PILOT CAREERPILOT CAREER BILL BARNSBILL BARNS
After multiple practice runs on
July 14 and 15, 1953, Lt Col Barns
readied himself for the attempt. The
words of his wife were echoing in his
ears: “Don’t forget that airplanes are
replaceable; you wouldn’t be.”
He took off on the 16th under
conditions pronounced ideal by
the USAF meteorologists. He left
the runway and flew towards the
eastern shore of the Salton Sea, the
Imperial Valley between Indio and
Brawley. The mercury had reached a
scorching 100.5°F, almost optimum
for the record attempt.
Only 50 observers witnessed
the attempt. Barns reached the
beginning of the marked route
at exactly 1141hrs and flashed
by, shaking the ground with the
noise created by his F-86D, before
repeating his run three more times
in pursuit of the record.Thermal, about 25 miles southeast
of Palm Springs, California. The site
had peculiarities that made it ideal
for record attempts. At 236ft below
sea level, the denser air allowed
increased thrust from a jet engine,
contributing to greater overall
speed.
Barns found a fully combat
capable, all-weather F-86D – the
radar-equipped version – waiting
for him at the El Centro Naval Air
Station, California, his base for the
record attempt. With a full weapon
load, F-86D-30-NA 51-6112
carried 9 tons of munitions,
including rockets designed to
engage Soviet bombers. These were
launched from an ingenious tray
that popped out of the belly to
fire 24 unguided 2.75in (6.9cm)
Mk.4 Folding-fin Aerial Rockets,
unofficially named ‘Mighty Mouse’.often climbed above 104°F,
allowing faster airspeeds.
Barns was named as the primary
pilot for the project. In early July
1953, in light of the historical
importance of the venture,
Washington countermanded these
orders. They replaced Barns with the
Commander of the Air Research and
Development Command, Brigadier
General J Stanley Holtoner.
At the last moment, the USAF
opted for Barns’s lengthy training
and superb flight skills and cancelled
the General’s orders. His friend
Ed Horkey, North America’s Chief
Technical Engineer, characterised
Barns’s contributions in superlatives:
“Bill had flown just about
everything that we built, including
the T-6 Texan, T-28 Trojan, F-86
Sabre, and RB-45 Tornado. Bill and
his group often flew as many as 150
aircraft per month.”S i l v s e a k
When Barns heard he’d been
chosen to establish the new speed
record with the F-86 Sabre, he
moved with Marylou and their
young children to the airfield atK eep s of Records
Since 1903, the Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale (FAI) has overseen and
confi rmed world speed records on
courses that conformed to its standards.
The rules changed at times, but always
rested on completing a defi ned straight-
line course four times, at a low altitude.
The FAI rejects fl ights that fail to qualify,
according to its standards.
For example, the FAI disallowed
Bill Bridgeman’s fl ight at 1,238mph
(1,992km/h) in August 1951. Flying
Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket 37974, he was
dropped from a US Navy P2B-1S mother-
ship (a modifi ed B-29 Superfortress)
at 34,000ft (10,363m) and fl ew at an
altitude of almost 80,000ft. The D-558-2
is displayed at the National Air and
Space Museum in Washington DC.Boeing P2B-1S mother-ship with a Douglas
D-558-2 ready for launch. US NAVY-KEC“Barns reached the beginning of the marked
route at exactly 11:41 hours and fl ashed by,
shaking the ground with the noise created
by his F-86D before repeating his runs three
more times...”110 FLYPAST February 2018