THREE SONS KILLED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24101, 21 October 1941, Page 9

THREE SONS KILLED

JOIIIIOWED THEIR FATHER .■IT WAS THEIR JOB" The storv of the death of the third fhe designer of the Blenheim and Cufort aircraft, who himself was killed v( » arc , asro while testing his new aircraft' was told by the Air Ministry Iservice in- a cablegram from Lon--snn published in the lleiuld yesterday, i w as awarded the D.h.(. a nnth ago after he had shot down two 52°?;' n three-enumed bombers 111 one ffht over Malta. One of his brothers n i-iiipd with a bomber squadron, and other while flying night fighters. The 'L,v of the family's magnificent record S (Md bv Basil Cardew in a London 08 mner at Hi.' time David Barnwell newspap F c aii<l now David has «ven his life for his country, too. last of the Flying Barmvells has „nn the D.F.C.—Pilot-Ofbcer David Tkher Barnwell, son of the designer ot the Blenheim and Beaufort, bombers. ?.«t nieht, from her home in Bristol— SU'tbe aircraft works where her Lband designed his aeroplanes-Mrs. Barnwell told me of her two other sons ; h o died in the air. and of the third J oy , who carries on the family trach4Tn one week-end over Malta he shot <sown four Italian aeroplanes. It is for that he has heen awarded his decora-o-.a Barnwell: "I have only plrid now. 1 am so proud of him. 1 am ,0 proud of them all. ' Built Machine for Sons

Her husband, Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell, doskuod not only the Blenheim and the Beaufort. but also the Bristol fighter, which fought in the last war. In this war more Royal Air Force pilots have llown in Blenheims against'the enemy than in any other Barnwell crashed in 1938. He was killed in an aeroplane he had built for his sons, powered by a tiny 28 h.p. engine. It was built for economy; his boys had found it too expensive to learn in the usual way. "Mv three sons." said Mrs. Barnwell, "took after their father. All four "of them talked about nothing but the air. That- was all 1 heard in the home. We have always lived on the edge of an airfield. , , , "My eldest. Richard Anthony, went from Bristol University into the R.A.F. in 1938. He was flying .in a bomber .squadron when he was killed. Shot Down s Heinkel "John Sandes, our middle son. went to Cranwell. the R.A.F school and when he joined the R.A.F. he piloted ' night fighters. He was reported missing in June, 1940. , "Before he died he had shot down a Heinkel 111. John was a scholarly bov he got the King's Medal at Cranwell. I think he had the greatest flying brain of them all. ' " "David worked at Filton airfield, Bristol, where his father had worked. He was only 18 when he finished his training in the R.A.F. and -went to Malta. . "He has not much time to write to me But he never fails to send a cablegram everv week. He cannot afford many words, but he always makes them bright, and he ends by saying, 'l'm having a wizard time.' . * "Although I do not like flying. T have lilwavs felt that my life is dedicated to it. My husband and my three sons -Beemed to be part of it. • "I do not think I would have had it otherwise. It was their job.''