C. D. Barnard

Charles Douglas Barnard (8 December 1895 – 7 August 1971) was a British pilot, who took part in 1920s air races and record-breaking flights.

He was once reported to be a cousin of Captain Franklyn Leslie Barnard, an airline pilot who was also notable in air racing events, but that was disproved in the results of the 1901 UK census.

[6] On 14 July 1923, he flew De Havilland DH.9C (G-EBDD) in the King's Cup Race at Hendon Aerodrome, but was placed outside the top three?.

[9] On 4 July 1925, he flew de Havilland DH.51A (G-EBIM) in the King's Cup Race at Croydon Aerodrome, but failed to finish.

[10][11] On 6 July 1930, he flew DH.80A Puss Moth (G-AAXW) in the King's Cup Race at Hanworth Aerodrome, and finished in 13th place.

He was accompanied by Flying Officer Eric Herbert Alliott, and the aviator Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford .

On 6 September, they reached Croydon for a night landing, after a record breaking flight of 5,000 miles in 4.5 days.

[5][page needed][13] On 2 August 1929, he took off from Lympne Airport Fokker F.VIIa (G-EBTS now renamed 'The Spider') on a flight to Karachi.

Barnard Ltd merged with the aviation department of Selfridges to become Brian Lewis & Co., Ltd.[19][page needed] On 10 April 1930, he took off from Lympne in Fokker F.VIIa (G-EBTS,[20] renamed 'The Spider'),[21] on a flight to Cape Town.

He was accompanied by Robert (Bob) Little, and Mary Duchess of Bedford, who had purchased the aircraft in September 1929.On 19 April, they reached Maitland aerodrome, Cape Town, after a record-breaking time of 91 hours and twenty minutes flying over 10 days.

[7]: 213  In doing so, he was trying open up future passenger routes and improve the speed of news sent from distant locations.

Aircraft used were the Fokker F.VIIa (G-EBTS),[29] Spartan Three Seater Mk 1 (G-ABJS), an Avro Avian Sports, a Desoutter II, Potez 36 (F-ALJC 'Ladybird'), and a Cierva C.19 autogiro (G-AALA).

By April 1934, Barnard, his partner A. H. Dalton, and his pilots had arranged 92 air displays, carried 9,241 passengers, and flown about 20,000 miles.

[44] In May 1932, in Popular Flying magazine, a story was written about CD Barnard titled 'My Most Thrilling Flight'.

Barnard and Russell returning from their India flight on 9 August 1929
Fokker F.VII similar to G-EBTS