The South African Air Force started using the North American T-6 Texans as trainer aircraft in 1942. In South Africa (and other Commonwealth nations) they were known as the Harvard. In total, over six hundred Harvard MkIIA and MkIII aircraft were delivered to South Africa during World War II, with a further 65 AT-6Ds and 30 T-6Gs purchased from the USA during 1952-1956. The Harvard served as the air force's primary trainer until 1991, when they were finally replaced by Pilatus PC-7 trainers.

This aircraft

Harvard #7728 was the very last Harvard built for the South African Air Force. After the Harvards were retired as trainers in 1991, #7728 was part of the stock that was transferred to the South African Air Force museum, to be used in display flights. Unfortunately #7728 crashed on 22 September 2002 whilst preparing to perform a flypast on the last day of Africa Aerospace and Defence 2002 being held at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria. After suffering a loss of power, Harvard 7728, flown by Col Jeff Earle, hit a power line whilst attempting an emergency landing and crashed into an open field, three nautical miles south of Rietvlei Dam, Pretoria. It was reported that an instant before it hit the ground, the pilot managed to jump clear. The aircraft burst into flames and was destroyed. The pilot suffered broken ribs and a cut on the chin. (Source: Individual aircraft history of the North American Harvard in South Africa)

The livery

This livery represents the SAAF Harvard straight out of the paint shop, without the weathering and faded paint that was most often seen on these aircraft in the latter days of their air force service. The trainers used bright orange accents for higher visibility and although some were originally left with unpainted steel fuselages, most were painted silver to preserve the metal shell. 

INSTALLATION

You must have the Reno Air Races expansion pack installed.

Extract the .zip file into your Community folder so that it contains the folder "Asobo_T6_Harvard_SAAF-7728". If you're not sure how to find the Community folder, watch this video.

KNOWN ISSUES

  • There seems to be a problem with the texture mapping on the default T-6 Texan from Asobo. The texture on the underside of the left wing on the inside of the trailing edge is being swapped with distorted texture from the leading edge of the wing. On the default liveries, you don't easily notice this since there is a decal that overlaps this portion. However on this Harvard livery, it causes the orange stripe on the underside of the left wing to be distorted out over the trailing edge. I've raised a ticket with Microsoft - hopefully this is fixed in one of the Reno updates.

FUTURE UPDATES

I plan to bring the following changes/uploads for the SAAF Harvards. Keep a look out for them:

  • Weathered and faded overlay to that you get the proper 'Spammy' look the aging Harvards were known for
  • Multiple side numbers so that you can fly a whole squadron of SAAF Harvards
  • Some of the special SAAF Museum liveries: 'Nellie', 'Siyandiza', 'Inkwazi'
  • The old Springbok roundel livery scheme from the 1950s

 

Feedback on the livery is most welcome.

If you have any questions, DM me on Discord at Tygerr#4809