Fascination for Radio

I was born on a farm near Galt, Ontario, which is now Cambridge. A little red-haired kid who had a hobby - when he started off at school - of electricity, radio, and I became a radio ham. And in 1934 I became a radio ham licensed to talk to my buddies all over the world. And I decided that farming wasn’t for me. I didn’t like animals, but it was a nice life. It was a very fine farm and I shouldn’t deride the farm, but I had other things in mind. I became a wireless operator, having gone to the Marconi School in Toronto, and I was going to see the world, shipboard. Well, along came the war and all the radio amateurs were shut down because it was considered necessary for security - didn’t want to let the world what was going on in other parts of the world. Then a knock came at the door and a fellow in air force uniform said, “We would like to have you because you’re a radio ham. We would like to have you join with us, with the RCAF and go overseas with the RAF.” I had no idea what it was about. I’d heard talk about secret weapons and that sort of thing, because the radio ham community could, they learned a lot of things and told each othe But because we were closed down and couldn’t talk anymore and because if you were a shipboard operator, at that time about all you’d be able to send was S O S, the way ships were being sunk, I thought, air force sounds pretty good. So I joined the RCAF with a lot of my radio ham friends in 1940. And all I can remember is the look on my father’s face when he dropped me off at the station; “Well, here goes my boy”.

Mr. Barrie attributes his fascination for radio as being the major reason for becoming a Leading Aircraftsman during his service with the RCAF

William “Bill” Barrie

Mr. Barrie was born on June 5, 1918. As a child, he was intrigued by radio, followed his desires and studied in the field of radar. By 1939, Mr. Barrie received a certificate as a Second Class Commercial Radio Operator from the Marconi Radio School in Toronto, Ontario. At age 22 he joined the RCAF. His first posting was to Britain and from 1941 to 1942, while in service, he obtained more education on heavy duty radar systems. In July, 1942, Mr. Barrie joined the RAF # 212 Flying Squadron and travelled to Southeast Asia where he took part in many airborne radar patrols. In 1945, Mr. Barrie returned to Canada and enrolled in a Radio Physics course at the university in London, Ontario, graduating with a BSC in Honours Radio Physics. In 1946, Mr. Barrie met a young Scottish girl who was serving with the Royal Navy as a WREN and they married later that year. After graduating university in 1949, Mr. Barrie was employed as a Development Engineer with a company in Belleville, Ontario. From 1957 until his retirement in 1981, Mr. Barrie was involved in major projects in the field of radar, from developing sound systems to designing more complicated satellite communications hardware. Retirement allowed him to become a major contributor to the “Canadians on Radar Research Project”.