Yale delivered to France: 85 years too late!
According to their page on Facebook, the French Early Aviators society at Tours-Sorigny welcomed a new item for their collection on 28 February, a rare North American NA-64 Yale. The trainer, registered G-BYNF (c/n 64-2171) and with original serial RCAF 3349, was flown in from Duxford (UK).
After its retirement from RCAF service in 1946, Yale 3349 was bought by the famous collector Ernie Simmons who kept it in openstorage until 1970. It was then salvaged by Tom Reilly of Orlando (FL) and restored to flying status as N55904. It made its first post-restoration flight in March 1980. From 1989 to 1999, the plane was flown in the Netherlands, most of the time based in Lelystad. It was exported to the UK in March 1999 as G-BYNF and a restoration was performed by ARCO at Duxford, resulting in a first flight again on 4 October 2006.
The NA-64 was a pre-war fixed gear relative of the T-6 Texan / Harvard. France has historic ties with this trainer as the country ordered 230 examples before the Second World War. Of these 230 machines, 200 would have gone to the Armée de l’Air (Air Force) and 30 to the Aeronavale (Navy). At the moment of the French surrender only 111 had been delivered. The air force of the collaborating Vichy Government used 43 of these and the remainder was used as liaison aircraft by the German Luftwaffe.
The 119 Yales that had not reached France were taken over in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and sent to Canada where they were flown as Yale Mk.I intermediate trainers. Slightly underpowered compared with its successor, the T-6 Harvard, the Yale was mostly used for radio-operator instruction.
Currently G-BYNF is the only airworthy NA-64 in Europe, but at a certain point a second one will join it. The Musee Aeronautique Presqu’Ile Cote d’Amour (MAPICA) of La Baule in France is restoring another Yale, former RCAF 3450 (c/n 64-2214), which used to be part of the Commemorative Air Force in the USA as N4574Y.
But for now the French are very happy to have received G-BYNF. It has finally reached its destination in the country where it should have arrived some 85 years earlier!
Photo: Gert Jan Mentink