Sparky Barnes

Sparky is an active pilot and longtime aviation author and photographer. She has written three aviation books and was chosen by Flying magazine and EAA as the 2006 recipient of the Bax Seat Trophy, which is awarded to the EAA member who best communicates “the excitement and romance of grassroots aviation.” Sparky personally restored her 1948 Piper Vagabond and holds a commercial glider certificate with private single-engine land and sea ratings.

Sparky Barnes Thursday, July 20, 2023

This Fly Baby is the Katz’ Meow!

In the early 1960s, a young Jim Katz was absorbing page after page in Air Progress magazine, and when he saw an article that included three-view drawings of the Bowers Fly Baby, his eyes widened. “Man, I could build that!” he said to himself. That thought never left him. In 1971, when Jim was in […]