Harvard NZ1009 profile

[juanita]

Have a soft spot for NZ aviation history and over the last 18 months I’ve prepared a few RNZAF aircraft profiles. I’d like to share these with the Forum.
Over the years the forum has not only been a great reference source but it’s also been a fascinating read. Special thanks Dave Homewood and the contributors to this Forum.

This is a profile of NZ1009, a Harvard Mk.IIA. It is based on a photo reportedly showing it in early 1944 at Woodbourne Airfield.
ADF-serials has NZ1009 first posting as being with No.2 FOTU, at Ohakea in late 1944.

The width of the wing band was a bit of conundrum...generally the yellow wing band was very wide, however there are photo also showing a narrow band (eg NZ1007).

It’s not clearly apparent in the main reference photo of NZ1009 as to whether it had a wide or narrow wing band. Unfortunately I haven’t recorded in my notes why I decided on the narrow band...although there is the faintest hint of a tonal change around where the aileron and flap meet. I seem to recall that the RNZAF Harvard markings changed quite a bit over the years, and the narrow wing band appeared to be the early style application.

As most of you know, NZ1009 is still in existence.

I will post more profiles over the coming week or two.

[Dave Homewood]

Great stuff Juanita. There are a few people on this forum who have a special interest in that particular Harvard too.

Yes, RNZAF Harvards had a wide variety of colour schemes, even just during the war years there were many different schemes. You could fill a book with all the different schemes through the decades of service I reckon. Same goes for the Devons and Oxfords.

[davidd]

Juantita,
I am pretty certain that NZ1009 (and others shipped to NZ at about the same time) arrived here in the factory colour scheme, with basic RAF markings and serial numbers, including the very wide yellow wing bands. These bands are fully illustrated in the USAAF manuals for the AT-6/Harvard family, which shows both the USAAF and RAF colour schemes applied at the factory. On assembly at Hobsonville (Auckland) the only changes made to the scheme was to change the RAF serial numbers to NZ ones. This would appear to be pretty much as shown in your illustration. The vast majority of the Mark IIAs delivered to the RNZAF were not allotted to training schools; they all ended up with fighter squadrons, army co-op squadrons, torpedo and dive bomber squadrons and OTUs, etc, on various tasks such as drogue towing, gunnery practise, etc, as well as fighter tactics, instrument flying and the like. The earlier aircraft were frequently camouflaged in standard colours (dark green/dark earth and duck-egg blue for instance), but the later ones tended to be left in the original overall bare metal finish with the yellow wing bands. Some of this particular model (Mk. IIA) were also delivered with wooden rear fuselages and tail surfaces, so these components were finished in aluminium dope, etc. The Type C1 roundels and finflashes were also prominent on these later aircraft (the earlier ones were repainted with A1 fuselage and underwing roundels and A fin-flashes, B upper wing roundels). The Mk.IIAs also had many detail differences when compared to the original Mk.IIs delivered to the RNZAF, with provision for cowling guns, and ditto for rear cockpit guns too, although latter probably never fitted. Conversely the RNZAF converted many of the earlier Mk. IIs to have a Browning 0.303" M/G in each wing, just outboard of the prop arc - the original factory fit was for only one wing gun. The rearmost part of the cockpit canopy differed much between Mk.II and IIA, as did aerial arrangements, etc.
David D

[harvard1041]

Interesting post - actually all Harvard ones are

Yes - I'm sure David is correct - here's the page out of the -3 Manual ... although I'm pretty sure the glareshield was green rather than black, and in the case of my Harvard, NZ1041 - had a red cowl as part of its No 4(F) OTU marks.

Love your work Juanita.

Cheers
Hvd1041

[Dave Homewood]

Why were some Harvards built with wooden rear fuselages? Was this to save metal? Did it give the aircraft different characteristics then the all metal version?

And are any ex-RNZAF examples still around today with wooden rear ends? Did NZ1009 come with a wooden back end?

[harvard1041]

Yes indeed - some were built with wooden rear fuselages - as it was thought that perhaps ally might become a shortage ...but it never did - so back to ally rears ... and I think many of the RNZAF IIAs were delivered with wooden rears. I gather no difference in performance and they were changed out post war ...never actually seen one however.

Cheers
Hvd1041

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks John. I recall reading there was a big overhaul programme for the remaining fleet in the 1950's and assumed any wooden tails would be weeded out at that point. I wonder if any wooden rear ends exist anywhere in the world.

[Dave Homewood]

Te one in your photo John looks very smooth, so I am assuming it wasn't a wooden frame with fabric covering (like a Hurricane, for example) but instead actually moulded plywood skin, like a Mosquito or Vampire??

