Nicky Barr - Early Career

Early Career

Andrew Barr was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 10 December 1915; he had a twin brother, Jack. The family moved to Australia when the boys were six. Growing up in Melbourne, Andrew attended Kew Public School and played Australian rules football. He was also the Victorian Schoolboys' 100 yards athletics champion three years in succession, from 1926 to 1928. 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 one of his friends in the Power House club. Weighing 80 kilograms (180 lb) and just under 6 feet (180 cm) tall, Barr gained selection for Victoria as a hooker the following year. In 1939, he was chosen to play in the United Kingdom with the Australian national team, the Wallabies. The tour was cancelled however less than a day after the team arrived in the UK on 2 September, due to the outbreak of World War II. Keen to serve as a fighter pilot, 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.

Returning to Australia on the RMS Strathaird, Barr joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an air cadet on 4 March 1940. After undergoing instruction on Tiger Moths at No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School, Essendon, and on Hawker Demons and Avro Ansons at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Point Cook, he was commissioned as a pilot officer on 24 September. 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 had deliberately aimed poorly during bombing practice, a stratagem also adopted by at least two of his fellow students. By November 1940, he had been posted to No. 23 (City of Brisbane) Squadron, flying CAC Wirraways on patrol off the Queensland coast. The aircraft was, according to Barr, "our front line fighter in those days, but it didn't take too long to realise that the capacity of the Wirraway, compared with the types of planes that we were going to encounter, left much to be desired". Though his duties frustrated him somewhat, Barr was nevertheless grateful to have this extensive flight experience under his belt when he eventually saw combat. While based in Queensland, he served as honorary aide-de-camp to the Governor, Sir Leslie Wilson, and also captained the RAAF rugby union team. He was promoted to flying officer on 24 March 1941.