North American Harvard NA-26 NA-44

North American Harvard Mk. IV
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

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 licence. 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.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Harvard Advanced Trainer

Wikipedia Harvard Advanced Trainer

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Harvard Mk.II 2903

411 Sqn Inimicus Inimico ("Grizzly Bear")

History of the Squadron during World War II (Aircraft: Spitfire Mks. IIA,VB, IXB, IXE, XVI, XIV)

The squadron was the sixth of the RCAF's squadrons to be formed overseas in WWII. It was the fourth fighter squadron to be so formed. It was established at Digby, Lincolnshire, England on June 16, 1941. It flew Spitfire aircraft in the defence of Great Britain, formed part of the Canadian Kenley Wing within No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, and after D-Day moved to France on June 19, 1944, in a fighter and ground support role. It then supported the Allied armies, moving through France, the Low Countries and Germany. It was one of four RCAF day fighter units retained in Germany as part of the British Air Forces of Occupation before being disbanded at Utersen, Germany on March 21, 1946.

In the course of hostilities, the squadron flew 10,747 sorties for the loss of 48 aircraft and pilots, of whom 4 were killed, 4 wounded, 19 presumed dead. The squadron claimed 84 enemy aircraft destroyed, 3 probably destroyed and 44 damaged. On the ground, they claimed 367 motor vehicles and 26 locomotives. The squadron had 5 aces (shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft), of which Flight Lieutenant R.J. Audet DFC & Bar accounted for 5 enemy aircraft within 2 minutes in a single sortie on Dec 29 1944. He was killed on March 5, 1945, by which time his score had mounted to 11.5, including 2 Me 262 jets. Other aces were: Flight Lieutenant H.C. Trainor DFC & Bar, Flight Lieutenant J.J. Boyle DFC, Squadron Leader E.G. Lapp DFC, and Flying Officer M.G. Graham DFC. Overall, the squadron was awarded 1 DSO, 2 MBE, 2 Bars to DFC, 19 DFCs and 1 MiD. Battle Honours were: Defence of Britain 1941-44, English Channel and North Sea 1942-43, Fortress Europe 1941-44: Dieppe, France and Germany 1944-45: Normandy 1944, Arnhem, Rhine. Wikipedia, Kostenuk and Griffin

Maps for Movements of 411 Squadron 1941-46

MAP 1: 411Squadron Movements 1941-44 (right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab)

MAP 2: 411 Squadron Movements Detail of Map 1

MAP 3: 411 Squadron Movements in Europe 1944-46

411 Squadron History Summary 1941-46

411 Squadron History Summary 1941-46 Page 2

411 Squadron History Summary 1941-46 Page 3

History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Harvard II, Chipmunk, Vampire III, Silver Star, Sabre 5, Expeditor, Otter, Kiowa)

411 Squadron was reformed as an auxiliary fighter squadron at RCAF Station Downsview Ontario on 1 October 1950, and was known as the ‘County of York’ squadron. With North American Harvards and de Havilland Chipmunks as trainers the squadron operated the de Havilland Vampire III until 1956, then transitioned to the Canadair Sabre Mark V, with the Canadair Silver Star used as a trainer.

In October 1958, 411 was moved from Air Defence Command to Air Transport Command, and became a light transport squadron flying the Beech Expeditor C-45. The squadron adopted a Search and Rescue (SAR) role in spring of 1960 with the acquisition of the DHC-3 Otter. The Expeditor was retired in 1966.

On 1 February 1968 the squadron was integrated into the Canadian Armed Forces as No. 411 “County of York” Air Reserve Squadron. In 1969, 411 Squadron was transferred from Air Transport Command to 10 Tactical Air Group, and the squadron's primary role changed to the support of army operations. It continued to hold a secondary SAR role, and to do mapping surveys and sovereignty flights in the Canadian arctic. In 1981, the Otter was retired and the squadron transitioned to the CH-136 Kiowa (OH-58) helicopter, which it operated in a reconnaissance and tactical support role. The squadron finally disbanded on 1 Jan 1998.

RCAF Station Downsview