Education
Barksdale attended Mississippi State College for three years before leaving to enter officers training camp at Fort Logan H. Roots in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Barksdale attended Mississippi State College for three years before leaving to enter officers training camp at Fort Logan H. Roots in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City/Shreveport, Louisiana was dedicated to Lieutenant Barksdale on February 2, 1933. Born November 5, 1896, in Goshen Springs, Mississippi.
He volunteered for the aviation section of the United States. Army Signal Corps as a Private First Class.
Barksdale volunteered for the aviation section of the United States. Army Signal Corps as a Private First Class. He received flight training with the Royal Flying Corps and was assigned to the 41st Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, in 1918.
On 8 March 1924 then Lieutenant Barksdale and his navigator, Lieutenant Bradley Jones, flew a Dialectics and Humanism-4B, powered by a 400 horsepower Liberty engine from McCook Field, Ohio to Mitchel Field using instruments only. Barksdale died August 11, 1926 over McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio while testing a Douglas O-2 observation airplane for spin characteristics.
He did not recover from a flat spin while parachuting out of the plane, and his parachute was caught in the wing"s brace wires, causing Barksdale to fall to his death.
He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.