March 2025:
The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, based in Tillsonburg, Ontario, is thrilled to be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025. The Association was created in 1985 by three aviation enthusiasts who had a dream to preserve the Harvard aircraft as an honour and remembrance to the men and women who flew them and worked on them in order to help preserve our freedom.
Today, the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association is a registered charitable organization, run 100% by volunteers, who have given nothing short of dedication and passion to upkeep North America’s largest fleet of Harvards. Eight Harvards and one Yale are based at the Tillsonburg Regional Airport.
“Keeping these warbirds in flying condition is a colossal task,” says Walther Irie, President of the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association. “Yet our volunteers are dedicated to keeping the legacy of the Harvard alive, and preserving its historical significance,” he added.
The Harvard aircraft, now more than 80 years old, was the workhorse of Canada’s Second World War flight training program. It played a significant and pivotal role in the Royal Canadian Air Force as the primary advanced, single-engine aircraft used to train more than 130,000 Canadian and Allied aircrew under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada. “The Plan” was a large-scale multinational military training program that trained more than 130,000 pilots, navigators, gunners and engineers from around the globe. With its distinctive roar, the Harvard was a familiar sight and sound at more than 150 air bases across Canada.
The organization has received minimal government funding over the years and raises its funds through a number of campaigns, events and initiatives, including taking passengers for flight experiences. Almost anyone can fly like young men did so many years ago.
Article courtesy of Canadian Aviation Historical Society. Story by Diana Spremo, PR & Media Manager. Read the Original Article