Barker began flying the Sopwith Camel, a single seater fighter, armed with twin synchronized machine guns. Hating his new job, he quickly got himself reassigned to active duty in France, though not before getting into trouble doing acrobatics over London. Three months later, he was promoted to captain and given command of a flight of airplanes (four to six aircraft).Īfter being wounded in August 1917, he was transferred back to England to become a flight instructor. Promoted to flying officer in February 1917, Barker returned to the Western Front again in two-seater reconnaissance airplanes (the B.E.2 and the R.E.8), but this time seated in the front pilot’s seat. At the beginning of 1917, he was sent to flying school for four weeks’ instruction to become a pilot. In July of that year, he recorded his first victory, driving down a German scout airplane using his observer’s gun. He received his first MC doing aerial photography. In the spring of 1916, he volunteered to serve in the Royal Flying Corps first as a gunner and, following receipt of a commission as a second lieutenant, as an observer in the B.E.2 two-seater reconnaissance airplane.
In December 1914, he enlisted in the 1 st Canadian Mounted Rifles with whom he served as a machine gunner at Ypres. As a teenager, he was known for his keen eyesight and marksmanship. by Swaine, Library and Archives Canada, PA-122516.īarker was born in a log cabin on a farm near the small town of Dauphin, Manitoba in 1894.