After a crazy few last months I finally managed to squeeze in another feature.

Filming of this video started in early May 2010 but being winter it was difficult to:
a) coordinate diaries and
b) get the weather to play it's part.
That said, enjoy this 2nd of our "Just Plane Review" on the beautiful yellow 1953 Canadian harvard.

The aircraft currently resides in Worcester, Western Cape and her owner is a proud Willy Tschopp who is undergoing his convertion with CFI, Dick Henry. (Dick's first power plane was a harvard back in 1960 when he was 19 years old.)

She's truely a magnificent peice of history and when her engine turns she jumps to life with that difinitive harvard raw. Graceful and magistic are two more adjectives that describe ZU-SAF.

History of the harvard TA - 577

This harvard never saw service in the SAAF. She was built in 1953 by the Canadian Car and Foundry Company in Fort William, Ontario, Canada/ The USAF paid $80 000 for and gave her to the newly constituted West German Air Force - Luftwaffe. This is how she ended up in Africa.

One of the very last batches of Harvard’s ever built was a batch of 285 delivered to NATO countries under the Mutual Defence Assistance Program (MDAP). All carried USAF serials and all were designated Mk IV or MK 4. The Canadians sometime refer to the as a T6-J

Manufacture of this harvard was completed on Dec 18, 1953. She was ferried to Hill AFB, Utah in April 1954, then shipped to Belfast, Ireland and flown to Erding, Germany, some time in 1954. At this time she was still carrying the USAF markings exactly as you see her now.

We think this aircraft was formally handed over to the Luftwaffe at a ceremony on 24 September 1956, at which time she was probably over painted in Luftwafe colours.

According to harvard historian Reg Rivers, She was taken on charge as AA + 065 at FFS Landsberg in Sept 1958 with only 37 hours flying time. In 1962 she was transferred to TS Kaufbeuren and renamed BF-065

Thereafter she was sold to the Forca Aerea Portuguese in July 1964, where she become FAP 1762. She was then completely stripped at Ogma base in Alverca and painted silver, probably with Day-Glo wingtips. No trace of yellow remained- except in places around the cockpit.

In 1965 she was shipped to Mozambique and saw service as Forca Popular de Libertacao de Mozambique FAP 1762 at Nampula, Nova Freixo, Tet, Beira; and Lourenco Marques, renamed Maputo after independence in 1975, as FPLM 3101. We found the number 1762 clearly visible under Fremlimo's coat of silver paint/

Her last flight in Mozambique was in September 1981 by which time she had only flown just over 2300 hours. She then stood rotting in a field outside Maputo until 1988 when Brian Zeederburg and Ian Popplewell transported her by train to Syferfontein airfield near Johannesburg, and in turn sold her to Pinetown businessman Marc Kuster.

In 1996 with the help of Pilkingtons Glass trucked her to Johannesburg where a complete rebuild was commenced on 27 April 1996.

Special Thanks
Willy Tschopp , Dick Henry, Kevin Bell, Nick Barr, Neels Kruger, Janey Cramer, Margie van der Walt

Images below courtesy of Monique Lyons from FASH Fly-inn 2010

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More pictures of ZU-SAF can be found on The Harvard Association