Aircraft cleaning

Great response from our face book army of followers.. RS aviation have kindly volunteered to clean and polish G BUKY AND ST... Wow cheers guys! Also Alex Walsh a big thank you for volunteering.. Any other helpers welcome .. Dates will be first week in April hopefully 

Instagram T6 Harvard Aviation

We are now posting pics at T6HarvardAviation take a look ! 

T6 HARVARD MEET UPDATE - 19th 20th JULY 2014

NEWS FLASH - T6 Harvard Meet at Duxford IWM 19th/20th July 2014. This is a low key event to establish a good solid T6 Harvard network in the UK with a view to performing a large T6 Harvard Formation in 2015, imagine the noise! So far we have appearing G-TSIX - G-BUKY - G-BJST - and possibly two other well known UK Harvards.... I can also confirm now that a YAK 52 will attend and an Aztec for aerial photography and for you to chat with the pilots .

For Aircraft that I register for the event (Also none Harvard's) the landing fees will be a reduced rate to £7.00 and all day landing fees will be an amazing £20 for all day movements. Overnight parking will be £6.00 per night. All aircraft will be parked to the South side of the Taxi way behind the tower for easy viewing and photography.

• If you have liked Facebook - T6 Harvard Aviation you may be escorted to the T6 Harvards in small groups to have a close look and sit in the aircraft for photographs and chat with the pilots. Please email at info@t6harvard.com to register
• The Aircraft will be flying circuits at various times through the day
• Cafe opposite the Control tower open all day chats with the pilots and for food and drinks etc
• Flights in the T6 Harvard available when booked through Classic Wings

We are looking for ground volunteers, photographers, helpers and anyone willing to assist with some positive PR through flying magazines and local press. Contact Andy on info@T6Harvard.com

FLYING THE T6 FROM A LOW HOURED PILOTS POINT OF VIEW

PART 1

The Harvard from a low hour tail wheel pilot’s point of view

My flying started to get stale so I needed something to focus my attention. I had become bored of visiting the same old airfields for a coffee and a slice of carrot cake and needed something a little more exhilarating. From my home in Wiltshire, I used to watch the Boscombe down Harvard flying overhead at low level quite often so I researched the possibilities of getting an experience flight in one not realising where this was about to propel me!

I went head long in to flying the Harvard with very little tail wheel time and I don’t mind admitting that it has caught me out on more than one occasion! The machine is a real beast but at the same time a lady and a privilege to fly. It has been said many times “If you train in a P51 Mustang, you should be ready for the T6 Harvard!” I have never flown a P51 so I can’t comment on that.

The Harvard (left) is G-BJST T6-J Myself in the front and Neil Oakman in the rear
"However what I can say with complete confidence is that the feeling of thundering down a former Battle of Britain runway with a T-6 strapped to you is a very special feeling indeed"

Sat with the same view that pilots had in the Harvard over 70 years or so ago, inhaling the same fumes as I do now, listening to the pop and crackle of the engine whilst looking over that big R-1340 Wasp radial engine, feeling the sheer sense of excitement as the throttle is opened up to 34 inches of manifold pressure is real living history, something that has to be experienced, impossible to get the feeling from a book, a real privilege.

The Harvard (right) is the type that Geoffrey Wellum would have flown in early 1940 - Or maybe this is him?

The first Harvard I flew was made by the Canadian car and foundry (CC&F) and was the 1953 T-6J MK IV variant (G-BUKY). The name of the manufacturer CC&F doesn’t have the same ring to it as ‘Supermarine’ especially when the company was initially famous for making railroad cars and trolley buses!

The CC&F during world war 2 built over 1400 Hawker Hurricanes which made up for nearly 10% of the total number of Hurricanes ever built and had various other contracts including the building of the T6 Harvard for distribution to world wide air forces.

With about 1200 hours on piston and turbine aircraft I also bought an Auster to build some tail wheel time. I was told that “if you can fly and Auster you can fly anything”… Well, in hindsight that’s complete balderdash! The difference between the Auster and the T-6 Harvard is like ‘night and day!’ That’s in my humble opinion, apart from the tail wheel of course....The Auster does take skill to get it down on 3 points with out bouncing due to the elastic bungee undercarriage however its not the same technique as placing over 5000 pounds of T-6 Harvard on three points at 70 Mph in a cross wind with the feeling of wearing a blind fold!

PART 2 Coming soon 

T6 Harvard FLYIN 3

Ok as ever up dates promised on the fly in.... Dates will either be the 19/20th July or just the 19th... At the moment we have G-BJST - G-BUKY - G-TSIX and possibly 2 YAK 52 turning up... Hopefully all aircraft will be available for photo shoots and the opportunity for our facebook likers to sit in the machines and talk to the pilots... All in all will be a good day

RESTORATION MAN FEB 11th 8PM

Furniture maker Jamie Brown has big ideas about turning a colossal and historic 15,000 square foot RAF bunker from World War II into his new home.

However, with the Nottinghamshire bunker totally encased in earth, with no natural light, and the back section submerged in water, Jamie's wife, who is about to have their first baby, isn't so sure.

