Harvard KF serials

Thanx MM

According to an old Scottish Air News KF532 was seen in the scrap compound at Lossiemouth in August 1955.

Good stuff. The conundrum is do I do it as 624 or 532? Interestingly the sections of runner have RAF yellow on them

Brilliant, thanx all, helps fill some gaps. Will be interesting deciding what is what 

Another ‘go to’ Air Britain Published reference book for British military Harvard aircraft histories is the ‘The Harvard File’, John Hamlin, 1988.  Is there more in the more recent Ray Sturtivant’s Air Britain ‘Royal Navy Aircraft’ (I don’t have one to consult)?

KF532:

758 Sqdn, Hinstock, May 1945 to -?-, (if a side code ever worn, would have been numerals:U3);

799 Sqdn as 751:LP, Lee on Solent, July 1947 to August 1947;

727 Sqdn, Gosport, July 1949 to January 1950, (if a side-code ever worn, would be numerals:GJ);

799 Sqdn as 203:MA, Macrihanish, September 1951 to July 1952;

781 Sqdn as 269:LP, Lee on Solent, December 1953 to February 1954;

SOC 29 April 1954.

KF624:

Simply states ‘no RAF service’ (presumably indicates that it spent circa 5 years from new, in storage – a fair few serials before and after KF624 have the same notation, some before being supplied to other nationalities eg Southern Rhodesia, Greece and France.

SOC 23 June 1950.

Pure speculation, but the gap between 727 Sqdn and 799 Sqdn, January 1950 to September 1951 times in with a zero service flying hours RAF aircraft being dismantled mid 1950.  Did inter-service co-operation on spare aircraft sections exist?  Did civilian aircraft maintenance/repair companies support Royal Navy Harvard aircraft post war (possibly using parts from SOC near zero hours RAF aircraft for repairs/spares)?    Not proof, however suggest this as I have a photo of KF494, marked ‘Royal Navy’, with no unit codes at Shorts facility, Rochester, dated September 1954, the aircraft was between unit allocation, just prior to being back in unit service.  An interesting conundrum you have exposed!

Crikey well found- we never questioned the ID from Newark and they had it for decades so you’ll made the first discovery of the frame serial! 
 

TT

Hi Rocketeer,

I have checked the 1990 edition of RAF Aircraft KA100-KZ999 (Air-Britain: James J Halley). Page 22 states: “KF624 SOC 25 05 50”. There isn’t any unit user details I’m afraid.

A number of that batch were allocated to the RN. However, a standard statement “to the Admiralty” can be seen in that situation. The book doesn’t comment any further in such cases. So it is safe to say the airframe was not used by the RN.

The book states KF532 was used by the RN thou’.

H