Two photographs of a North American Harvard at Thornaby RAF station about 1940? I cannot find any record of the 608 squadron having these trainers, so they must have been visiting. Would anyone be able to confirm this?
Photographs and details courtesy of Cliff Thornton.
Neither of these photographs are at Thornaby.
I would appreciate it if Barry Holt would contact me on a 608 query
I can’t confirm about 1940 but I do know that 608 had a Harvard in the fifties, I served in 608 from March 1956 until disbandment of the squadron in 1957.There was a Tiger Moth and a Harvard and a Meteor T7 for training purposes. The Tiger Moth was flown mainly by PO Don Graham, referred to by the other aircrew as Tiger basher.
I agree the second photo is not Thornaby, could be Dishforth. We have to remember it was wartime records are not immaculate. Having access to most local Aerodromes at the time as my Father dropped various loads of building materials for a rapid expansion you saw many different types land during the day as the Bombers rested. The CO of Goosepool had a Tiger Moth as personal transport, there were also a couple of Hurricanes for bomber pilots to relax in and more than once they beat our truck up as they raced across the drome. Mother who also worked at Goosepool told me a couple of Pilots were grounded for beating up the control tower.
We would watch the sky fill with planes as they took off from various places circled as they formed up then suddenly they were gone it would still be daylight here as we played cricket on the Green, we also knew not all would return.
Training took place all the time so we often saw strange planes above us and as kids we could name them all, the crew would be map reading or orienteering and many planes crashed doing that, it was a risky business with what would be called kids today flying and crewing to them often strange machines.
To this day I admire and thank those kids for what they did.
The Harvard in the first photograph , serial number N7179 – poor eyesight versus poor quality photo ! , could be N7179 which was written off in a crash on 24 January 1942 . The second aircraft may be P5796 which went to Rhodesia in February 1941 .
The first photo may have been taken at Thornaby but I don’t think the second was, as the airfield did not have an enclosed water tower like that ? The Thornaby water tower stood on an open metal frame close to Millbank Lane .
From 1949-1951 608 flew three Harvard aircraft to convert their pilots from Mosquitos to Spitfires but those Harvards were much more advanced than these .