The William Frederick Barns U.S. Air Force Collection contains textual materials, photographs, and digital images associated with the military and professional career of Colonel Barns.

Series I, Textual materials, includes military awards and citation paperwork, military correspondence from the 1940s-1960s that relates to Barns' work as an Air Force representative in the aviation industry, and documents about Barns' speed record. These materials include notes on Barns' several attempts to break the world speed record, an undated North American Aviation fact sheet on his speed run, an undated North American Aviation press release about the F-86D jet, and two copies of a promotional booklet about world speed records, published by North American Aviation, Inc.

Additional materials in this series include the Summer 1957 (Volume 15, Number 2) issue of Skyline magazine that has a feature article on Barns, a North American Aviation booklet on the timing system for the 3 km speed course; four large navigation charts for the Western United States, and two award certificates. There is also a flight planning manual used by Barns, containing his notes and annotations. Additionally, there is a draft copy of a chapter about Barns from a book The fastest men of the World[sic]. It does not appear the book was ever published.

Series II, Photographs and Audiovisual materials, contains 104 loose photographs primarily from the period 1950-1980. Many of the photographs include USAF stamps on the reverse. The photographs are mostly black-and-white, with some color images and range in size from 4x5" to 8x10". The photographs mainly depict military activities, including some taken during the time when the Barns family was stationed in Japan. The photographs also include portraits of Colonel Barns, photographs of the day he set his speed record, and other assorted photographs of Barns' Air Force activities. Some of the images show aircraft and engines related to Barns' work as an Air Force representative in the aviation industry. There are three photographs from 316th Fighter Squadron Reunion on October 16-18, 1987. Two are group portraits of the veterans who attended, and the third shows a poster listing the squadron's campaigns and decorations.

There are also two CDs with images scanned from Barns' scrapbook. Please note that the Museum's collection does not include the physical scrapbook. Additionally, there is a DVD of his speed record setting flight on July 16, 1953.

Series III, General Flight Information, includes assorted flight-related materials used by Barns during his career, including forms, charts, maps, and two booklets; Private Pilot (Airplane) Flight Training Guide and Plane Sense: General Aviation Information, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1964 and 1981 respectively.