly after taking command of No.3 Squadron in May 1942, he was shot down and captured by Axis forces, and incarcerated in Italy. He escaped and assisted other Allied fugitives to safety, receiving for his efforts the Military Cross, a rare honour for an RAAF pilot. Barr died in 2006, aged 90.
About Nicky Barr in brief
Andrew William Barr, OBE, MC, DFC & Bar was a fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He was credited with 12 aerial victories, all scored flying the Curtiss P-40 fighter. Selected to play for Australia in the United Kingdom in 1939, he had just arrived in England when the tour was cancelled following the outbreak of war. Shortly after taking command of No. 3 Squadron in May 1942, he was shot down and captured by Axis forces, and incarcerated in Italy. He escaped and assisted other Allied fugitives to safety, receiving for his efforts the Military Cross, a rare honour for an RAAF pilot. After the war he became a company director, and rejoined the RAAF as an active reserve officer from 1951 to 1953. From the early 1960s he was heavily involved in the oilseed industry, for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1983. Barr died in 2006, aged 90. He had a twin brother, Jack. The family moved to Australia when the boys were six. Andrew attended Kew Public School and played Australian rules football. In 1931, aged fifteen, he began his association with the Lord Somers Camp and Power House social and sporting organisations located at Western Port. After leaving school, Barr studied construction at Swinburne Technical College, but later took a diploma course in accountancy and made it his profession. He started playing rugby union in 1935 through a friend in the Power House club.
Weighing 80 kilograms and just under 6 feet tall, Barr gained selection for Victoria as a hooker the following year. He first represented the state in rugby in 1936. Barr was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 10 December 1915; he had a identical twin brother Jack, who also moved to Melbourne when he was six. He gained a reputation as something of a rebel during training, and became forever known as \”Nicky\”, for \”Old Nick\”, or the Devil. In his quest to gain assignment as a fighter pilot, he deliberately aimed poorly during bombing practice, a stratagem also adopted by at least two of his fellow students. He saw action during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 before returning to Australia as chief instructor with No 2 Operational Training Unit. By November 1940 he had been posted to No. 23 Squadron, flying CAC Wirraways on patrol off the Queensland coast. He later became an honorary aide-de-camp to Queensland Governor Sir Leslie Wilson, and captained the R RAF rugby union team. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar on 24 March 1941 and was promoted to flying officer on 28 September 1941. He eventually saw his combat experience under the command of Peter Jeffrey at an RAF operational training unit in Khoumoum. He died in 2007 at the age of 90, in a car crash in Queensland. He is survived by his wife and two children.
You want to know more about Nicky Barr?
This page is based on the article Nicky Barr published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 21, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
