Looking Good!

A Friends of the SAAF Museum project to restore the Ysterplaat Museum's two Harvards has been initiated, under the management of Greg Pullin. As can be seen from the above image, the aircraft are looking fairly well used.

7231 and 7293 at Ysterplaat, 2003 (Image by Nic Wonfor)

If you are interested in joining the Friends on this Tuesday Evening Project, please click here to email us.

The Friends' responsibility on the Harvard Project is to refurbish the paintwork on Harvards 7231 and
7293 to pristine condition by AAD 2006. The second phase is the ongoing upkeep and maintenance 
of the paintwork on the aircraft.

The Harvard Project team will work on each Tuesday night from 7.30 pm at the base and will also
work on ad-hoc Thursday nights. 

The decision was taken to de-grease the aircraft and to rub down / burnish and polish the grey / metal 
sections of the aircraft. These sections would not be re-painted but would then be masked so that the 
base paint shop could spray the dayglo panels. 

Alan Wienburg applying the elbow grease.                                                    (Image by Greg Pullin)

The initial work party of the restoration team was on Tuesday 18 July 2006 at 7.30pm and 
comprised of Alan Wienburg, John Durant, Mike Philips, Lawrence (?) "Father Laurence" and Greg Pullin.

It was decided to tackle 7293 first and the aircraft was washed down with de-greasing fluid and the 
burnishing of the starboard wing was tackled, as well as a few panels on the fuselage. 

Clean and de-greased, the faded 'Day-glo' panels can be seen clearly.          (Image by Greg Pullin)

The difference was noticable. It was decided to continue on Thursday 20th with buffer brushes connected
to the base compressor. Alan, Mike and Greg did the honours, doing more of the airframe.

Mike Philips pointing out the difference.                                                      (Image by Greg Pullin)

The first prototype flew in 1937, the T6G had a top speed of 341 kmh at sea level with an operational ceiling
of 6500m. 

A batch of 9 Mk I's were delivered between 1940 and 1942, and the SAAF took delivery of their first batch of Harvard Mk II's in 1942, with deliveries continuing until four Harvards were purchased from the Belgian Air Force in 1961. 

The SAAF operated a number of variants, including the MkII (Designated in the US as  AT-6C), Mk III's (designated in the US as AT-6D or SJN-4) and the T-6G, the rebuilt version of World War II vintage machines.