WONZ 273 – Harvard NZ1044

Guest: Bevan Dewes

Hosts: Dave Homewood

Recorded: 27th of April 2023

Duration: 1 hour 13 minutes, 54 seconds

In this episode we welcome back Bevan Dewes to the WONZ Show to discuss the restoration and return to flight of his award winning North American Aviation Harvard Mk. IIA NZ1044, aka ZK-OTU.

Bevan purchased the aircraft in February 2020, and transported it to Wanaka where he restored it with the assistance of Callum Smith and the team at Twenty24, a restoration shop at Wanaka Airport, and the engine and propeller were overhauled by Aero Technology Ltd. at Ardmore. The restoration process was more drawn out than hoped due to various Covid lockdowns and the dreadful effect the virus rules had on the supply chain for parts from overseas.

The Harvard was returned to its meticulously researched own wartime colour scheme that it wore in 1944-45 at No. 2 (Fighter) Operational Training Unit (2OTU) at RNZAF Station Ohakea. At that unit newly trained pilots would learn the business of becoming fighter pilots in Harvards and P-40 Kittyhawks and Warhawks. Many dozens, perhaps hundreds, of young pilots flew NZ1044 and trained up at 2OTU before heading to a fighter squadron on P-40s, or from May 1944 onwards, Corsairs. Many of them went on to make names for themselves, and some returned to 2OTU as instructors. So a long list of interesting pilots flew NZ1044 during the war between 1943 and 1945.

After the war the Harvard spent several years in storage as a reserve aircraft, but then returned to service in 1954, flying with the RNZAF Station Wigram pool of Harvards used by the No. 1 Flying Training School, and the Central Flying School. In 1958 NZ1044 became the first Mk. II Harvard to undergo the upgrade programme to Harvard Mk. IIA*, but on completion of this it went back into storage, and remained there.

The Harvard was eventually sold by the Air Force to National Airways Corporation and became an instructional airframe at their apprentice school. It passed into the hands of Air New Zealand when NAC was merged into that airline. And then the airline sold it off in 1990. It remained stored near Rolleston for over a decade and then was sold to a group of enthusiasts who moved it to Ashburton, but it sat there in the back of a hangar untouched till 2020 when Bevan purchased it.

NZ1044 returned to the air for the first time in almost 65 years on the 10th of March 2023. Since then Bevan debuted it at the Yealands Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka, Blenheim, where he wowed the crowd with a new pairs display act that he and Pete McCombe have been working up over the past few years. With Bevan in NZ1044 and Pete in Harvard NZ1066, the pair put on a beautiful paired aerobatic display on the Friday night.

Bevan also flew NZ1044 again on the Saturday and Sunday, now with the bomb racks, practice bombs and the aircraft’s original two machine guns fitted. He led a tight formation in a flat display with Mark O’Sullivan in his lovely ex-South African Air Force Harvard, ZK-XSA, and then Mark did a solo aerobatic display.

While parked up on the flightline Bevan also added a pair of replica 250lb bombs to the racks, to add to the visual impact of the already impressive warbird.

At the grand dinner on the Sunday night when the awards were being handed out, Bevan was presented the Grand Warbird Champion trophy, much deserved as one of the most talked about aircraft debuting at the show, and recognising both his restoration of the aircraft back to flight, and his lovely presentation of the aircraft in the flying displays.

On the early morning of the 25th of April 2023, Bevan also took to the air to fly NZ1044 over his hometown Cenotaph at Masterton for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service flypast.

Bevan plans to offer rides in the Harvard very soon through a new warbird and classic aircraft ride company he and his fiancé Lucy Newell have created, Legend Aviation. So watch this space.

Quick Links:

• Legend Aviation (coming soon!)

• Twenty24 Ltd., Wanaka

• Heli Support New Zealand Limited (who painted NZ1044)

• Aqua Max (who paint stripped NZ1044)

• SAB Avionics (who did the avionics work on NZ1044)

• Aero-Technologies (who overhauled NZ1044’s engine)

• Fieldair (who were involved in NZ1044’s engine overhaul)

• Airbus (who were involved in NZ1044’s propeller overhaul)

• Air Force Museum of New Zealand (who helped with NZ1044’s paint scheme and colour matching)