Description
Book SynopsisDonald Barnard came to England from St Lucia to join the RAF as a bomber pilot. On his second tour of operations, he was shot down over northern France in September 1942. He was rewarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross whilst missing in action. Donald evaded capture; assisted to Spain by an escape network, and later compiled a detailed diary of his entire evasion exploits. Posted to test fly Spitfires, flying in excess of 1,000 individual aircraft. Barnard then moved to the Far East supply dropping in 1945. In Burma disapproving of the delay in recovering the emaciated allied POWs, he decided to take an aircraft without authority. 25 prisoners were recovered from Bankok to Rangoon. After a full Court Martial, he was dismissed from the RAF. He flew civilian aircraft after the war in Australia and in Britain, joining No.2 Civil Anti Aircraft Co-operation Unit in Norfolk, 1953. Flying ended for him in 1955, and he died in 1997 at the age of 79. Rarely has the opportunity been available to reproduce from a diary such a personal account of evasion. A bomber and Spitfire pilot, Court Martialled for the rescue of Japanese held emaciated allied prisoners of war, creates a unique career story supported by French resistance sources original photographs.
Table of ContentsContents Foreword Acknowledgements Preface 1. Early Days 2. Diary - Part 1: shot down; in northern France. 3. Diary - Part 2: to Marseille, and the south of France. 4. Diary - Part 3: departure for the Pyrenees, Spain and the UK. 5. The Fillerin family; the PAT/PAO line; the crew. 6. RAF, 1943 - 1946. 7. Civilian flying, 1946 - 1955. Appendix I The Barnard family tree. II The message "sent" by pigeon from Renty (French & English). III Ships in Convoy MKF7, Gibraltar - Gourock, 20 - 26 January 1943. IV Far East Dakota Losses, 1945. V Aircraft types (& engines) flown by Donald Barnard. VI The medals of Squadron Leader Donald Barnard DFC Endnotes
