Barnaby was the first person in the United States to earn a soaring license. He began developing gliders not long after the pioneering work of Orville and Wilbur Wright. The memoir of his naval service focuses primarily on his glider experiences, including his achievement as the first person to descend by glider from an airship, the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), in 1930 He later used gliders in naval aviation training at Pensacola, Florida. During World War II he was an engineer at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia and commanding officer of the Naval Air Modification Unit at Johnsville, Pennsylvania.