Serial Number: NZ1245 & 131486
RNZAF Trade: Pilot
Date of Enlistment:9th of October 1939
Date of Demob: 20th of March 1946 (On the RNZAF Reserve list till 22nd of December 1969)
Rank Achieved:Squadron Leader
Flying Hours:
Operational Sorties:

Date of Birth: 22nd of December 1914 , at Auckland
Personal Details: Monty was the son of the Reverend Frank G. Harvie, and Kathleen Harvie, who had lived for a time in Cambridge between the wars, and he was the brother of Squadron Leader Edgar Francis Harvie and Squadron Leader Guy de Laval Harvie. He was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School, followed by study at Merton College, Oxford, England from 1934 to 1937, before returning to New Zealand.

He joined the Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club in 1937, where his brother Ted was an instructor. He qualified as a pilot in 1938, and must have become qualified thereafter as an instructor, as he joined the RNZAF in this role in 1939.

Service Details: Monty Harvie's career almost mirrored his brother Ted's. Monty joined the RNZAF on the 9th of October 1939. An experienced flying instructor already, he was invaluable to the RNZAF in training new pilots.

He apparently spent nine months with a General Reconnaissance squadron, however I am yet to discover which one - but other than this he was instructing for the duration of the war. Initially he became an instructor at No 2 Elementary Flying Training School, RNZAF Station Bell Block, New Plymouth, and later he transferred to the Central Flying School at RNZAF Station Tauranga where he trained other instructors, the school his brother had founded and commanded from 1939-1941.

In 1944, Monty was posted to England to complete a course at the Empire Central Flying School, at RAF Hullavington. He also studied and passed an instruments flying instructor's course at Bryan, Texas, with the USAAF in 1945.

On his return to New Zealand in 1945, he was appointed the Chief Flying Instructor at the Central Flying School. He then became a Flight Commander at No. 40 Squadron, which flew C-47 Dakota transports, later that year. He remained in this position till he left the RNZAF on the 20th of March 1946.

He was a warded the Air Force Cross in 1944. The citation read:

“Squadron Leader Harvie joined the RNZAF on the 9th of October, 1939 and was appointed an instructor at RNZAF Station, New Plymouth . He had previously been an instructor to the Wanganui Aero Club. Except for a period of nine months during which time he was employed with a GR Squadron he has been continuously employed on instructing, almost three years of which have been instructing flying instructors, the last six months being as Chief Flying Instructor at the Central Flying School . His total time is 2,300 hours of which close on 2,000 hours have been while employed on instructional work. His outstanding experience has reflected in the quality of instruction given in the RNZAF."

Postwar Monty spent 1946 as CFI at the Middle Districts Aero Club, and from 1947-54 he was Aviation Officer with Shell Oil (NZ) Ltd. He seems to have continued to work for Shell after this point in another position.

Details of Death: 10 December 1997, aged 82
Buried at: unknown

Connection with Cambridge: As his parents had lived in Cambridge for some time, and his family have strong connections with the town, it is thought that Arthur Montague Harvie was also a resident for some time before the war. His brothers Ted and Guy had strong connections with the town too, and certainly had lived here.