23 Facts About Nicky Barr

Nicky Barr was credited with 12 aerial victories, all scored flying the Curtiss P-40 fighter.

Nicky Barr escaped and assisted other Allied fugitives to safety, receiving for his efforts the Military Cross, a rare honour for an RAAF pilot.

Nicky Barr was the Victorian Schoolboys' 100 yards athletics champion three years in succession, from 1926 to 1928.

Nicky Barr started playing rugby union in 1935 through a friend in the Power House club.

Keen to serve as a fighter pilot, Nicky Barr initially tried to enlist in the Royal Air Force, but withdrew his application when told that it was unlikely he would fly anytime in the near future, and that he could expect only administrative duties in the interim.

Nicky Barr gained a reputation as something of a rebel during training, and became forever known as "Nicky", for "Old Nick", or the Devil.

Nicky Barr converted to P-40 Tomahawk fighters at an RAF operational training unit in Khartoum.

Nicky Barr's philosophy was that the P-40 was not a top-class fighter, but that its shortcomings "could be offset by unbridled aggression", so he resolved to treat aerial combat as he would a boxing match and "overcome much better opponents by simply going for them".

Nicky Barr had never sought leadership of the squadron, and felt that others were just as well qualified for the role.

Nicky Barr immediately engaged both and shot one down before more German fighters arrived and he was hit and forced to land behind enemy lines.

Enemy aircraft were encountered and, in the ensuing engagement, Flying Officer Nicky Barr attacked 2 Italian fighters, one of which he shot down.

Nicky Barr then observed one of his fellow pilots, who had been shot down, waving to him from the ground but, when preparing to make a landing in an attempt to rescue him, Flying Officer Barr was attacked by 2 Messerschmitt 109s.

Nicky Barr brought back much valuable information regarding the disposition of enemy tanks and defences.

Nicky Barr came down in a minefield during a fierce tank battle, and was forced to remain where he was as troops of both sides slowly converged on him; British forces managed to reach him first and, after treatment for wounds, he again returned to his squadron.

Nicky Barr later learned that the pilot who shot him down was Oberleutnant Werner Schroer, a Luftwaffe ace credited with sixty-one victories in North Africa.

Nicky Barr made his way to the Swiss border, but was challenged by an Italian customs official, whom he struck with a rock before being recaptured.

Nicky Barr was instead sentenced to ninety days solitary confinement in Gavi Prison Camp, Genoa.

Nicky Barr jumped from a moving train bound for the Brenner Pass and joined a group of Italian partisans in Pontremoli, remaining at large for two months before again being captured.

Nicky Barr was recaptured and escaped once more before finally making it through the Alpine crossing himself, leading a group of more than twenty.

Nicky Barr went to New Guinea and flew some ground-attack missions in the Kittyhawk to gain experience in the South West Pacific theatre.

Nicky Barr's injuries prevented him from returning to a rugby career, and he took up yachting as a sport.

In 1961, Nicky Barr became General Manager of Meggitt Ltd, an oilseed-crushing firm; he eventually rose to become Executive Chairman.

In June 1987, Nicky Barr accepted an invitation to join John Glenn, Chuck Yeager, and fifteen other famed flyers in a so-called "Gathering of Eagles" for a seminar at the USAF Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama.