NORTH AMERICAN HARVARD VH-HAJ
North American Harvard
VH-HAJ
North American T-6G Harvard Serial #: 49-3186 Construction #: 168-290, Civil registration VH-HAJ was purchased by the late Col Pay in 1984 from Steven Seghetti, Vacaville CA, USA and has been with the collection at Scone ever since. The Harvard, a former Oshkosh award winner is in excellent condition and flies regularly.
HISTORY
Hawker Hurricane Mk XII, Serial No 5481 C/N 60372 was manufactured by Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) of Fort William (Thunder Bay) in 1942 based upon the Hawker Hurricane II version from the UK with the 12 Browning 303 machine gun wing.
The aircraft served with various RCAF Squadrons including 31 Operational Training Unit (OTU), 1 OTU and No. 9 Bombing & Gunnery School from July 1942 until it was struck off charge in November 1944 and disposed of by Crown Assets in Canada. The aircraft was then said to be stored in a field and survived the horrific Canadian winters in relatively good shape.
At some stage in the mid-1980s the Hurricane was purchased by Canadian Warbird salvager Jack Arnold in Brantford, Ontario and some restoration was attempted. In 1984 the Hurricane moved on to Terry Dieno of Davidson, Saskatchewan who also continued to rebuild the Hurricane.
The Hurricane was later passed on to famous UK based collector Charles Church in 1986, who initiated the full restoration of the Hurricane by Paul Mercer. 5481 made its first post-restoration flight in September 1991 marked as P2970 “Little Willie,” the Mk.I flown by Pilot Officer Geoffrey Page of No. 56 Squadron RAF on the occasion that he was shot down in August 1940.
The Hurricane then passed on to the USA when purchased by David Price in 1991, following the tragic death of Charles Church in 1989. The aircraft arrived in the USA in 1992 and was first flown at Chino California joining the fleet of Warbirds at the Museum of Flying (MoF). With the closure of the MoF in 2002, the Hurricane was sold to Ed Russell and added to his collection in South Niagara, Ontario. In 2014 after advertising the aircraft for sale it came to new owners at Scone and was placed into the hands of Vintage Fighter Restorations at Scone, NSW.
Although the Hurricane is an Mk XII, it is finished as stated above as an Mk 1, V6748 of No 46 Squadron, flown by Battle of Britain pilot, John Dallas Crossman. Crossman was born in Mossman Qld on March 20 1919. Educated in Newcastle NSW, Crossman lived in Waratah, a Newcastle suburb. The scheme was specially chosen to honour the pilot who was from the NSW Hunter Valley region of Australia, close to Scone, the new base of the aircraft. Crossman was buried at Chalfont St Giles Churchyard, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, Grave 13.
