W/O Jack Barnes

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0c200500dvldtc.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="BauerBodni BT" ><B>113 SQUADRON</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B>     |    </B></FONT><B> </B><A HREF="home_of_113_squadron.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WELCOME"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A></div> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >back to</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="personnel_of_113_squadron_raf18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="( B to B )"><U><B>(    B to B    )</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=215 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="0c3d7c00dvldtc.gif"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2f1aee30.jpg" border=0 width="174" height="227" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> SERVICE DETAILS</div> <div> MEMORIES</div> <div> PHOTO ALBUM</div> <div> DOCUMENTS</div> <div> LOG BOOK</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <bR> <div> 113 SQUADRON RAF<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#CC9900" FACE="BauerBodni BT" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG SRC="2ca4f690.gif" border=0 width="79" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> W/O JACK BARNES</div> <bR> <bR> <div> W/O Jack Barnes, 1183672  WOp/Ag. 113 Squadron 'A' Flight under C/O,  W/C Jones. His crew on Ops were Pilot  P/O Ken Smith and navigator Sgt Dick Hornby. </div> <bR> <div> Ground Crew, RAF Manston in Kent</div> <div> Training - Aircrew, 13OTU RAF Coiningsby</div> <div> 113 Squadron, Assansol, November 1942 to Aug 1943</div> <div> 229 Comm Sqdrn, Delhi India</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>J</B></FONT>ack started his RAF days on ground crew at RAF Manston in Kent during the Battle of Britain. He recalls one of his duties here was what they jokingly referred to as R&R. As the Hurricanes returned from the battle it was their job to <B>R</B>efuel and <B>R</B>earm the IFF "friend or foe" devices. Apparently these devices had to be wound up and as Jack states, "the Hurricanes had a relatively short range between fuel stops so it was not a problem with them winding down between sorties". He subsequently volunteered for air crew, started training out of RAF Coningsby, 13 OTU then was told he was joining a home based Blenheim squadron. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="6e164fc0.jpg" border=0 width="356" height="252" ALT="Blenheim V in Burma 1942/1943" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="1" VSPACE="1">He wasn't too impressed by this as whilst at RAF Manston, Blenheims used to take off to bomb the invasion barges in Calais & Bologne and very seldom did they all come back!! He was then posted to a transit flight of Blenheims V's being delivered to the Far East that hopped from Lands End to Gibraltar, then Malta, where upon landing the planes were immediately stripped of kit, food etc because of the siege. Continuing on they then took off for Alexandria in groups of three, 'Vic' formation close to the Mediterranean to avoid radar detection by the Italian air force. Looking down Jack noted one of the group, a Canadian, was so low they were leaving a trail on the water and in the next glance it was leaving a wake having hit the water and ploughed in.  Jack immediately signalled his pilot to gain altitude so he could put out a Mayday relay which was picked up by the Italians who rescued two of the three crew, "better a POW than drowning!" Fortunately he escaped a reprimand for breaking silence. They then hopped all across the middle east finally arriving in Asansol India in November 1942. Here Jack joined the113 Squadron 'A' Flight under the then C/O,  W/C Jones. His crew on Ops was Pilot  P/O Ken Smith and navigator Sgt Dick Hornby. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="6dfdd080.jpg" border=0 width="477" height="264" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> W/O Jack Barnes -WOp/Ag  ?/? Ken Smith -Pilot ?/? Dick Hornby - Navigator</div> <div> SOURCE: W/O Jack Barnes</div> <bR> <div> Jack also flew with Canadians, South Africans, New Zealanders & Australians from RAAF 60 squadron. They used to fly from India to advanced airfields in Burma, re-fuel with some 'doubtful' petrol, taken to the fields by pack horse, & attack Japanese interests. </div> <div>  </div> <div> He vividly recalls one raid where they attacked some Jap supply barges on a jetty & after leaving were attacked by Zero's. Several of the flight were shot down & one came up behind him. The Blenheim 4's Achilles heel was that its turret gun couldn't fire dead astern. The guns were mounted close together & would have shot off the tail plane. The Japs seemed to know this & so attacked from behind. Fortunately my father was in a Blenheim 5, newly delivered, which had its guns mounted further apart. This enabled him to place some heavy fire into the attacking fighter, as the bullets pass either side of the tail plane. The fighter peeled off & left them! Upon landing they discovered a hole through a propeller! Close enough!! </div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="6ddbb3b0.jpg" border=0 width="443" height="315" ALT="Sgt Don Read, Sgt Hugh Courtney, Sgt Jack Barnes Asansol 1942/1943" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Sgt Don Read, Sgt Hugh Courtney, Sgt Jack Barnes</div> <div> Asansol or Feni 1942/1943</div> <bR> <div> His best mate out there was Hughie Courtney, from Chobham in Surrey, who remained as friends, with his family untill his recent death.  In August 1943 the 113 Squadron started conversion to a Hurricane fighter Squadron and as this meant that bombers, navigators and air gunners were no longer required, Jack & Hughie were transferred to Delhi to set up 229 Communication squadron. It had no C/O, aircrew, ground crew or anything for a while. At 229 he flew in York's (passenger version of the Lancaster), Dakota's &  Hudsons. He says that sounds a bit nicer, but when you were on ops with Blenheims at least they gave you a parachute. When flying non ops with passengers you had no chute.  Tour expired with a fantastic "thousand hours" air time, Jack finally made it  back home safely in 1945.  </div> <div>  </div> <div> NOTE: Jack was contacted several years ago by Anthony Day from Canada who was writing a book about Burma & the Chindits and contributed a piece to it however the book was never published. Tony Day has now been located and has made enormous contributions to the site from his book "Air War Over the Arakan".  Tony, Jack & Peter are co-founders of this site.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="6e3c53c0.jpg" border=0 width="453" height="316" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Sgt Ken Smith-Pilot, Dick Hornby-Observer, Sgt Jack Barnes WOp/Ag</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The above profile on Jack was written by his son Peter Barnes. </div> <div> See also Squadron Story, Photo Album Section, log book section. Numerous photos of Jacks can be found throughout the site.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id133_m.htm" TITLE="W/O Jack Barnes"><U><IMG SRC="67a32320.gif" border=0 width="50" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id133_m.htm" TITLE="W/O Jack Barnes"><U> </U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id133_m.htm" TITLE="W/O Jack Barnes"><U>BACK TO TOP</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>