This Harvard, a Mark 4, is displayed in bright yellow paint, the same colour it wore to work as an advanced trainer both during and after World War II. Powered by a 600 HP Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-AN-1 single row radial engine, this Harvard trainer (along with its 20,109 sisters) was the stepping stone from primary trainers such as the Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth to high performance fighters like the legendary Spitfire, training thousands of pilots for the Allied Forces. The plane, designed by
North American Aviation, was built in great numbers under license, 3,370 of them in Canada. This example was built by
Canadian Car & Foundry, probably in 1943 or 44.
This Harvard memorial is a tribute to the pilots of #15 Service Flight Training School, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program, which was based in Claresholm for many years. There is no history of this particular plane given at its display site.
Following World War II the Harvard remained in service with many air forces around the world. Many countries have even pressed them into
combat service as late as 1995. A great many Harvards and T-6 Texans remain flight worthy, almost all in private hands.
North American Harvard Mk. IV
Length: 28 ft 11 in
Wingspan: 42 ft
Power: 600 hp
Engine: 1 x Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-AN-1
Gross Weight: 5,235 pounds
Maximum Speed: 180 mph
Cruising Speed: 140 mph
Rate of Climb: 1,300 feet per minute
Service Ceiling: 22,400 ft
Range: 710 miles
The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.
In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under license. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.
At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.
A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.
From the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum