RNZAF Harvard II NZ946. Part 1 - History

This is the first video in a series outlining the history of Harvard II NZ946 and its subsequent cleaning and partial resoration for display and possible use as a flight simulator.
A small correction. Baggage area placard reads:
BAGGAGE RESTRICTIONS
FOR AEROBATICS NO LOAD
FOR NORMAL FLIGHT
35 LBS - FLARES FITTED
85 LBS - NO FLARES FITTED

[@samwhittaker6718]

I lived at Hobsonville airbase in the 50s and our house was next to the air strip and remember Harvard’s taking off and landing

[@biplaneflights]

@@samwhittaker6718 Nice. That would have been music to the ears. 😀

[@jimhallinsn1023]

Good luck with the restoration, it will be a Labour of love.

[@waltchaa]

Awesome to save it - Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association

[@biplaneflights]

Yes, great to have it back in a hangar for the first time in 69 years.

[@bwfvc7770]

Throw the rivets away and save the holes. Gonna be a lot of work but will be worth it when finished. All the best.

[@monsvillerailways5736]

Will be good to see her grow. Just so you know. There is another children's play Harvard on State Highway 2 in Pahiatua in the north island that has been there for donkeys years and looks to be complete. I just checked Google maps and it's still there it seems. Just saying.

[@biplaneflights]

Thanks for your comment. I played in the Pahiatua Harvard as a kid. The original Harvard has now been replaced by a fibreglass replica (which, as you pointed out, can be seen on Google Maps and Google Earth). The original aircraft was taken away and mounted on a pole at a nearby location and rotates in the wind, acting as a windvane. Here a link to the news story: www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/pahiatuas-harvard-lays-claim-to-flight-record/AAWN4GL7QBGLXBAHLT72AFUCOY/

[@DazzInHKG]

Good stuff, great to see the old girl saved. What is the longer term plan for it, clearly it's knackered as far as flying goes, but airshow 'sit in it and get your picture taken' type deal would be doable?

[@biplaneflights]

Good minds think alike. I had considered doing that with the C-47 cockpit I have but a photo in a Harvard would be very cool. With a blue screen you could have any background you wanted. 👍

[@trentpetersen443]

an investment... best of luck on the build

[@biplaneflights]

Thank you.

[@brotonamous790]

im invested for sure, but instead of restoration id call this video "history of a RNZAF Harvard II NZ946''

[@biplaneflights]

Good call - change made. 👍

[@Gary-Seven-and-Isis-in-1968]

That is gong to be one hell of a job. How much else have you got, or are you looking to re-fabricate the wings etc?

[@biplaneflights]

The only bits left are the front and rear fuselage, and centre section. I won't be fully restoring it - just getting the fuselage tidied up for static display, but I would like to add interior fittings such as seat, throttle, stick and rudder pedals. I have an instrument panel for it. 👍

[@HamzahMD83]

Look alike b-419 on bukittinggi

[@hodaka1000]

Resort it as the slide

[@biplaneflights]

There is a Harvard that was used as a slide in Pahiatua, although it was replaced by a fibreglass replica and the original is now on a pole being used as a weathervane. The one I got will now live in a hangar where it is dry so the aluminium doesn't corrode further.

[@hodaka1000]

@@biplaneflights When I was a kid in the 1960s a small play ground at the local shopping centre had new tubular monkey bars installed including a stagecoach a vintage car and a biplane but best of all was a rocketship that was about twenty five feet or more tall and had four floors two with slides I now live in Grafton in northern NSW, thirty years ago there was one of these rocketships near where I now live it only had one slide and I don't think it was as tall as the other one I mentioned but it had been removed before I return to this area ten years ago, but not too far away in a large park is a biplane exactly like the one I mentioned at the shopping centre About eight years ago a drunken imbecile was driving around the park at night and crashed into the biplane and bent the ends of the wings on one side but it's still there and okay and it wouldn't be hard to straighten out or replace the damaged tubes I know a young bloke who occasionally works at the local airfield and suggested he should tell the people who run it to ask the local council to have this now vintage monkey bar airplane moved to the airfield but I don't know if he ever discussed it with them They have a radial engine on display near their club house and I think it would be a fitting and safer place for the old plane A few years ago I was visiting family graves at Blackheath Cemetery in the blue mountains west of Sydney and noticed a new headstone with the image of what was obviously a rocketship complete with a slide on it At the time it made me think this fella must have really like rocketship monkey bars but later I had a great nephew staying up here and I was telling him about the rocketship that had been just around the corner and did an internet search to show him what I was talking about and found information about these things, it seems the Mayor of Katoomba had been to the USA and come back with the plans for them and they were built by a steel fabricator at Blackheath who I suppose must now be burried at Blackheath Cemetery The Blue mountains had been covered in these types of monkey bars there was even a very large submarine up there I believe there is an original rocketship at The Entrance north of Sydney and I understand they have recently installed a new rocketship at Blackheath with wheelchair access So don't get me wrong I thought restoring your fuselage as a slide was a good idea 🚀

[@hodaka1000]

@@biplaneflights Don't get me wrong I think restoring it as the slide is a good idea Like how many kids would have used it and remember it ? I did post a long reply explaining but it's disappeared

[@simon-oy6um]

All you need is the other bit 😂