Gone West - Harry Barr

My fellow IAC friends,

On July 1 our friend and mentor Harry Barr passed at home in Raymond, Nebraska, after a brief illness at the age of 84. He was surrounded by family and close friends and left this earth peacefully in the arms of God. We mourn and remember Harry with them.

He had flown as late as Memorial Day weekend this year in his P-51, Barbara Jean, named in honor of his late wife. That flight capped a career that had taken him from Iowa to Alaska and many other destination points around the world during a flying career that spanned from the early 1950s to the present. One of the founders of Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, Nebraska, Harry was a fixture in the offices seven days a week until recently.

If it flew, Harry likely had a part in it from Cubs to LearJets to JetRanger helicopters, the DC-3 and Skyvan for jumpers, his Hiperbipe and Lindbergh Award winning OneDesign and anything else you can imagine. He loved and looked forward to the first Nebraska snows so the skis could go on the J-3 for everyone to enjoy. In the words of High Flight by John Gillespie McGee he certainly “slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies”.

His involvement with IAC covered many facets highlighted with the formation of the Midwest Aerobatic Club or MAC which is IAC Chapter 80. The Midwest Aerobatic Championships were a constant with Harry and many folks in the aerobatic world benefited from his leadership and expertise. In such activity he was more than confidence inspiring; he was the personification of the “you can do this” attitude.

Harold Bickford, President, IAC Chapter 80