Warbirds, Vintage & Veteran

South African Harvards Up for Tender

For pilots and potential owners of the North American T-6 Harvard, the 1996 disposal of some 90 of these rugged trainers by the South African Air Force (SAAF) will see a welcome injection of the type into the ranks of the warbird world, particularly in the USA. It is possible that some will eventually make their way to Australia either direct from SA or via the States.

The T-6 has been in service in South Africa since WW2 and due to apartheid and sanctions it simply had not been possible to replace them with anything else until recently. Now that the political climate has changed in South Africa, the Harvards are being replaced by the Astra (Pilatus PC-7 Mk II) turboprop. Until this sale, the SAAF was the last big operator of the Harvard in the world. Over the years, the SAAF has owned almost 700 Harvards. The survivors are now being replaced by Astras assembled locally by Atlas.

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