One incident in particular illustrates Barker’s courage and lack of discipline. On Christmas Day, 1917, Barker took off in his Sopwith Camel on an unauthorized flight over Italy. Several versions of this war story have been told. Unfortunately, Barker did not record any of the details himself, probably because the flight was unauthorized. Barker’s squadron records indicate:
San Felice Aerodrome attacked with MG (machine gun) fire and after 400 rounds one hangar burst into flames. Mechanics were also engaged with good effect. On the return flight a hostile battery of four guns with gunners standing by was attacked – the latter were scattered in all directions. After he took off, the pilot attacked an aerodrome with machine gun fire and one hanger burst into flames.
Barker’s legend grew considerably as variations of this story began to circulate. In one published version, Barker was also believed to have fired at an Austrian officer’s car with a motorcycle escort, some trenches and a balloon. Just before the aerodrome attack, Barker dropped a placard on which was written “to the Austrian Flying Corps from the English RFC – wishing you a merry xmas.” The Christmas day attack so irritated the Austrians that a retaliatory attack was mounted the following day. Wayne Ralph’s biography of William Barker mentioned that the attack failed because many of the German pilots were either drunk or hungover.
The most famous fictionalized version of Barker’s flight on Christmas Day appeared in a short story, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, by American writer Ernest Hemingway. In Hemingway’s fictional account of Barker’s flight:
Barker had flown across the lines to bomb the Austrian officers’ leave train, machine-gunning them as they scattered and ran. He remembered Barker afterwards coming into the
mess and starting to tell about it. And how quiet it got and then somebody saying, “You bloody murderous bastard.”
The Snows of Kilimanjaro glorified Barker as a violent and exciting war hero. Hemingway, like Barker, also volunteered for the war as an ambulance driver and was seriously wounded in battle. Hemingway’s popular account of Barker’s heroics in the air appeared in the August 1936 edition of Esquire, a magazine marketed for men and whose readership most likely enjoyed war stories. Regardless, whichever version of the Christmas Day flight is correct, Barker’s flying was legendary. His love for action, excitement, and fearless disregard for danger became characteristic of modern day war heroes. Furthermore, despite Barker’s status as a squadron commander for much of the war, he developed a reputation for occasionally disregarding orders from his superior officers, most notably in the unauthorized Christmas Day aerodrome attack, and the following battle which earned Barker the coveted Victoria Cross.
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