Ir was it plywood skin tacked to a wooden frame?

[Bruce]

Its a semi-monocoque wooden structure, Plywood over frames (With a surface covering of fabric)

[juanita]

Thank you for all the feedback on the profile of NZ1009. It looks like it needs a a couple of 'tweaks'.

Rechecking all the photos, its very hard to tell if the rear fuselage of NZ1009 is wood. The rear looks much shinier than aluminum dope normally appears. Its perhaps just a small bit darker but to my eye its reflective strength is just as great as the metal sections. Unfortunately I can't see the rivet lines in either the forward or the rear section. 50/50 chance!

I will make a few changes to the profile when I get a get a chance and will repost it.

Cheers
Juanita

[davidd]

The Harvard IIA's with wooden rear ends (including tailplanes and fins) as delivered to the RNZAF in WW2 were not very numerous (perhaps one or two dozen at most), and so far as I know, NZ1009 was NOT one of them!

Most of the "wooden" Harvards were in the NZ1040 to 1070 range, with 1070, the Hobsonville "hack", being one of the last in service, into the early 1950s.

I believe the wooden components were slightly heavier than the metal originals, with a completely smooth exterior, and in flight were perhaps a little quieter. Very few aircraft types were delivered in metal and wooden variants, but one other that was produced by the hundreds in both types was the Supermarine Walrus. New Zealand never received any "wooden" Walruses (known as the Mk. II), but they were reported to be considerably quieter in flight as well as on the ground (all Walrus were delivered as amphibians), because of the lack of drumming of the fuselage structure, and this was often exacerbated by the metal (tyreless) tailwheel fitted to Mk. Is as opposed to a pneumatic tyred tailwheel of the Mk. II. Generally Mk. Is were allotted to ships (at least originally), whereas the Mk. II's were intended exclusively for shore establishments. Like the "wooden" Harvards, the "Wooden" Walrus was not entirely so, and featured the same fabric-covered metal wings and tail surfaces as the Supermarine-built Mk. Is.

I have a report somewhere of storage problems with RNZAF Oxfords in about late 1944, with Woodbourne being chosen as the only place with spare storage capacity. However to make additional room for the vulnerable all-wood Oxfords it was decided to move to outdoor storage a number of Harvards already stored here, including some with the wooden rear ends. I believe they were to be arranged alongside a row of trees for protection, and were naturally to be securely moored in place. The forward halves only of the Harvard aircraft with wooden rear ends were to be wheeled outside (although the report did not detail exactly how this was to be accomplished) and then "sat on their arses" with engines pointing to the sky. Meanwhile the vulnerable rear ends remained inside the storage hangars, but by this simple expedient, much additional space was provided for the surplus Oxfords (the latter were mostly brand new aircraft, but with little likelihood for employment in the near future).

It seems that the programme to replace the wooden Harvard components was undertaken in early 1950s, by ordering brand-new rear fuselages (and perhaps also additional tailplanes and fins?) in the USA, although I had originally assumed that these would have been available from the surviving Mk. II's. The upgrading of the Mk. IIA's and III's to a more-or-less standard configuration was a completely separate programme, but the comparatively large number of surviving Mk. IIs (NZ901 - 1005 range) were stored in temporary timber and malthoid hangars at the old Ashburton airfield as a "war reserve" until about 1952/53 when the deteriorating state of these hangars forced the Air Department to worry about the future of these aircraft. It was decided to transfer them to covered storage at Wigram following the accelerated disposal of the surviving Oxfords and Ansons originally stored there, but these Harvards were ultimately never returned to service, being disposed of in 1958/59 following the disbanding of practically all of the Territorial Air Force and other reserves, and the adoption of the "Force in being" concept.

And incidentally Juanita, the exact width of the "broad" yellow wing bands factory-applied to Harvards for diversion to British Commonwealth air forces was 90 inches according to AN 01-60F-2, Figure 357 (as measured along wing training edge, or 91" along the swept-back leading edge), as shown in harvard1041's last post. The "bands" were painted on both top and bottom surfaces, and stated immediately outboard of the centre section/outer wing panel junction, in fact directly outboard of the covering fairings on the but-joints.

However this does NOT prove that the photograph you are relying on depicts these wide bands, as the much narrower yellow bands (postwar RAF-style, and probably of a different shade of yellow) began to be applied to RNZAF Harvards in the early 1950s, to replace the hodge-podge of wartime schemes still applied to surviving aircraft. However by the early 1950s practically all RNZAF aircraft had been repainted with the postwar roundels (basically the RAF Type D) rather than the old Type C1, etc, so the presence of the Type Cs would indicate that the wing bands at this stage were probably still the factory-applied broad ones. The RAF "Training bands" for postwar use appeared in about 1950/51 and were exactly 36 inches in width (size for "medium size" aircraft) for both fuselage and wing bands. Paint specified for application of these bands was 33B/898, cellulose finish, yellow.

