North American Harvard

KF388 North American Harvard IIB represents a typical Harvard, being built from a collection of parts from various sources,mainly from a Harvard dump at Camberley in the 1960’s. As such it cannot be attributed to any one aircraft. Most of thefuselage is ex RAF, the fin ex Royal Navy, one wing ex Italian AF, with another part marked as a US Navy SNJ!

The fuselage appears to be that of KF388 and so the aircraft has been restored as such. Built as a Harvard IIb by Noorduyn Aviation it was delivered to the RAF in late 1944 initially serving with 7 Flying Training School (FTS) at Peterborough. It ended its days in the mid-1950s with 6 FTS at Ternhill, eventually being sold for scrap in February 1957. It was one of a number that ended its day in the Camberley scrapyard. A Bournemouth aviation enthusiast collected a large number of Harvard parts from Camberley and rebuilt a complete aircraft in the 1970's. He then started work on a second, but died before the project had reached very far. After years of neglect the parts were donated to the Museum in 2000 with volunteers completing the work over a number of years.

One of the most well-known training aircraft, the Texan/Harvard was developed by North American Aviation of California from their BT-9 trainer of 1935. The sturdy, all metal Texan was more representative of fighters then in use with the US Army Air Corps. The large cockpit gave an excellent view for instructor and trainee and the 550 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engine gave it a fighter like performance. Its direct drive propeller with near supersonic tip speed gave the Texan a distinctive rasping noise. Designated AT-6 (Advance Trainer) by the USAAC, production was additionally undertaken from 1940 by North American’s Dallas factory, which also produced the Texan for the US Navy under the designation SNJ.

With the threat of war looming in Europe, the RAF was on the lookout for new aircraft to supplement production of what would be a hard pressed home aircraft industry. In June 1938 an order was placed for 200 Texan, which in RAF service were known as Harvards. The first was delivered to 3 FTS at Grantham December 1938 and so a number of pilots were trained on the new type prior to the outbreak of war. Deliveries were boosted with the setting up of Lend-Lease in 1942 with the Americans supplying the aircraft to the RAF. Over 5,000 were eventually delivered to the RAF. Canada also purchased large numbers of Harvards and in due course production was undertaken by Noorduyn Aviation in Montreal (eventually to total 1,800) as the AT-16 to speed up delivery to the RAF and RCAF.

Following the outbreak of war in Europe, the Americans greatly increased their order for Texans. As well as their own pilots, large numbers of RAF pilots were trained in America – the weather proving better than at home! The Commonwealth Air Training Scheme resulted in many more pilots being trained in Canada & Rhodesia. Of the 15,500 built up to 1945 many thousand remained in service with the USAF in 1948. They instigated a major rebuilding programme to update about 2,000 of the trainers as T-6G Texans with many delivered to ‘US friendly’ countries. These rebuilds were undertaken both by North American and Noorduyn. The RAF had over 1,000 Harvards still in service at the end of the war with the final ones remaining with FTS’s until March 1955. They were replaced by Vampire Trainer jets. Many USAF, RAF and RCAF aircraft were to spend many more years flying with air forces in all parts of the world. South Africa – the last major user – kept their Harvards in service until 1998. Texans/Harvards are still flying today in the hands of enthusiasts as low cost ‘warbirds’ and can still be seen actively flown at air shows around the world.