Shropshire war hero who bombed Hitler's lair dies aged 96
A Shropshire company boss who won the Distinguished Flying Cross during the war – in which he took part in a raid by the famous Dambusters squadron on Hitler's lair – has died at the age of 96.
Jim Barr was the former managing director of Ludlow agricultural engineering firm F. W. McConnel, and a member of Ludlow Rotary Club from 1968 to 2008, serving as club president in 1986-87.
Daughter Pauline Barr said: "He came to live in Ludlow in May 1955 to take up the position of works manager with F.W. McConnel. In 1982 he was appointed managing director and remained with the company until his retirement in 1987."
Born in Douglas, South Lanarkshire, his engineering studies were interrupted when he volunteered for the RAF in 1941, and after training joined 61 Squadron, based at RAF Syerston, as a navigator on a Lancaster bomber.
Training itself was hazardous, and Mr Barr, who was known as Jamie to his RAF colleagues but as James or Jim in peacetime, became a member of the exclusive Caterpillar Club when he saved his life by bailing out of an aircraft which got into difficulties during a bombing practice mission.
He was to recall: "My bomber crew could claim to hold the record as the crew that took the longest to complete their tour, excluding Wing Commanders or Flight Commanders.
"We joined 61 Squadron on May 6, 1943, and completed our tour and left the squadron on May 7, 1944, having survived both the Battle of the Ruhr and the Battle of Berlin. When we joined the squadron, crews were lucky to survive a tour. Those that did completed it in three months."
An operational tour comprised 30 missions and afterwards the entire crew were decorated, with Jamie Barr, whose rank at the time was Flying Officer – he later became a Flight Lieutenant – receiving the DFC, awarded for valour, courage, or devotion to duty in flying operations against the enemy.
Part way through their tour they received a brand new Lancaster bomber from the factory, serial JB 138, squadron code QR-J, which the crew named Just Jane, the plane itself going on to create quite a record of war service.
Pauline said: "Its first trip was on August 27,1943. It completed 123 trips, which is quite outstanding, as only one in 34 Lancasters completed over 100 tours out of 7,330 planes built."
Mr Barr was to recall: "The crew had a comparatively uneventful tour. We did everything according to the book. We started weaving 10 miles from the enemy coast. There was no talking except when necessary and everyone did their job until we landed at base."
In one incident their Lancaster carrying a full bomb load slewed off the runway at the point of take-off, and in another they dived down in Just Jane which, unusually for a Lancaster, was fitted with an underside gun, to strafe an enemy airfield and when they regained height another Lancaster thought they were a German fighter attacking them.
On completion of his tour Mr Barr became an instructor at Chipping Warden training base, but his operational flying was not over, as in April 1945 he was asked to join the crew of a bomber from 617 Squadron – the famous Dambusters – for a raid on Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden.
The bomber was armed with a single 12,000lb Tallboy bomb and, with the war in Europe about to end, he completed his one and only daylight operation.
The European war ended soon after and the squadron was then involved in returning British prisoners home from Italy. With 617 earmarked for operations in the Far East, the squadron moved to India, but Jamie had different plans, remaining at Waddington and on October 13, 1945, he and Gwen married at Nottingham.
They had two daughters, and a son who died in 1993, and two grandchildren. Mr Barr and his wife, who survives him, celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary last October.
Leaving the RAF in 1946, Mr Barr completed his apprenticeship as an engineer and studied production engineering. He took his finals at Glasgow Technical College and became a Member of the Institution of Production Engineers.
Before his move to Ludlow he was assistant manager at General Engineering Company in Glasgow for five years.
Mr Barr, with fellow crew member Reg Freeth, was one of the fortunate few ex-Bomber Command veterans to have taken a flight in the Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
He died on December 22 and is to be cremated at Hereford today, following a service of thanksgiving at St John's Church, Ludlow.
In 2015 his memories were recorded in an interview for the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive.
