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