Rupert Francis Trevor “Trevor” Barker

Captain · NZ #35299 · HQ Patrol

What this roll records

HE DIED AT TIMARU ON 9 OCTOBER 1976. The Press of Friday 15 October reports that he “died in Timaru LAST SATURDAY”, and the Saturday before Friday 15 October 1976 was Saturday 9 October — the date is arrived at by that step and it is shown here rather than stated as if it had been printed. He was a partner in the firm G.B.D. Prints until he retired nine years earlier, and he was survived by a son, IAN BARKER OF TIMARU. AND A CONFLICT THIS ROLL CANNOT RESOLVE, SO IT RECORDS IT. The obituary says “He was 72”, which puts his birth between October 1903 and October 1904. THIS CARD HOLDS 7 NOVEMBER 1909, which would have made him 66. The two cannot both be right. ONE PIECE OF EVIDENCE BEARS ON IT AND IT IS NOT DECISIVE: the same obituary records that before the war he flew a support plane for Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith on his Tasman flight, and the Southern Cross crossed the Tasman in September 1928 — work for a man of 23 or 24 rather than one of 18. That leans towards the newspaper and against the birth date held here, but leaning is not proving, and NEITHER FIGURE IS ALTERED. If anyone holds his birth certificate or his service record, it settles a question this card cannot. Source: the Press, 15 October 1976, page 17, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand). The cutting is on this card and on this site’s Newspapers page.

March 1942 roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy): Pilot WACO

Deeper background (2026): recorded among the LRDG's light-aircraft pilots, flying the Group's WACO cabin biplanes alongside Guy Prendergast. Source: lrdg.hegewisch.net, https://lrdg.hegewisch.net/lrdgaf.html . Note: that source gives his rank as Sergeant, which differs from the roll's officer/pilot entry — worth reconciling.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Capt. R. F. T. Barker — engineering foreman, Christchurch; born Waimate, 7 Nov 1909; pilot of the LRDG aircraft.

Flew the second of the LRDG’s two Waco aircraft, used for reconnaissance, liaison and casualty evacuation (1941). Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Engineering foreman, of Christchurch; born Waimate, 7 Nov 1909. Pilot of the LRDG’s aircraft. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as Private, Infantry Reinforcements (2NZEF Nominal Roll 3, p. 27, Third Echelon). The rank held on this card, Captain, is his LRDG rank; promotion after embarkation was the rule rather than the exception, so the two are not in conflict. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 135652.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 3, p.27; No. 15, p.11.

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Not By Strength But By Guile