To apply the bands to fuselage the reference mark was a vertical line at rear of cockpit, in line with the fuselage break, and the front edge of band was 3'11" aft of this. The wing bands started 3'6" OUTBOARD of the centre section/outer wing juncture, so outer edge was 6'6" from this juncture.

NOTE, THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED QUITE A LOT!
David D

[baz62]

I seem to recall an article about NZ1015 when they retired the Harvards and that she had a wooden rear fuselage on arrival during the war. But this could be confusion arising from the fact that some did and she got lumped in with them. Probably didn't use MK II rear fuselage due to different rear canopy although at least one MKIIA did fly with a MKII rear fuselage.

[juanita]

Thank you David, for that very comprehensive background on RNZAF Harvard. Really appreciate it.

Unfortunately I don't have permission to post the photo that I worked from, however its dated "February 1944 at Woodbourne Airfield".
That date would tend to eliminate the narrow wing band option.

The wing underside is at a very oblique angle in the photo. Often you can get a hint of the markings by subtle changes in the reflections and tones, however in this case very little is discernible. The reflection from the metal u/c door continues consistently all the way up the wing to the start of the wingtip cap, with a darker area where the under wing roundel is positioned. This could either indicate that at this angle the yellow paint has the same reflectivity as the metal of the wing*, or that there was no yellow stripe.
(* there is a WW1 photos where the reflectivity of the blue of the under wing RAF roundel gave the impression that the roundel colours were reversed!)

There is a tonal difference on the inboard edge of the aileron...but normally the yellow wing band finished at the end of the flap and doesn't extend onto the aileron...so I don't know what to make of that.

By all accounts the safest bet is to assume a standard 90 inch yellow wing band.

Juanita

[juanita]

It probably wouldn't do any harm to post just a segment of the photo.
Here is the wing of NZ1009 from the photo I used as the main reference:

Do those wheel covered look painted? The tone is a perfect match for the blue of the roundel.

[NZ1009]

Not sure if these help as the wing yellow bands on NZ1007 seem to be narrow while those on NZ1015 are clearly wide. These both arrived in the same shipment as NZ1009.

NZ1007 - Mk IIA Shipped to New Zealand on "Waiotapu" in September 1942 and assembled at Hobsonville. BOC 22 September 1942. With No.25 Squadron, seagrave from late 1943. With No.4 (TAF) Squadron 19 June 1953-25 August 1955. Thirty third Mk IIA to be converted to Mk 2A* between August 1954 and May 1957. Converted to INST188 with No.4 TTS Woodbourne 22 August 1963. Written off books Ohakea 19 September 1963. Sold to Engine Support Inc., Florida, USA in 1978. To The Aircraft Preservation Group, Auckland. Sold and shipped to Australia in February 1980. To B. Simpson, Glenhaven, NSW as VH-HAR


NZ1015 Mk IIA Previously EX193. From RAF/FAA lend-lease allocations. Shipped to New Zealand on "Waiotapu" in September 1942 and assembled at Hobsonville. BOC 22 September 1942. With No.2 FOTU, Ohakea late 1944. With No.3 (TAF) Squadron 21 December 1950-03 September 1954. Sixth Mk IIA to be converted to Mk 2A* between August 1954 and May 1957. In storage Wigram 1973. Reactivated with Flying Training Wing, Wigram 1974. Flown Woodbourne to Wigram 31 July 1979 for use by RNZAF Historic Flight. Airworthy and flying in New Zealand with RNZAF Historic Flight, Wigram.

[juanita]

That's really interesting, 'NZ1009'.
The fin flash of NZ1007 is identical to that on NZ1009.
The roundel size on NZ1009 is identical to NZ1007 but is placed lower on the fuselage (top of the roundel aligns with the hinge on the hatch to the rear of the back cockpit step).
The serial number style and placement on NZ1009 is closer to what you see on NZ1015 than it is to NZ1007.

In late 1944 both NZ1015 ans NZ1009 were based with No.2 FOTU, Ohakea.

Do you have any dates for those two photos?

Juanita

[curtiss]

The MkII Harvard rear fuselage is considerably different to the MkIIa and III. The structural attachment points are the same , but structure and detail parts are quite different. Externally the square baggage door and canopy are the most obvious differences. The tailplanes are internally different as well using a different profile stringer ( L versus J ).