With its fascinating history and jaw-dropping engineering, George helps Jamie tackle this huge undertaking and discovers the important role it played in the blitz.

Facebook

I was going to update T6 Harvard Aviation Facebook site however it seems to be running rather slow tonight? Anyway work is progressing on the FLYIN with over 28 'I' Letters being sent out today... More work on G-INFO tonight digging out another 15 address of T6 Harvard Owner Operators in the UK or at least G Registered Harvards/Texans and SNJ...

Below is a Picture of T6 Harvard MK IV T6 J CC&F 464 on short final at Duxford... I thought I would share this lovely shot...

19th 20th July FLYIN

HARVARD FLYIN 19th/20th JULY 2014 - Ok guys the latest update is - I have just sent a letter to 28 UK Harvard Owners through the magic of "I mail" To invite them to the Flyin.. Location still TBC however a decision will be made hopefully very soon... Just waiting for return... Again please spread the word to any operators that you know... All ideas welcome to make this event a success!

T6 Harvard Flyin 2

Ok all looking good so far for the 19-20 july... Some progress made today and I have an aircraft available... I have 1 possible/maybe 1 email sent out to another potential and this week a letter sent to all uk owners of Texan/ Harvard/SNJ aircraft... I will eventually list all known UK based aircraft on the web site as per GINFO... 

T6 Harvard Fly In

At the moment the ball is rolling for a fly in to the proposed location of NORTH WEALD on the week end of 19th/20th July 2014. So far we have some willing volunteers such as ground marshaller s, photographers and 'one Harvard' so far..... We are looking for more UK Harvard operators to come forward and of course we are looking to maximise the PR potential of this fly in.... If you would like to be a part of this please drop me a line at info@T6Harvard.com Thanks Andy

Channel 4 11 February "Restoration man"

DONT MISS - Restoration Man - The programme is currently scheduled to go out on 11th February this year Channel 4 at 8.00p.m. Brown has big ideas about turning a15,000 sq ft historic WW2 RAF bunker into his new home. However with the bunker totally encased in earth, with no natural light, and the back section submerged in water his wife who is about to have their first baby isn’t so sure. With its fascinating history and draw dropping engineering, George helps Jamie tackle this huge bunker and discovers the important role it played in the Coventry Blitz.

  (2 photos)

January flying

A miserable January day in the UK however we managed to get in some circuits and bumps! Although gloomy the wind at Duxford was straight down the runway which made life easy after a 4 month lay off! This is G-BUKY going back to bed in the OFM hangar at Duxford

G-BUKY model

I thought this would be a nice touch for my office table! At least it's a taking point :) 

Take off and Landings

This forward facing GoPro footage shows what its like to land in a cross wind in the T6 Harvard, however what it doesn't show is the shear terror on my face as I try and land the beast with only 13 hours on the T6 Harvard and a total of 80 hours on tail wheel aircraft. I am fairly happy knowing that I have either Neil Oakman or Glen Fricker in the back to assist me when I get it wrong... How they can help from the back is beyond me as you cant see a damn thing from the back of the T6... ?

Years and years of skill which is admirable... It shows me the bench mark that one day I want to achieve and that is instructing from the back however i don't think i have enough time left on the planet for that to become a reality... Indeed a rare skill.

This was a practice in wheeler landings. My biggest mistake was not fully understanding the technique and then rehearsing it wrongly in my head... The concept of a lower approach seems logical and then kissing the wheels on with a touch of power, then power off is logical even with the 600 - 1000 feet per minute descent rate with gear and full flap down... The illogical thing was to then push the stick forward and to the left as the wind was coming from my left... Holding the tail up until it naturally wanted to drop and then pulling the stick back and to the left to lock in the tail wheel pin... As all this was happening the drift has been stopped and now its time to dance on the pedals keeping it pointing in the right direction.

All in all I practiced this for about 3 hours and the penny started to drop. I learnt so much in those 3 hours! Most of my time has been on Cessna Caravans, Islanders and Twin Otters which I have to say are training aircraft compared to this advanced trainer.... Now I know that rudder pedals are not just "Foot rests" I should do better next time...

The wheeler landing is a great way to land the T6 and is debated often. Yes, you do use a lot of run way, so fly from an airfield with a long runway... We are not trying to practice deck landings here just trying to get down in one piece without a ground loop! You land Spitfires in a 3 point attitude, dont you?... True and also between the 3 point attitude and also a wheeler however this is a T6 and she doesn't mind being wheeled on, plenty of prop clearance and as the speed naturally drops and the tail comes down in to the three point attitude you are fairly slow but the flight is far from over .... Keep on working those pedals and keep that wing down in to wind!

All in all thrilling and at times damn scary but i know its all coming together... Not a machine to be underestimated however a delight to fly once airborne...

Test from the iPhone?!?

If this works I'll be shocked and stunned!!! 

Blog Up and Running!

Ok t6 Harvard Aviation Followers... It seems like I have overcome the technical difficulties of setting up this blog page... To be honest it will be a replication of our T6 Harvard Aviation Facebook "Like" page... Every web site has a blog apparently!